Which of the following can be achieved using availability zones in cloud computing?
a.
More visibility
b.
Fault tolerance
c.
Lower cost
d.
Less redundancy
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is: b. Fault tolerance
Explanation:
Availability zones (AZs) are a fundamental component of cloud computing infrastructure, particularly in services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). They are physically separate data centers within a region, designed to be isolated from failures in other zones while still connected through low-latency networks.
Why the correct answer is Fault tolerance:
Fault tolerance refers to a system’s ability to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of some of its components. By distributing applications across multiple availability zones, cloud providers can ensure that if one zone experiences a hardware failure, power outage, or natural disaster, the workload can continue to operate from another zone. This architecture is key to high availability and disaster recovery.
For example, in AWS, if you deploy your application servers in three different availability zones, and one zone fails, traffic can be routed to the remaining zones without affecting the end-user experience. This design minimizes downtime and maintains business continuity.
Why the other options are incorrect:
- a. More visibility: Availability zones do not inherently improve visibility into your resources. Visibility is more related to monitoring tools, logs, and observability services (like AWS CloudWatch or Azure Monitor).
- c. Lower cost: Using multiple availability zones might actually increase cost because you’re provisioning resources in more than one zone. Fault tolerance and high availability often come with higher costs, not lower.
- d. Less redundancy: Availability zones are specifically designed to increase redundancy, not reduce it. Redundancy ensures that backup systems or data centers are available if the primary one fails.
Conclusion:
Using availability zones is a best practice in cloud architecture to enhance fault tolerance, ensuring applications remain available and resilient even during localized failures.