CompTIA Cloud+ (CompTIA Cloud+ Certification)

You'll learn how to implement, maintain, and deliver cloud technologies and infrastructures. You'll also understand the aspects of IT security and industry best practices related to cloud implementations and virtualisation:

Configuration and Deployment Security Maintenance Management Troubleshooting

It is recommended for CompTIA Cloud+ candidates to have the following:

• CompTIA Network+ and/or CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA, though CompTIA certifications are not required.
• Have at least 24-36 months of work experience in IT networking, network storage, or data center administration.
• Familiarity with any major hypervisor technologies for server virtualization, though vendor specific certifications in virtualization are not required.

1.0 Cloud Concepts and Models

1.1 Compare and contrast cloud services

• SaaS (according to NIST)
• IaaS (according to NIST)
• CaaS (according to NIST)
• PaaS (according to NIST)
• XaaS (according to NIST)
• DaaS (according to NIST)
• BPaaS
• Accountability and responsibility based on service models

1.2 Compare and contrast cloud delivery models and services

• Private
• Public
• Hybrid
• Community
• On-premise vs. Off-premise hosting
• Accountability and responsibility based on delivery models
• Security differences between models
• Functionality and performance validation based on chosen delivery model
• Orchestration platforms

1.3 Summarize cloud characteristics and terms

• Elasticity
• On-demand self-serve/just in time service
• Pay-as-you-grow
• Chargeback
• Ubiquitous access
• Metering resource pooling
• Multitenancy
• Cloud bursting
• Rapid deployment
• Automation

1.4 Explain object storage concepts

• Object ID
• Metadata
• Data/blob
• Extended metadata
• Policies
• Replicas
• Access control

2.0 Virtualization

• [h5]2.1 Explain the differences between hypervisor types[/h5][list]
• Type I and Type II
• Proprietary vs. open source
• Consumer vs. enterprise use

2.2 Install, configure, and manage virtual machines and devices

• Creating, importing, and exporting template and virtual machines
• Install guest tools
• Snapshots and cloning
• Image backups vs. file backups
• Virtual NIC
• Virtual disks
• Virtual switches
• VLAN
• VSAN

2.3 Given a scenario, perform virtual resource migration

• Establish requirements
• Maintenance scheduling
• Reasons
• Storage migration
• Online vs. offline migrations
• Physical to Virtual (P2V)
• Virtual to Virtual (V2V)
• Virtual to Physical (V2P)

2.4 Explain the benefits of virtualization in a cloud environment

• Shared resources
• Elasticity
• Network and application isolation
• Infrastructure consolidation
• Virtual datacenter creation

2.5 Compare and contrast virtual components used to construct a cloud environment

• Virtual network components
• Shared memory
• Virtual CPU
• Storage Virtualization

3.0 Infrastructure

3.1 Compare and contrast various storage technologies

• Network Attached Storage (NAS)
• Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
• Storage Area Network (SAN)
• Different access protocols
• Protocols and applications
• Management differences

3.2 Explain storage configuration concepts

• Disk types
• Tiering
• RAID levels
• File system types

3.3 Execute storage provisioning

• Creating LUNs
• Creating network shares
• Zoning and LUN masking
• Multipathing
• Implications of adding capacity to a NAS and SAN

3.4 Given a scenario, implement appropriate network configurations

• NAT
• PAT
• Subnetting/Supernetting
• VLAN and VLAN tagging
• Network port configurations
• Switching and routing in physical and virtual environments

3.5 Explain the importance of network optimization

• WAN
• LAN
• MAN
• Bandwidth
• Latency
• Compression
• Caching
• Load balancing
• Devices on the same subnet

3.6 Given a scenario, troubleshoot basic network connectivity issues

• Tools
• Review documentation and device configuration settings
• Review system logs

3.7 Explain common network protocols, ports, and topologies

• Trunk ports
• Port binding/aggregation
• Common ports
• Common protocols
• Types of networks

