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Virtualization and Resource Provisioning Flashcards
| Front | Back |
| Compare containers vs virtual machines | Containers share the host OS kernel and isolate at the application layer, making them more lightweight and faster to start than VMs, which virtualize the entire hardware stack with separate OS instances. |
| Explain CPU pinning/affinity in virtualization | The practice of assigning specific virtual CPUs (vCPUs) to physical CPU cores, improving performance by reducing CPU context switching and increasing cache efficiency. |
| Explain the concept of noisy neighbor in virtualized environments | A situation where one VM/container consumes excessive resources, negatively affecting the performance of other VMs/containers on the same physical host. |
| Explain vertical vs horizontal scaling in cloud resource provisioning | Vertical scaling (scaling up): adding more resources to existing instances. Horizontal scaling (scaling out): adding more instances. Horizontal offers better resilience and is typically preferred in cloud environments. |
| How do resource quotas help in cloud resource management? | Resource quotas limit the amount of resources a user/project can consume, preventing monopolization of shared resources, controlling costs, and ensuring fair distribution among users. |
| How does resource throttling work in cloud environments? | Limiting the resources (CPU, I/O, network) available to a VM/container when it exceeds defined thresholds, ensuring fair resource distribution and preventing resource monopolization. |
| What are affinity and anti-affinity rules in resource provisioning? | Policies that determine whether VMs/containers should run on the same host (affinity) or on different hosts (anti-affinity), used for performance optimization or reliability. |
| What are the common resource types that need provisioning in cloud environments? | Compute (VMs, containers), storage (block, object, file), networking (VPC, subnets, load balancers), and specialized services (databases, analytics, AI/ML resources). |
| What is a container orchestration platform? Give examples | Software that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Examples: Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, Amazon ECS, OpenShift. |
| What is a container registry? | A repository for storing and distributing container images, enabling version control and deployment of containerized applications. Examples include Docker Hub, Google Container Registry, and Amazon ECR. |
| What is a hypervisor and what are the two main types? | A hypervisor is software that creates and manages virtual machines. Type 1 (bare-metal) runs directly on hardware; Type 2 runs on a host operating system. |
| What is a virtual machine (VM) and how does it work? | A VM is a software emulation of a physical computer that runs an operating system. It works by using a hypervisor to create isolated instances that share underlying physical hardware while maintaining separation. |
| What is auto-scaling and why is it important in cloud environments? | Auto-scaling automatically adjusts resource capacity based on demand patterns. It's important for maintaining performance during traffic spikes while optimizing costs during periods of low utilization. |
| What is container orchestration? | The automated deployment, scaling, management, and networking of containers. Examples include Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Amazon ECS. |
| What is containerization? | A lightweight virtualization method that packages application code with dependencies into standardized units that can run consistently across environments. |
| What is live migration in virtualization? | The process of moving a running VM from one physical host to another without downtime, enabling maintenance, load balancing, and fault tolerance. |
| What is memory ballooning in virtualization? | A technique used by hypervisors to reclaim unused memory from VMs by installing a "balloon driver" that requests memory from the guest OS when the host is under memory pressure. |
| What is resource pooling in cloud computing? | The aggregation of compute, storage, and networking resources that can be dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand, enabling multi-tenancy and economies of scale. |
| What is the principle of resource overcommitment in virtualization? | Allocating more virtual resources than physically available, leveraging the fact that most VMs don't use maximum resources simultaneously, improving hardware utilization. |
| What is the role of a hypervisor in virtualization? | Creates and runs virtual machines by abstracting and distributing physical hardware resources, providing isolation between VMs and managing their lifecycle. |
Front
What is the role of a hypervisor in virtualization?
Click the card to flip
Back
Creates and runs virtual machines by abstracting and distributing physical hardware resources, providing isolation between VMs and managing their lifecycle.
Front
What is a container registry?
Back
A repository for storing and distributing container images, enabling version control and deployment of containerized applications. Examples include Docker Hub, Google Container Registry, and Amazon ECR.
Front
How do resource quotas help in cloud resource management?
Back
Resource quotas limit the amount of resources a user/project can consume, preventing monopolization of shared resources, controlling costs, and ensuring fair distribution among users.
Front
How does resource throttling work in cloud environments?
Back
Limiting the resources (CPU, I/O, network) available to a VM/container when it exceeds defined thresholds, ensuring fair resource distribution and preventing resource monopolization.
Front
What is a hypervisor and what are the two main types?
Back
A hypervisor is software that creates and manages virtual machines. Type 1 (bare-metal) runs directly on hardware; Type 2 runs on a host operating system.
Front
What is containerization?
Back
A lightweight virtualization method that packages application code with dependencies into standardized units that can run consistently across environments.
Front
What is container orchestration?
Back
The automated deployment, scaling, management, and networking of containers. Examples include Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Amazon ECS.
Front
What is memory ballooning in virtualization?
Back
A technique used by hypervisors to reclaim unused memory from VMs by installing a "balloon driver" that requests memory from the guest OS when the host is under memory pressure.
Front
What is the principle of resource overcommitment in virtualization?
Back
Allocating more virtual resources than physically available, leveraging the fact that most VMs don't use maximum resources simultaneously, improving hardware utilization.
Front
What is a virtual machine (VM) and how does it work?
Back
A VM is a software emulation of a physical computer that runs an operating system. It works by using a hypervisor to create isolated instances that share underlying physical hardware while maintaining separation.
Front
Compare containers vs virtual machines
Back
Containers share the host OS kernel and isolate at the application layer, making them more lightweight and faster to start than VMs, which virtualize the entire hardware stack with separate OS instances.
Front
What is a container orchestration platform? Give examples
Back
Software that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Examples: Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, Amazon ECS, OpenShift.
Front
What is resource pooling in cloud computing?
Back
The aggregation of compute, storage, and networking resources that can be dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand, enabling multi-tenancy and economies of scale.
Front
Explain vertical vs horizontal scaling in cloud resource provisioning
Back
Vertical scaling (scaling up): adding more resources to existing instances. Horizontal scaling (scaling out): adding more instances. Horizontal offers better resilience and is typically preferred in cloud environments.
Front
What is live migration in virtualization?
Back
The process of moving a running VM from one physical host to another without downtime, enabling maintenance, load balancing, and fault tolerance.
Front
Explain the concept of noisy neighbor in virtualized environments
Back
A situation where one VM/container consumes excessive resources, negatively affecting the performance of other VMs/containers on the same physical host.
Front
What is auto-scaling and why is it important in cloud environments?
Back
Auto-scaling automatically adjusts resource capacity based on demand patterns. It's important for maintaining performance during traffic spikes while optimizing costs during periods of low utilization.
Front
Explain CPU pinning/affinity in virtualization
Back
The practice of assigning specific virtual CPUs (vCPUs) to physical CPU cores, improving performance by reducing CPU context switching and increasing cache efficiency.
Front
What are affinity and anti-affinity rules in resource provisioning?
Back
Policies that determine whether VMs/containers should run on the same host (affinity) or on different hosts (anti-affinity), used for performance optimization or reliability.
Front
What are the common resource types that need provisioning in cloud environments?
Back
Compute (VMs, containers), storage (block, object, file), networking (VPC, subnets, load balancers), and specialized services (databases, analytics, AI/ML resources).
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Delves into virtual machines, containers, and resource pools, helping you identify best practices for allocating, scaling, and isolating compute resources in a cloud environment.