IBM Cloud offers two content delivery networks (CDNs): CDN and Cloud Internet Services (CIS). These two offerings are underpinned by the networks of Akamai and Cloudflare, respectively.

IBM Cloud CDN: IBM Cloud uses Akamai's global network for its Content Delivery Network (CDN) service. Akamai is one of the largest and most trusted CDN providers globally, known for its expansive network that delivers content with low latency and high availability.

IBM Cloud Internet Services (CIS): This service is built on Cloudflare's global network and offers a suite of services, including a CDN, DDoS protection, web application firewall (WAF), and more. Cloudflare's network spans many data centers worldwide, optimizing traffic delivery and securing applications.

Comparison with Other Options:

Limelight and KeyCDN (A), CDN 77 and CloudFront (C), Cloudflare and Fastly (D): These are other CDN providers but do not represent the networks underpinning IBM Cloud's CDN offerings.

IBM Cloud CDN Documentation

IBM Cloud Internet Services (CIS) Documentation

IBM Cloud Architect Exam Study Guide

IBM Power System Virtual Servers offer centralized IT infrastructure management, which is beneficial for a global manufacturing company looking to consolidate its IT footprint. By moving workloads to IBM Power System Virtual Servers, the company can manage its global IT resources from a single platform, simplifying operations, reducing costs, and increasing operational efficiency.

Benefits of Centralized Management: Consolidating IT infrastructure under a single, centrally managed platform allows for more streamlined operations, consistent management practices, and a reduction in the complexity associated with managing multiple dispersed systems.

Why This Benefit Meets the Use Case: The company needs to consolidate its IT footprint, which requires reducing the number of disparate systems and consolidating management under a single pane of glass.

Comparison with Other Options:

A (Disaster Recovery): Relevant but not the primary benefit in this use case.

C (Development and Testing): Does not align with the need to consolidate IT infrastructure.

D (High-Performance Computing): Not the primary goal described in the use case.

IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers Documentation

IBM Cloud Architect Exam Study Guide

IBM Cloud Direct Link utilizes Layers 2 and 3 of the OSI model.

Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) and Layer 3 (Network Layer): IBM Cloud Direct Link provides private connectivity from an on-premises data center to the IBM Cloud through dedicated connections. At Layer 2, it provides direct network paths, while at Layer 3, it handles routing between networks.

Direct Link Functionality: Direct Link offers high-performance, secure connectivity options for hybrid cloud solutions, making it an essential service for enterprises that require a secure and efficient connection to the IBM Cloud.

Reference from IBM Cloud Professional Architect Materials:

The IBM Cloud Direct Link documentation specifies that it operates at OSI Layers 2 and 3 to provide dedicated connectivity options.

Other options are incorrect:

B . Layers 1 thru 7 encompasses all OSI layers, which is incorrect.

C . Layers 3 and 4 include the transport layer, which Direct Link does not utilize directly.

D . Layers 1 and 2 omits Layer 3, which is crucial for network routing.

An IBM Cloud multizone region (MZR) is designed to enhance the availability, reliability, and resilience of cloud services. It consists of three or more separate, geographically dispersed zones within a single region, which are interconnected through high-speed and low-latency networks.

Multiple Zones for High Availability: In a multizone region, each zone represents a separate data center or availability zone with its own independent power, cooling, and networking. The multiple zones are interconnected, allowing for failover capabilities. If one zone experiences a failure, services can continue to operate in another zone within the same MZR, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.

Resilience and Disaster Recovery: MZRs are specifically designed to offer a higher level of fault tolerance compared to single-zone regions. They provide geographic redundancy within the same region, meaning that workloads can be replicated across different zones, thereby protecting against zone-level failures.

Interconnected Yet Independent: While the zones within an MZR are interconnected for data replication and low-latency communication, they are also physically and logically separated to prevent a single point of failure from affecting multiple zones.

Comparison with Other Options:

Option A is partially correct but does not fully describe an MZR.

Option B is incorrect because a failure in one zone does not affect all other zones.

Option C is incorrect as it does not specify that an MZR consists of multiple zones within the same geographical region.

IBM Cloud Multizone Regions (MZR) Overview

IBM Cloud Architect Exam Study Guide

IBM Cloud Global Data Center Locations

For general-purpose applications in IBM Cloud, the recommended IOPS tier when provisioning 10 TB of Block Storage for Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is 3 IOPS/GB. This IOPS tier provides a balanced level of performance suitable for a wide range of general-purpose workloads, ensuring that the application can handle typical storage and performance requirements without unnecessary over-provisioning or cost.

The 3 IOPS/GB tier is designed to provide a reasonable level of input/output operations per second (IOPS) for general-purpose applications, such as web hosting, database hosting, or development workloads that do not require high-performance storage.

For more performance-critical or latency-sensitive applications, you might choose a higher IOPS tier (such as 5 or 10 IOPS/GB), but for general-purpose workloads, 3 IOPS/GB offers an optimal balance between cost and performance.

IBM Cloud Documentation Reference:

IBM Cloud Block Storage for VPC: Performance and IOPS Options

IBM Cloud Block Storage Provisioning Guide