What term describes sets of computing resources that are combined with software to form a server, where users allocate only the resources needed?

• A. virtualization
• B. cloud computing
• C. modular
• D. server farm

Answer: (C)

Virtualization is the idea here. It uses software (a hypervisor) to abstract and pool physical hardware resources and present them as multiple virtual servers. This lets you allocate only the resources you need—CPU, memory, storage—on demand, without changing the underlying hardware. The description of creating a server by combining resources with software and then dividing or scaling those resources as needed is the essence of virtualization.

Modular design is about building systems from interchangeable parts, not specifically about creating virtual servers or on-demand allocation. A server farm is just a large collection of physical servers, which doesn’t inherently describe creating virtual servers or on-demand resource allocation. Cloud computing uses virtualization to deliver resources as services over a network, but the core concept in the wording is virtualization itself.