CompTIA Cloud+ Practice Test

What is the process of replacing a single machine image with a larger, more powerful image called?

1. Horizontal scaling

2. Incremental scaling

3. Vertical scaling

4. Dynamic scaling

The correct answer is: Vertical scaling

The process of replacing a single machine image with a larger and more powerful image is referred to as vertical scaling. Vertical scaling involves enhancing the resources of a single server or instance, such as increasing its CPU, RAM, or storage capacity, thereby making it more capable of handling increased workloads. This is often done to improve performance for applications that require more resources without the need to alter the system architecture significantly or distribute the workload across multiple instances. In contrast, horizontal scaling involves adding more instances or machines to distribute the workload, rather than upgrading a single machine. Incremental scaling typically refers to making small adjustments over time rather than a large change in capacity, and dynamic scaling is generally used to describe a scaling process that can adjust resources automatically based on demand, which could be either horizontal or vertical. In this context, vertical scaling specifically addresses the concept of upgrading an individual machine's capacity.