3.8 Explain common hardware resources and features used to enable virtual environments

• BIOS/firmware configurations
• Minimum memory capacity and configuration
• Number of CPUs
• Number of Cores
• NICs quantity, speeds, and configurations
• Internal hardware compatibility
• HBAs
• Storage media

4.0 Network Management

4.1 Given a scenario, implement and use proper resource monitoring techniques

• Protocols
• Alert methods
• Establish baselines and thresholds
• Automated responses to specific events
• Examine processes usage / resource usage

4.2 Given a scenario, appropriately allocate physical (host) resources using best practices

• Memory
• CPU
• Storage and network allocation
• Entitlement/quotas (shares)
• Reservations
• Licensing
• Resource pooling

4.3 Given a scenario, appropriately allocate virtual (guest) resources using best practices

• Virtual CPU
• Memory
• Storage and network allocation
• Entitlement/quotas (shares)
• Hard limit, soft limit
• Reservations, licensing
• Dynamic resource allocation
• Resource pooling
• CPU affinity
• Physical resource redirection and mapping to virtual resources

4.4 Given a scenario, use appropriate tools for remote access

• Remote hypervisor access
• RDP
• SSH
• Console port
• HTTP

5.0 Security

5.1 Explain network security concepts, tools, and best practices

• ACLs
• VPNs
• IDS/IPS hardware/software-based firewalls
• DMZ
• Review / audit logs
• Attacks

5.2 Explain storage security concepts, methods, and best practices

• Obfuscation
• Access Control Lists
• Zoning
• LUN masking
• User and host authentication
• Review/audit logs

5.3 Compare contrast different encryption technologies and methods

• PKI
• IPSEC
• SSL/TLS
• Ciphers
• Encryption for data in transit and encryption for data at rest

5.4 Identify access control methods

• Role-based administration
• Mandatory access controls
• Discretionary access controls
• Multifactor authentication
• Single sign-on
• Federation

5.5 Implement guest and host hardening techniques

• Disabling unneeded ports and services
• User credentials
• Host-based/software firewalls
• Antivirus software
• Patching
• Deactivating default accounts

6.0 Systems Management

6.1 Explain policies and procedures as they relate to a cloud environment

• Network and IP planning/documentation
• Configuration standardization and documentation
• Change management best practices
• Configuration management
• Capacity management
• Systems life cycle management
• Maintenance windows

6.2 Given a scenario, diagnose, remediate and optimize physical host performance

• Disk performance
• Disk tuning
• Disk latency
• Swap disk space
• I/O tuning
• Performance management and monitoring tools
• Establish baseline and create documentation with appropriate tools
• Hypervisor configuration best practices
• Impact of configuration changes to the virtual environment
• Common issues

6.3 Explain common performance concepts as they relate to the host and the guest

• IOPS
• Read vs. write files
• File system performance
• Metadata performance
• Caching
• Bandwidth
• Throughput (bonding/teaming)
• Jumbo frames
• Network latency
• Hop counts
• QoS
• Multpathing
• Load balancing
• Scaling

6.4 Implement appropriate testing techniques when deploying cloud services

• Test replication
• Test latency
• Test bandwidth
• Test load balancing
• Test application servers
• Test storage
• Test application delivery
• Service performance testing and application performance testing
• Penetration testing
• Vulnerability assessment
• Separation of duties during testing

7.0 Business Continuity in the Cloud

7.1 Compare and contrast disaster recovery methods and concepts

• Redundancy
• Failover
• Geographical diversity
• Failback
• Replication
• Site mirroring
• Hot site
• Cold site
• Warm site
• Backup and recovery
• Archiving and offsite storage
• Replication types
• RTO
• RPO
• MTBF
• MTTR
• Mission critical requirements

7.2 Deploy solutions to meet availability requirements

• Fault tolerance Multipathing
• Load balancing