CompTIA Cloud+ (Plus): A Complete Guide for Beginners

Working in a multi-cloud environment comes with both challenges and opportunities to maintain and secure apps and store data. To tackle this challenge, there is a constant need for skilled professionals. This is where CompTIA Cloud+ Certification comes into picture. It is like a badge which shows that you have the necessary skillset to maintain and protect the data. With this Certification, you get to learn about the skills required for latest trends and also helps you validate your knowledge and skills.

Check out this blog to learn more about the CompTIA Cloud+ Certification, ways to prepare, materials to refer, benefits of the Certification etc. Read further!

Table of Contents

1) Understanding the CompTIA Cloud+ Certification

2) Benefits of the CompTIA Cloud+ certification

3) Outline of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam

4) Domains of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam

5) How to start preparing for CompTIA Cloud+ Certification?

6) Materials to refer to while preparing for CompTIA Cloud+ exam

7) Conclusion

Understanding the CompTIA Cloud+ Certification

The CompTIA Cloud+ Certification helps validate the deployment and automation skills of professionals who aim to secure cloud environments. The CompTIA Cloud+ Certification is the only IT Certification that provides the perspective of cloud-based infrastructure services from the viewpoint of broader IT operations.

CompTIA Cloud+ is a certification for professionals actively looking out for mid-level career advancements. A certified professional in CompTIA Cloud+ is typically an IT practitioner keen to progress their established career in cloud. The professional can look forward to adding at least two to three years of practical field experience with IT networking or data storage technology. 

The CompTIA Cloud+ certification is awarded by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) upon fulfilling the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17024 standard. More importantly, the CompTIA Cloud+ Certification trains IT professionals with Cloud technologies available with all vendors. It also helps the professional build a solid foundation for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Professional (GCP), or Microsoft Azure Certification (MAC). These certifications aid the high availability business systems and data.
 

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Benefits of the CompTIA Cloud+ certification
 

Professionals with CompTIA Cloud+ certification can apply their practical and technical knowledge to build an efficient and secure cloud environment. Here are the various benefits of CompTIA Cloud+ certification:

1) Acquiring trending tech skills

The CompTIA Cloud+ exam is one of the toughest examinations to crack because it puts an IT professional's perseverance to the test in a cloud environment. IT professionals who invest efforts in getting certified for a particular platform may find it difficult to deal with issues in a cloud server environment.

CompTIA Cloud+ makes IT professionals highly adaptive cloud administrators. The knowledge of ensuring the continuous operation of computing infrastructures despite the failure of components is a must-have for professionals. The variety of trades in the examination preparation span across domains such as Cloud Security, Cloud Deployment, Troubleshooting, and so on.

2) Validation of knowledge

The CompTIA Cloud+ examination is the only certification that combines the domains of cloud administration and network administration. IT professionals who aim to be well-versed and holistic in their training in Cloud Computing can find long-term benefit in being certified. Cloud Computing is among the most heavily demanded skillsets in the tech market, making it a very good time for IT professionals to get serious about a cloud-oriented career. 

3) Market Growth

The expected growth of Cloud-related careers means that professionals can grow their skillset in Cloud technology through the CompTIA Cloud+ Certification. According to Gartner, global expenditures for end-users is expected to grow by 21.7 per cent to GBP 480.75 billion in 2023. 

The forecast for this market growth is due to the changing requirements of organisations for a more cloud-centric workforce. These changing requirements demand expert cloud administrators in the future.

4) Job Roles and Salaries 

The CompTIA Cloud+ Certification makes an IT professional best suited to various Cloud roles mentioned below with the market salaries, according to Glassdoor 
 

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Outline of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam

The CompTIA Cloud+ exam is a performance-based assessment of an IT professional’s skills to deploy and automate solutions in a Cloud environment. The outline of the Certification contains the following key points: 

1) The Cloud+ exam validates a professional’s skills to automate Cloud environments in a secure fashion, which in turn supports business systems.  

2) The Cloud+ exam comprises 90 questions that are a combination of performance and multiple-choice types. 

3) The Cloud+ exam has a duration of 90 minutes and a passing score of 750 on a scale of 100 to 900 points. 

4) The Cloud+ exam recommends that professionals possess 2 to 3 years of system administration or Networking experience.  

5) The Cloud+ Certification is valid for three years and costs GBP 287.45. 

More importantly, the latest CompTIA Cloud+ exam is more job-centric than other cloud certifications. The cloud technologies included in the exam prepare the professional for any market vendors.

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How to start preparing for CompTIA Cloud+ Certification?

