CompTIA Cloud+ Practice Test

When configuring a machine image, which compute resources are commonly defined?

1. Slots

2. Cores

3. Clock speed

4. Threads

The correct answer is: Cores

When configuring a machine image in the context of cloud computing, defining the number of cores is essential because cores represent the individual processing units within a virtual machine (VM). Each core can execute separate threads and handle tasks independently, which enhances the overall performance of the machine image. This is particularly significant in cloud environments where virtual machines are scaled based on demand, with more cores allowing for complex applications to run efficiently and enabling better multitasking. Thus, by specifying the number of cores in a machine image, administrators ensure that the VM has the requisite processing power to manage workloads effectively. The other resources such as slots, clock speed, and threads do not directly define a compute resource in the same way cores do. Slots can refer to the allocation of resources in shared environments or configurations, but they don’t inherently represent processing power. Clock speed, while it affects how quickly a core can perform tasks, is not a configurable part of the machine image itself. Threads relate to processes running per core, but the core count is the fundamental resource that directly correlates to the machine's capacity to process data.