Lesson 2: Cloud Models: Public, Private and Hybrid

Where this level fits

This level covers two skills from the "Describe cloud concepts" domain (25-30% of the exam): defining the public, private and hybrid cloud models, and identifying the appropriate use cases for each. Reminder from Level 1: the exam lasts 45 minutes, a scaled score of 700 or greater passes, and the price depends on the country or region where you sit it. This course is independent of Microsoft and follows the skills outline dated 20 July 2026.

A cloud model defines the deployment type of cloud resources: who the environment is for, and who owns and runs the hardware underneath it. Microsoft Learn names three main models: private, public and hybrid.

Step 1: Learn the three definitions

Memorise each model by answering two questions: who uses it? and who owns and runs the hardware?

Public cloud

• Built, controlled and maintained by a third-party cloud provider (for example, Microsoft for Azure).
• Anyone who wants to purchase cloud services can access and use the resources. This general availability is the key difference from a private cloud.
• The provider owns and runs the hardware. Customers share the provider's physical infrastructure.

Private cloud

• A cloud environment used by a single entity (one organisation).
• It evolved from the traditional datacenter model: IT services are delivered over a network, but the resources are dedicated to one organisation.
• It may be hosted in your own on-site datacenter, or in a dedicated datacenter offsite, potentially run by a third party. The defining feature is single-organisation use, not the building it sits in.
• You are responsible for purchasing the hardware and for its maintenance and updates.

Hybrid cloud

• A computing environment that uses both public and private clouds in an inter-connected environment.
• You own and run the private part; the provider owns and runs the public part.
• You decide which workloads run where.

Analogy for IT staff: a private cloud is a server room your company owns, a public cloud is rented rack space and services in a provider's facility that many customers use, and a hybrid cloud is both, linked by a network so workloads and data can move between them.

Step 2: Compare the trade-offs

Study this table. It follows the comparison Microsoft Learn uses, and exam scenarios are built from these phrases.

Read the table as three trade-offs:

• Control: highest in private, lowest in public, selectable per workload in hybrid.
• Cost: public needs no up-front hardware purchase; private requires you to buy and maintain hardware, so it costs more and gives fewer of the public cloud's benefits.
• Compliance: private keeps data away from other tenants; hybrid lets you keep only the sensitive workloads private.

Step 3: Pick the model for a scenario

Apply these steps, in order, to every scenario question.

1. Underline the requirement words. Look for control, compliance, legal, cost, existing datacenter, temporary demand.
2. Check for a mix. If the scenario keeps some resources on dedicated infrastructure and uses a provider's services, choose hybrid.
3. Check for single-organisation hardware with full control. If every resource must be dedicated to one organisation and the organisation accepts buying and maintaining hardware, choose private.
4. Otherwise choose public. No hardware to buy, fast provisioning and pay-for-what-you-use point to public.
5. Eliminate the other two with one reason each. If you cannot state the reason, re-read the scenario.

Worked examples:

• A start-up has no datacenter and no budget for hardware. It needs to launch a web application this month. Public. Private fails because hardware must be purchased first. Hybrid fails because there is no private environment to connect.
• A regulator requires that a bank's records are never stored on infrastructure shared with other organisations, and the bank wants complete control of security. Private. Public fails on both control and shared infrastructure. Hybrid fails because part of the environment would be public, and the scenario gives no workload that may go there.
• A retailer runs its systems in its own datacenter. Each December demand triples for four weeks. Hybrid. The private cloud can surge into public cloud resources for increased, temporary demand. Private alone means buying hardware that sits idle for eleven months. Public alone ignores the stated existing datacenter investment.
• A hospital must keep patient records on its own servers but wants its public website to run on a provider's infrastructure. Hybrid. The organisation chooses which services stay private and which go public.

Step 4: Recognise the related terms

These appear alongside cloud models in Microsoft Learn. Know what each one is so it does not distract you.

• Multicloud: you use two or more public cloud providers and manage resources and security in each. It is not the same as hybrid, which combines public with private.
• Azure Arc: a set of technologies that helps manage your cloud environment, whether it is public on Azure, private in your datacenter, hybrid or multicloud. A later level covers it in detail.
• Azure VMware Solution: lets you run VMware workloads in Azure, for organisations established with VMware in a private cloud that want to move to a public or hybrid model.

Step 5: Practise the matching format

Cover the answers, then match each statement to a model.

1. "You pay only for what you use."
2. "Data isn't collocated with other tenants' data."
3. "Provides the most flexibility."
4. "You are responsible for hardware maintenance and updates."

Answers: 1 public, 2 private, 3 hybrid, 4 private.

What the exam asks about this

• Expect short scenarios that ask which cloud model fits. The answer turns on one or two requirement words.
• Expect statements to classify, such as "no capital expenditures to scale up" (public) or "provides the most flexibility" (hybrid).
• Common traps: assuming a private cloud must be on your own premises (it may be hosted offsite by a third party), and confusing multicloud with hybrid.
• Tip (practitioner advice, not Microsoft guidance): when a scenario mentions both an existing datacenter and a provider's services, test hybrid first.

Key takeaways

• Public cloud: provider owns and runs the hardware; open to any purchaser; no capital expenditure to scale; least control.
• Private cloud: used by a single entity; most control; you buy and maintain hardware; can be on-site or hosted offsite by a third party.
• Hybrid cloud: public and private inter-connected; most flexibility; you determine where each application runs.
• Multicloud means multiple public providers, not public plus private.
• For every scenario, name the model that fits and one reason each of the other two does not.