- LPU MCA Semester 1
- CAP470
- Unit 7
CAP470 · Unit 7: Cloud application design and collaboration
Data storage, data analytics, deployment and management
11 practice questions · in the ETE syllabus
Key points
- Match storage and tiers to the data
- Analytics turns data into insight
- Blue-green, canary and infrastructure as code
- Monitoring and autoscaling keep services healthy
Cloud applications choose storage to match the data: relational databases for structured transactions, NoSQL databases for flexible, horizontally scaled records, and object storage for files. Data is placed in tiers: frequently used (hot) data on fast, costly storage and rarely used (cold) data on cheaper, slower storage.
Data analytics processes stored data to find patterns, totals and insights, for example summing daily sales and finding the best day, and feeds dashboards and predictions.
Deployment and management cover releasing and operating the application:
| Practice | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure as code | Resources described in version-controlled files, so deployments are repeatable |
| Blue-green | Run the new version in a separate environment, then switch traffic; easy rollback |
| Canary | Release to a small share of users first |
| Monitoring | Track health, performance and cost, and raise alerts |
| Autoscaling | Adjust instances with load: ceil(requests / per_instance) |
With 1800 requests and 250 per instance, ceil(7.2) gives 8 instances with 200 requests of spare capacity. PaaS lets developers deploy code without managing servers.
Exam trap: a canary release goes to a small group first, while blue-green switches all traffic at once between two full environments.
Try two questions
Which tool type helps manage cloud infrastructure by describing resources in files that are kept in version control?
- Manual console clicking
- Infrastructure as code
- Paper checklists
- Screen recording
Show the answer
B. Infrastructure as code makes deployments repeatable and reviewable.
Why not A: Clicking in a console is manual and hard to repeat.
Why not C: Paper checklists are manual too.
Why not D: Screen recording does not provision resources.
In a blue-green deployment, how is a new version released?
- The new version runs in a separate environment and traffic is switched to it when ready
- The old version is deleted before the new one is written
- Half of the code is replaced while users are working
- The new version is released only to the developers
Show the answer
A. Switching traffic between two environments allows instant rollback.
Why not B: That causes downtime and has no easy rollback.
Why not C: That describes risky in-place changes.
Why not D: That describes an internal test.