🌩️ 1. What is cloud computing, and what are its benefits?
Answer:
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—like storage, servers, databases, networking, and software—over the internet ("the cloud").
Benefits include:
- Scalability: Scale resources up or down based on demand.
- Cost-efficiency: Pay-as-you-go pricing.
- Availability: Access from anywhere with internet.
- Reduced maintenance: Providers manage infrastructure.
- Disaster recovery and high availability.
🧱 2. Explain IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS with examples.
ModelDescriptionExampleIaaSInfrastructure as a Service – provides virtualized computing resourcesAWS EC2, Azure VMPaaSPlatform as a Service – offers a platform to build and deploy appsGoogle App Engine, Azure App ServiceSaaSSoftware as a Service – provides software applications over the internetGoogle Workspace, Salesforce
Answer Tip: Focus on who manages what:
- IaaS: You manage the app + OS
- PaaS: You manage only the app
- SaaS: Everything is managed for you
🔐 3. How do you ensure security in a cloud environment?
Answer:
- Use Identity & Access Management (IAM) for role-based access control.
- Encrypt data at rest and in transit.
- Implement network security groups, firewalls, and VPCs.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
- Regularly apply patches and updates.
- Ensure compliance with standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001.
☁️ 4. Describe your experience with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Answer Example:
"I have hands-on experience with AWS, where I’ve worked with EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, CloudWatch, and VPC setup.
On Azure, I deployed apps via Azure App Service, configured Azure Blob Storage, and managed Virtual Networks.
I’ve also explored GCP, particularly with Compute Engine and Cloud Storage."
⚖️ 5. How do you handle scalability in the cloud?
Answer:
- Use Auto Scaling Groups (e.g., in AWS) to scale instances automatically.
- Leverage container orchestration (like Kubernetes) for microservices.
- Use serverless options (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions) for event-driven scalability.
- Implement load balancers to distribute traffic.
- Use managed services that auto-scale (e.g., DynamoDB, Cloud SQL).
🟢 6. What is high availability in cloud computing?
Answer:
High availability (HA) means designing systems to minimize downtime and remain operational even in case of failure.
Achieved by:
- Deploying in multiple availability zones or regions.
- Using redundant resources and replication.
- Implementing load balancers and failover mechanisms.
- Leveraging managed services with built-in HA (like RDS Multi-AZ).
💰 7. How do you monitor and optimize cloud costs?
Answer:
- Use tools like AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, or GCP Billing Reports.
- Tag resources for visibility and tracking.
- Right-size instances (downgrade underutilized VMs).
- Use Reserved Instances or Savings Plans for predictable workloads.
- Turn off or schedule shutdown of non-critical resources.
- Use budgets and alerts to prevent overspending.
🧪 8. What tools do you use for monitoring and logging?
Answer:
- AWS: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, X-Ray
- Azure: Monitor, Log Analytics
- GCP: Stackdriver (now Cloud Operations)
- Others: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Datadog, New Relic
🏗️ 9. What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)? Have you used any tools?
Answer:
IaC is the practice of managing and provisioning infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files.
Tools I’ve used:
- Terraform (cloud-agnostic)
- AWS CloudFormation
- Azure Bicep / ARM Templates
IaC enables consistency, version control, and automation of infrastructure setup.
🧩 10. What is the difference between vertical and horizontal scaling?
TypeDescriptionExampleVertical ScalingIncreasing power of a single server (CPU/RAM)Upgrading an EC2 instance from t2.micro to t2.largeHorizontal ScalingAdding more servers or instancesAdding more EC2 instances behind a load balancer
✅ Bonus Questions
- What’s the difference between public, private, and hybrid clouds?
- Explain a situation where you optimized a cloud deployment.
- How do you handle disaster recovery in cloud architecture?
- What is multi-tenancy, and how do cloud providers manage it?