CompTIA Network+ Practice Test

What is a characteristic of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?

1. Outsource your equipment

2. You control both management and security

3. Data is completely managed by the service provider

4. Only applicable for web hosting

The correct answer is: Outsource your equipment

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is characterized by the ability to outsource your equipment, allowing businesses and organizations to rent computing resources like servers, storage, and networking from a cloud provider rather than investing in physical hardware. This model provides the scalability and flexibility that many organizations need, as they can easily adjust their infrastructure based on current demands without the overhead of managing physical devices. In IaaS, while you do retain some control over management aspects, the primary focus of this model is on utilizing external resources rather than managing the physical infrastructure yourself. This differs from other models like Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS), where the provider takes on more responsibility for management and security. The idea that data is completely managed by the service provider is more aligned with SaaS, where the provider manages everything, including the application and the underlying infrastructure. Also, IaaS is not limited to web hosting; it can be used for a variety of applications, including development environments, backup and disaster recovery, and big data analytics, thus making it applicable across various domains.