Free Alibaba ACA-Cloud1 Exam Actual Questions & Explanations

Last updated on: Jun 26, 2026
Author: Ana Ross (Alibaba Cloud Certification Specialist)

The Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate (ACA-Cloud1) exam validates your foundational knowledge of Alibaba Cloud services and cloud computing principles. This certification is designed for IT professionals, cloud architects, and developers who want to demonstrate competency in deploying and managing applications on Alibaba Cloud. This page guides you through the exam structure, core topics, and effective preparation strategies to help you pass with confidence. Whether you are new to cloud or transitioning from other platforms, understanding the ACA Cloud Computing Associate requirements is the first step toward certification success.

ACA-Cloud1 Exam Syllabus & Core Topics

Use this topic map to guide your study for Alibaba ACA-Cloud1 (ACA Cloud Computing Associate) within the Alibaba Cloud Certified Associate path.

  • ECS (Elastic Compute Service): Understand instance types, lifecycle management, and how to launch, configure, and scale compute resources for production workloads.
  • Auto Scaling: Learn to set up scaling policies, define trigger conditions, and automatically adjust capacity based on demand to optimize costs and performance.
  • Server Load Balancer: Master load distribution across multiple instances, health checks, session persistence, and choosing the right balancing algorithm for your application.
  • Object Storage Service (OSS): Grasp bucket management, object upload/download, access control, versioning, and lifecycle policies for reliable data storage and retrieval.
  • Relational Database (RDS): Manage database instances, backup strategies, read replicas, parameter tuning, and high availability configurations for mission-critical data.
  • Alibaba Cloud Security Services and CloudMonitor: Apply security best practices including identity and access management, encryption, threat detection, and use monitoring tools to track system health and performance metrics.
  • General Knowledge About Cloud Computing: Understand cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), deployment types, scalability concepts, and how cloud architecture differs from on-premises infrastructure.

Question Formats & What They Test

The ACA-Cloud1 exam combines knowledge-based and scenario-driven questions to assess both theoretical understanding and practical decision-making ability. Questions progress in difficulty and reflect real-world situations you may encounter when working with Alibaba Cloud.

  • Multiple Choice: Test your grasp of core definitions, service features, and key terminology across all seven topic areas.
  • Scenario-Based Items: Present realistic business cases where you must analyze requirements, identify constraints, and select the best architectural or operational decision.
  • Configuration & Best Practice Questions: Ask you to apply knowledge of service configuration, security hardening, and cost optimization to specific use cases.

Each question type reinforces the connection between Alibaba Cloud services and practical implementation, ensuring you can translate exam knowledge into on-the-job competence.

Preparation Guidance

A structured study plan that maps topics to weekly milestones helps you cover all exam domains thoroughly and identify weak areas early. Combine focused reading, hands-on practice, and timed mock tests to build both confidence and exam-day pacing.

  • Allocate one week per major topic (ECS, Auto Scaling, Server Load Balancer, OSS, RDS, Security & Monitoring, Cloud Fundamentals) and track progress against a study checklist.
  • Work through practice question sets after each topic block; review explanations for both correct and incorrect options to deepen understanding.
  • Connect concepts across services: for example, understand how Auto Scaling triggers ECS instance changes, how Server Load Balancer distributes traffic, and how CloudMonitor alerts inform scaling decisions.
  • Complete at least one full-length, timed practice test under exam conditions to identify pacing gaps and reduce test-day anxiety.
  • In your final week, review high-weight topics (ECS, RDS, Security) and revisit questions you previously answered incorrectly.

Explore other Alibaba certifications: view all Alibaba exams.

Get the PDF & Practice Test

Strengthen your preparation with up-to-date resources from validexamdumps.com. These materials align to ACA-Cloud1 and cover practical scenarios with clear explanations.

  • Q&A PDF with explanations: Topic-mapped questions that clarify why correct options are right and others aren't.
  • Practice Test: Realistic items, timed and untimed modes, progress tracking, and detailed review of each answer.
  • Focused coverage: Aligned to ECS, Auto Scaling, Server Load Balancer, Object Storage Service (OSS), Relational Database (RDS), Alibaba Cloud Security services and CloudMonitor, and General Cloud Computing knowledge so you study what matters most.
  • Regular updates: Content refreshes that reflect syllabus and product changes.

Visit the exam page to download the PDF, Online Practice Test, or get a bundle discount for both formats: ACA Cloud Computing Associate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What topics carry the most weight on the ACA-Cloud1 exam?

ECS, RDS, and security services typically account for a larger portion of exam questions because they are core to most production deployments. However, all seven topic areas are tested, so balanced preparation across all domains is essential. Focus extra study time on ECS configuration, RDS high availability, and security best practices, but do not neglect Auto Scaling, Load Balancer, and OSS fundamentals.

How do ECS, Auto Scaling, and Server Load Balancer work together in a real project?

In a typical three-tier application, ECS instances run your application code, Server Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple instances, and Auto Scaling automatically adds or removes instances based on demand. CloudMonitor tracks CPU and memory metrics, triggering Auto Scaling policies when thresholds are breached. Understanding these interconnections helps you answer scenario-based questions and design resilient architectures.

How much hands-on experience do I need, and which labs should I prioritize?

Hands-on experience significantly strengthens exam performance because it builds intuition for service behavior and configuration. Prioritize labs that cover launching and configuring ECS instances, setting up Auto Scaling groups, configuring a Server Load Balancer, and creating RDS database instances with backups. If time is limited, focus on ECS and RDS labs first, as these services appear most frequently in exam scenarios.

