What's new in the updated CompTIA Cloud+ certification exam
Wondering what to study to prepare for the CompTIA Cloud+ exam? Read about the new exam content from the author of 'The Official CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Self-Paced Study Guide.'
The CompTIA Cloud+ certification tests candidates on the themes of design, deployment and operations, but the newest version now places a greater emphasis on DevOps concepts.
The CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-004 exam validates a candidate's overall cloud skills and comprehension. Each time CompTIA increments a certification, it ensures its content remains relevant to current and essential concepts. Targeted job roles include network operations specialist, system administrator, cloud architect and security professional.
Whether you're new to the CompTIA Cloud+ certification or are ready to update your knowledge and renew your certification, the new CV0-004 exam is essential. Learn more about the new material covered in the upcoming exam to prepare for your certification.
What is CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-004?
The Cloud+ certification is a vendor-agnostic body of knowledge covering essential cloud design, management, security and troubleshooting concepts. Since it uses standard vocabulary and does not focus on any one cloud service provider, it prepares candidates for work with any cloud service. It also addresses private and multi-cloud deployments. The new exam is available in September 2024 with the CV0-003 version retiring in early 2025.
Potential employers value the skills tested in the Cloud+ exam. They appreciate employees who understand cloud services and how the many pieces of a cloud deployment fit together. The Cloud+ certification illustrates a broad foundation for concepts and specific tasks.
CompTIA also offers certifications to supplement the knowledge gained from the CV0-004 exam. For instance, the CompTIA Security+ certification is extremely valuable as various organizations and government entities often require it. The other exam that melds nicely with Cloud+ is the CompTIA Linux+ certification.
CompTIA also maintains a second cloud-specific offering: the CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ certification. This certification covers specific cloud content for business decision-makers. It helps develop cloud vocabulary and comprehension that enables effective cloud governance and management rather than focusing on topics like deployment and operations.
What is new in the CV0-004?
CompTIA updates its certification tracks about every three years to keep up with the fast pace of modern technology. The Cloud+ CV0-004 objectives reflect this with a greater focus on the most current trends, such as DevOps.
Both sets of objectives cover similar material with slightly different focus areas to reflect current cloud administration practices. The increased focus on DevOps helps integrate cloud practices into the rest of a company's automation, orchestration and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) approaches.
Other new additions and differences from the CV0-003 version are more subtle. A few specific areas include the following:
- Industry-standard compliance, including SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) and PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).
- Data sovereignty, ownership and locality.
- Container management and security, including privileged and unprivileged access.
- Version control concepts, such as infrastructure as code and dev projects.
- CI/CD pipeline tools and repositories.
Is Cloud+ CV0-004 certification worth it?
CompTIA Cloud+ provides value by ensuring certified professionals possess extensive knowledge across a wide variety of topics. Those who have successfully completed their certification will be able to do the following:
- Implement DevOps practices.
- Understand network and cloud connectivity options.
- Prepare for cloud application and data migrations.
- Deploy and optimize cloud storage.
- Manage virtual machines and containers in cloud environments.
- Recognize cloud cost concerns and consequences.
- Understand cloud security concepts, risk mitigation and authentication.
- Recognize data sovereignty considerations.
- Troubleshoot common cloud issues.
These topics cover many common scenarios cloud administrators face without limiting knowledge to a single cloud service provider.
Damon Garn owns Cogspinner Coaction and provides freelance IT writing and editing services. He has written multiple CompTIA study guides, including the Linux+, Cloud Essentials+ and Server+ guides, and contributes extensively to TechTarget Editorial and CompTIA Blogs.
