CompTIA Cloud+ (CV0-004) — the full course

Every lesson and every lab is free to read, mapped one-to-one to CompTIA’s published exam objectives. The paid tier adds the 698-question exam simulator; nothing is taken away from the free course to make room for it.

Prefer a book? The 600-question practice-test book is an ebook on Google Play.

Prefer timed practice exams on Udemy? The 600 questions from this course’s bank are there as timed practice tests: see the Udemy course (launch price until 16 Nov 2026).

8 lessons end with a short “try it” on a real Linux machine that runs in your browser and checks each step, and the Linux sandbox gives you that machine with no task at all.

50written lessons

86hands-on labs

85hours of lab work

50audio episodes

698practice questions

Start with lesson 1 — A cloud lab that will not bill you, and the habits that keep it that way Exam simulator

Jump to a domain: 1. Cloud Architecture · 2. Deployment · 3. Operations · 4. Security · 5. DevOps Fundamentals · 6. Troubleshooting

What the exam weighs

Domain	Share of the exam	Lessons here
1. Cloud Architecture	23%	11
2. Deployment	19%	9
3. Operations	17%	8
4. Security	19%	9
5. DevOps Fundamentals	10%	6
6. Troubleshooting	12%	6

The curriculum

1. Cloud Architecture 23% of the exam

01 Service and deployment models: the two axes people keep confusing objective 1.1 part single
- Place ten real services on both axes short · 30 min
02 Multi-cloud, lock-in, and making the case to the business objective 1.1 part single
- Choose a deployment model for four conflicting briefs applied · 55 min
- Price the exit from a service you already depend on short · 40 min
03 Virtualization: hypervisors, machine types and what the cloud is built on objective 1.2 part single
- Build a VM, snapshot it, break it, and restore it short · 45 min
04 Allocation, oversubscription and the noisy neighbour objective 1.2 part single
- Diagnose four slow workloads from their metrics alone applied · 50 min
- Create contention on purpose and watch steal time appear short · 40 min
05 Virtual networks, subnets and routing inside a cloud objective 1.3 part single try it
- Build the three-tier network in code and prove what cannot reach what applied · 70 min
- Design an address plan that survives a merger short · 35 min
06 Connecting to the cloud: VPNs, peering and private links objective 1.3 part single
- Work out why three hybrid links are down short · 35 min
07 Containers and images, and why a container is not a small VM objective 1.4 part single
- Measure the difference between a container and a VM applied · 60 min
- Find the secret in a layer that was deleted short · 40 min
08 Orchestration: scheduling, self-healing and desired state objective 1.5 part single try it
- Cause three probe failures and identify each from its symptom applied · 65 min
- Delete a pod and watch desired state put it back short · 35 min
09 Cloud database fundamentals: relational, non-relational and managed objective 1.6 part single
- Reproduce read-after-write failure against a replica applied · 60 min
- Choose a store for six access patterns short · 35 min
10 Right-sizing, autoscaling and getting performance per pound objective 1.7 part single
- Pick the autoscaling signal that does not just spend money applied · 55 min
- Right-size from percentiles instead of averages short · 40 min
11 Reading a cloud bill, and controlling it before it arrives objective 1.8 part single
- Build the tag policy that makes chargeback possible applied · 60 min
- Design and cost a complete architecture for one brief capstone · 120 min
- Find the charges nobody provisioned short · 35 min

2. Deployment 19% of the exam

01 Sizing a workload before you move it objective 2.1 part single
- Produce a migration assessment for five real workloads applied · 75 min
- Baseline a real machine over a week and size its replacement short · 45 min
02 Compatibility, dependencies and the things that do not move objective 2.1 part single
- Observe the dependencies of a machine you thought you knew short · 40 min
03 Infrastructure as code: declarative and imperative objective 2.2 part single
- Write the same thing twice, imperatively and declaratively short · 45 min
04 Templates, modules and infrastructure you can reuse objective 2.2 part single
- Refactor a copied template into one parameterised module short · 50 min
05 State, drift, and why the console is the enemy of IaC objective 2.2 part single
- Import a hand-built environment until the plan is empty applied · 70 min
- Cause drift, detect it, and decide what to do about it short · 45 min
06 Migration strategies: rehost, replatform, refactor, and the two that are not moves objective 2.3 part single
- Sort a portfolio into the six dispositions short · 35 min
07 Executing a migration: replication, cutover and rollback objective 2.3 part single
- Run a seed-and-replicate cutover with validation in order applied · 85 min
- Plan, execute and document a complete migration capstone · 150 min
- Measure how long your rollback actually takes short · 40 min
08 Provisioning compute and storage objective 2.4 part single
- Prove user data is readable from inside the instance short · 35 min
09 Provisioning networking and identity, and the order that matters objective 2.4 part single
- Verify a provisioned environment five ways applied · 70 min
- Break a deployment by getting the order wrong short · 40 min