What are the most common mistakes candidates make on this exam?

Many candidates confuse RDS backup types or misunderstand Auto Scaling policy triggers, leading to incorrect scenario answers. Others overlook security details such as security group rules or IAM permissions, which are frequently tested. Avoid rushing through questions; read each scenario carefully, identify what is being asked, and eliminate obviously wrong answers before selecting your choice.

What is an effective review strategy in the final week before the exam?

In your final week, focus on reviewing questions you previously answered incorrectly and re-reading explanations for topics where you scored below 80 percent. Take one more full-length practice test to identify any remaining gaps, then spend the remaining days drilling scenario-based questions and practicing your pacing. Avoid learning entirely new material in the final days; instead, reinforce what you have already studied.

Question No. 1

__________feature in Server Load Balancer means that it can forward the access requests from a single user to the same ECS instance within a certain period to ensure session continuity.

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Correct Answer: A

Session persistence feature in Server Load Balancer means that it can forward the access requests from a single user to the same ECS instance within a certain period to ensure session continuity. This feature is useful for applications that require users to maintain a stateful connection with the backend servers, such as online shopping or banking. Session persistence can be enabled by configuring a cookie timeout period or a source IP hash method in the Server Load Balancer console.Reference:ACA Cloud Computing Certification - Alibaba Cloud Academy,Server Load Balancer - Alibaba Cloud Academy, Session Persistence - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center


Question No. 2

A/An is a copy of data on a disk at a certain point in time.

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Correct Answer: B

A snapshot is a copy of data on a disk at a certain point in time. It is used to back up and restore data, or create custom images.Snapshots can capture the data of system disks, data disks, and shared block storage devices1.


Question No. 3

You can create a custom image for ECS using which of the followings? (Choose two.)

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Correct Answer: A, D

You can create a custom image for ECS using data disk snapshots or system disk snapshots. A snapshot is a backup of the data on a disk at a specific point in time. You can use snapshots to create custom images, which are copies of the operating system and applications on a disk.You can use custom images to create ECS instances that have the same operating system, applications, and data as the original disk12.

You cannot create a custom image for ECS using CPU snapshots or memory snapshots. These are not valid terms in Alibaba Cloud.CPU and memory are not persistent storage devices, and they do not store the operating system and applications that are required for creating a custom image34.Reference:1: Create a custom image from a snapshot - Alibaba Cloud12: What is a custom image?- Alibaba Cloud23: What is a CPU?- Alibaba Cloud34: What is memory?- Alibaba Cloud4


Question No. 4

In which of the following cases would you need to apply an ICP license? (Choose three.)

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Correct Answer: A, B, C

An ICP license is a permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) that allows websites to operate in China. An ICP license is required for any website that is hosted on a mainland China server, or that wants to use a China-based CDN service to accelerate its access in China. Therefore, you would need to apply an ICP license in the following cases:

Accelerate your Overseas Website in China: If you have a website that is hosted outside of China, but you want to use Alibaba Cloud's CDN service to improve its performance and user experience in China, you would need to apply an ICP license for your domain name. This is because Alibaba Cloud's CDN nodes are located in mainland China, and any website that uses them must comply with the Chinese regulations.

Launch your website in China: If you want to host your website on an Alibaba Cloud ECS instance or OSS bucket that is located in mainland China, you would need to apply an ICP license for your domain name. This is because any website that is hosted on a mainland China server must have an ICP license to be accessible and legal in China.

Launch your online shop in China: If you want to run an e-commerce website that sells goods or services to customers in China, you would need to apply an ICP license for your domain name. This is because any website that engages in commercial activities in China must have an ICP license to operate legally and securely in China.


Question No. 5

Alibaba Cloud provides anti-DDoS products of different levels. If the service availability needs to be kept at 99.9% or higher under DDoS attacks, which of the following is the MOST suitable product?

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Correct Answer: D

Alibaba Cloud provides anti-DDoS products of different levels to protect your applications and data from DDoS attacks. Among them, Anti-DDoS Service Pro is the most suitable product for ensuring high service availability under DDoS attacks.Anti-DDoS Service Pro is a proxy-based mitigation service that diverts network traffic to the Alibaba Cloud global anti-DDoS network through DNS resolution, mitigates volumetric DDoS attacks and resource exhaustion DDoS attacks, and ensures the stability and availability of your origin servers1.Anti-DDoS Service Pro provides the following features and benefits2:

Over 10 Tbit/s mitigation capacity: Anti-DDoS Service Pro can defend against large-scale DDoS attacks at the Tbit/s level and ensure high service availability.

AI-enabled for mitigating sophisticated attacks: Anti-DDoS Service Pro can automatically detect and mitigate sophisticated DDoS attacks, such as HTTP flood, HTTPS flood, and DNS flood, and quickly adjust protection policies based on the attack characteristics.

Hiding origin server IPs: Anti-DDoS Service Pro can hide the IP addresses of your origin servers and prevent attackers from bypassing the proxy and directly attacking your origin servers.

Multiple protection modes: Anti-DDoS Service Pro supports normal protection mode, emergency protection mode, and always-on protection mode, which can be switched based on your business needs and risk levels.

Comprehensive security reports: Anti-DDoS Service Pro provides comprehensive security reports that display the attack details, protection status, and traffic statistics of your protected domains.Reference:1:Anti-DDoS: Intelligent DDoS Protection Service - Alibaba Cloud2:Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium features - Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center.