Preparing for syllabus such as the CompTIA Cloud+ exam can seem overwhelming. To ease your preparation, here are some valuable tips you can follow:

a) Make a study plan: Begin with meeting the prerequisites and building a solid foundation in Networking+ and system operations. Also, you have the option to join for training courses or use CompTIA's study resources to prepare well.

b) Be familiar with syllabus: Familiarise yourself with the exam curriculum and subject areas. Follow the weightage for each topic and ensure that you cover all subjects. Divide your study plan into subdomains and have a solid understanding of each one.

c) Practical knowledge: Gain practical exposure to cloud infrastructure technology and Cybersecurity. Several training programs are available for you to set up and participate in practical learning sessions. This improves your overall knowledge on the subject and help you gain different perspectives.

d) Practice tests: When you are done with the basic preparation and are confident with your practical and theoretical skills, you can attempt the practice tests. It helps you analyse your strengths and weaknesses to improve your strategies. 

Materials to refer to while preparing for CompTIA Cloud+ exam

CompTIA offers various resources for your CompTIA Cloud+ exam preparation. You have the option to choose the resources that fits your time and personal preferences. The materials include the following:

a) Live training sessions

b) Tutorials

c) Self-study guides

d) Classroom training

Also, CompTIA offers study guides specially made for the CV0-003 exam. It ensures an in-depth coverage of all domains and a variety of tools to help you crack the Certification exam. 

Another option is to go for an instructor-led training programs offered by CompTIA. It provides direct interaction with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These training programs are useful for both individuals and teams. For those who are new to CompTIA Cloud+ concepts, CompTIA Tech Career Academy is also available as an option.

For practical exposure in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity, consider opting for CompTIA training labs. These labs offer the opportunity to work with real virtual cloud infrastructure and various tools, allowing you to gain practical skills in these areas.

Domains of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam
 

The CompTIA Cloud+ examination combines cloud technology and cybersecurity, which are segregated into five domains in the certification which are as follows:

Cloud Architecture and Design

The first domain of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam makes up 13 per cent of the exam’s total weightage, which is the smallest among all the other domains. It covers the cloud fundamentals like cloud models, scaling in cloud environments and analysis of design.  

This domain involves the following concepts for learning:

Distinguish the various Cloud models: This topic offers a broad perspective of the Cloud models, while simultaneously taking the learner through advanced cloud services. The cloud models taught include the deployment, service and shared responsibility models.

The deployment model includes private, public, hybrid, multitenancy, community and multi-cloud inside the cloud. The service model includes the most crucial aspect of the cloud which is SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and finally IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

Importance of high availability systems and scaling in cloud environments: This domain teaches learners about hypervisors, oversubscription, applications, clusters, scalability and so on. Hypervisors include both affinity and anti-affinity rules, which basically creates the relationship between the Virtual Machines (VMs) and the Host server.

The domain also teaches topics such as Quality Assurance (QA) and disaster recovery within cloud environments. Finally, standard testing methods such as penetration testing, performance testing, usability and functional testing are also part of this domain. 

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Security

The domain of Security takes up 20 percent of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam’s weightage. It also provides the learner with knowledge about identification and authorisation, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and so on. The Security domain contains various sub-domains such as the following:

1) Identity configuration and Access Management

2) Network security in a Cloud environment 

3) Application Security Controls and OS selection

4) Data security and compliance controls 

5) Implementation of measures for security

6) Incident response procedures  

Deployment 

The domain of Deployment takes up 23 percent of the CompTIA Cloud+ exam’s total weightage. It occupies the largest portion of concepts in the CompTIA Cloud+ examination. Candidates learn to deploy, migrate and configure cloud solutions. Learners also get trained in data storage, cloud components, networking solutions and migrations for various cloud solutions. Learners get trained how to deploy SaaS, PaaS and IaaS models in the cloud environment. 

Furthermore, candidates get trained to implement Virtual Machines (VMs) and migrating databases across cloud environments in a secure fashion. Candidates also learn to auto-scale server capacities when necessary. 

Operations and Support 

The domain of Operations and Supports occupies 22 percent of the certification’s exam weightage. Operations and Support concentrates on the product support strategy and operational performance throughout the product lifecycle. This domain involves topics such as operation status, Cloud environment optimisation, disaster recovery and automation techniques.

It also talks about baselines, thresholds, resource utilisation and performance monitoring. 

Troubleshooting 

The fifth domain of the CompTIA Certification exam focuses on problem-solving methods which are utilised to fix broken processes on any system. Troubleshooting describes common networking configuration concerns through the knowledge of incorrect subnets, IP addresses, IP spaces, Peering, firewall, load balancers and so on. Candidates will also learn about memory management and service overload in the cloud environment. 

Conclusion 

Employers are increasingly on the search for the best IT candidates armed with the necessary cloud technology skills and knowledge. The CompTIA Cloud+ certification is suited for IT professionals interested in being more established across various platforms. As the wave of cloud technology adoption is on the rise, candidates can grab the opportunity to get certified to advance in their cloud careers.

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