3. Operations 17% of the exam

01 Scaling horizontally and vertically, and knowing which you need objective 3.1 part single
- Break horizontal scaling with in-memory session state short · 45 min
02 Patching and updating without taking the service down objective 3.1 part single
- Compare rolling, blue-green and canary on the same change applied · 80 min
- Run a rolling update that drops requests, then one that does not short · 50 min
03 Decommissioning, and the cost of what you forgot objective 3.1 part single
- Hunt orphans in your own environment short · 40 min
04 Backup types, schedules and retention objective 3.2 part single
- Take the three backup types and time their restores short · 50 min
05 Restore testing: the only proof a backup works objective 3.2 part single try it
- Build an automated nightly restore verification applied · 75 min
- Make a backup job succeed while restoring nothing short · 45 min
06 Disaster recovery: RPO, RTO and the site you fail over to objective 3.2 part single
- Rehearse a failover and a failback, and time both capstone · 140 min
- Cost four DR patterns against one pair of objectives short · 40 min
07 Metrics, logs and traces: the three signals objective 3.3 part single
- Prove the provider cannot see inside the guest applied · 60 min
- Answer one question with each of the three signals short · 45 min
08 Alerting that someone will actually answer objective 3.3 part single
- Make an alert flap, then stop it flapping short · 40 min

4. Security 19% of the exam

01 Scanning cloud assets for vulnerabilities objective 4.1 part single
- Report coverage, not just findings short · 45 min
02 Prioritising and remediating what the scan found objective 4.1 part single
- Show that patching in place reverts and fixing the image does not applied · 70 min
- Re-rank a findings list by exposure instead of severity short · 40 min
03 Identities, roles and least privilege objective 4.2 part single try it
- Prove an explicit deny beats an administrative allow applied · 65 min
- Build a policy from denials instead of from guesses short · 50 min
04 Federation, single sign-on and multifactor authentication objective 4.2 part single
- Design the break-glass procedure and test it short · 45 min
05 Container image security and the registry objective 4.3 part single
- Sign an image and make the runtime refuse an unsigned one short · 50 min
06 Runtime container security and isolation objective 4.3 part single
- Turn a flat cluster network into default-deny applied · 75 min
- Harden a container four ways and confirm each restriction bites short · 50 min
07 Compliance standards, and what an auditor actually asks for objective 4.4 part single
- Assemble the evidence pack an auditor would ask for applied · 90 min
08 Encryption, key management and protecting data objective 4.5 part single
- Move secrets out of environment variables and prove the leak applied · 70 min
- Destroy a key and confirm the data is unreadable short · 50 min
09 Network and host controls in the cloud objective 4.5 part single try it
- Harden one environment end to end and prove each control capstone · 150 min
- Replace an open management port with identity-based access short · 45 min

5. DevOps Fundamentals 10% of the exam

01 Automation that removes the manual step objective 5.1 part single
- Trigger automation from an event and guard the destructive case applied · 70 min
- Write a script that is not idempotent, then make it so short · 40 min
02 Source control for infrastructure and configuration objective 5.2 part single
- Make the repository enforce review on infrastructure changes applied · 65 min
- Commit a credential and discover why deleting it does not help short · 40 min
03 Building a CI/CD pipeline objective 5.3 part single
- Give the pipeline short-lived credentials and scope them per environment applied · 75 min
- Build once, promote the same artefact, and prove it is the same short · 50 min
04 System integration: APIs, webhooks and message queues objective 5.4 part single
- Stop a dead dependency from taking down its caller applied · 70 min
- Make retries duplicate the work, then make them safe short · 45 min
05 The DevOps toolchain: what each tool is for objective 5.5 part single
- Do one job with two tools and argue for one applied · 65 min
- Identify the category from behaviour, not the product name short · 35 min
06 Event-driven architecture and serverless objective 5.6 part single
- Show that events arrive twice, out of order, and sometimes not at all applied · 75 min
- Build an event-driven pipeline end to end and make it observable capstone · 140 min
- Build a recursive trigger loop and stop it with a concurrency limit short · 45 min

6. Troubleshooting 12% of the exam

01 Troubleshooting a deployment that will not deploy objective 6.1 part single
- Recover from a partial deployment without making it worse applied · 70 min
- Read the error before changing anything short · 45 min
02 A method for cloud connectivity faults objective 6.2 part single try it
- Diagnose faults someone else planted, by method applied · 80 min
- Block a connection at each of the four layers in turn short · 50 min
03 Latency, throughput and routing problems objective 6.2 part single try it
- Separate latency, throughput and loss by measurement short · 50 min
04 Responding to leaked credentials and privilege escalation objective 6.3 part single try it
- Reconstruct what a credential could reach and what it did applied · 80 min
- Practise containment in the right order short · 45 min
05 When DNS, DHCP or NTP breaks the cloud objective 6.4 part single
- Exhaust a subnet and prove existing hosts are unaffected applied · 70 min
- Break the clock and watch authentication fail short · 40 min
06 Finding and fixing misconfigurations objective 6.5 part single
- Move a control from detected to impossible applied · 75 min
- Diagnose six planted faults across the whole course capstone · 160 min
- Fix it in the console and watch the fix disappear short · 45 min

Supplementary not examined — background reading

01 A cloud lab that will not bill you, and the habits that keep it that way part single
- Put the spending controls in place before you create anything short · 35 min

The exam simulator

698 questions, every one mapped to an objective and to the lesson that teaches it. Timed full-length papers drawn to the real domain split, retakes weighted to your weak areas, and a readiness report from your own results.

Open the simulator See the paid tier

Every lesson has an audio episode, and it plays in the lesson itself — there is nothing extra to sign up for.

The episodes are also a podcast: listen on Spotify.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-004 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.