CompTIA CV0-004 glossary of cloud deployment, service models, virtualization, and operations terms.
Use this glossary when CompTIA Cloud+ (CV0-004) terms start to blur together. The goal is practical recognition, not encyclopedia coverage.
| Term | Exam meaning |
|---|---|
| IaaS | Infrastructure as a service: virtualized compute, storage, and networking managed by the customer above infrastructure. |
| PaaS | Platform as a service: managed runtime or service platform for applications. |
| IaC | Infrastructure as code: repeatable infrastructure definitions. |
| RTO | Recovery time objective: acceptable time to restore service. |
| RPO | Recovery point objective: acceptable data loss window. |
| Shared responsibility | Security and operations split between provider and customer. |
| Pair | How to separate them |
|---|---|
| Cloud architecture vs Deployment and automation | Ask which layer the scenario is testing, then match the answer to that layer only. |
| Control vs evidence | A control changes behavior; evidence proves behavior or supports investigation. |
| Managed service vs custom build | Managed services win for lower operational effort unless the requirement needs unsupported customization. |
| Prevention vs detection | Prevention blocks or reduces a bad event; detection finds or reports that it happened. |
Do not memorize terms in isolation. For each term, write one scenario where it is the best answer, one scenario where it is a distractor, and one signal that proves it worked.