The least costing server is the application server because it has the lowest used space and allocated space. The file server should have storage increased due to over 70% utilization because it has the highest used space and allocated space. To calculate the cost of each server, we can use the following formula:

Cost = ($1.50 x Used space) + ($0.75 x Allocated space)

Using this formula, we can find the cost of each server as follows:

Application server: Cost = ($1.50 x 186 GB) + ($0.75 x 250 GB) = $279 + $187.50 = $466.50

Mail server: Cost = ($1.50 x 250 GB) + ($0.75 x 300 GB) = $375 + $225 = $600

File server: Cost = ($1.50 x 450 GB) + ($0.75 x 500 GB) = $675 + $375 = $1050

The application server has the lowest cost of $466.50, while the file server has the highest cost of $1050. To find the utilization percentage of each server, we can use the following formula:

Utilization = (Used space / Allocated space) x 100%

Using this formula, we can find the utilization percentage of each server as follows:

Application server: Utilization = (186 GB / 250 GB) x 100% = 74.4%

Mail server: Utilization = (250 GB / 300 GB) x 100% = 83.3%

File server: Utilization = (450 GB / 500 GB) x 100% = 90%

The file server has the highest utilization percentage of 90%, which means that it is running out of storage space and may affect its performance and availability. The application server has the lowest utilization percentage of 74.4%, which means that it has some unused storage space and may be overprovisioned. Therefore, the file server should have storage increased to reduce its utilization and improve its efficiency, while the application server is costing the firm the least and does not need any changes in its storage allocation. References: CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ CLO-002 Study Guide, Chapter 3: Cloud Business Principles, Section 3.4: Cloud Billing and Cost Management, Page 87 and [Cloud Storage Utilization and Optimization | CloudHealth by VMware]

 Managed services are a type of outsourcing administration in the context of the cloud, where a third-party provider takes over the responsibility of managing and operating cloud services on behalf of the customer. Managed services can include various functions such as maintenance, monitoring, security, backup, recovery, and support. Managed services can help customers to reduce costs, improve performance, enhance security, and focus on their core business. Managed services are different from other types of support, such as audit, community, or premium support, which do not involve the transfer of control or ownership of cloud services to a third-party provider. References: CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ Certification Exam Objectives1, CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ Study Guide, Chapter 2: Business Principles of Cloud Environments2, Outsourcing Cloud Administration

Data portability is the ability to move data from one cloud service provider to another without losing functionality, quality, or security. Vendor lock-in is a situation where a customer becomes dependent on a particular cloud service provider and faces high switching costs, lack of interoperability, and contractual obligations. Vendor lock-in can result in data portability issues, as the customer may have difficulty transferring their data to a different cloud service provider if they are dissatisfied with the current one or want to take advantage of better offers. Data portability issues can affect the customer’s flexibility, agility, and cost-efficiency in the cloud123. References: CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ Certification Study Guide, Second Edition (Exam CLO-002), Chapter 1: Cloud Principles and Design, pages 19-20.

A gaming application is a type of SaaS application that requires high compute resources to run the game logic, graphics, physics, and networking. Gaming applications also need to handle a large number of concurrent users and provide low latency and high performance. Therefore, the compute costs from the CSP would be extremely high for a gaming application. On the other hand, a gaming application does not need much storage space, as most of the game data is stored on the client side or in memory. Therefore, the storage costs from the CSP would be relatively low for a gaming application. The other options are not likely to have high compute costs and low storage costs. An email application, a CDN service, and an audio streaming service all need to store large amounts of data on the cloud, which would increase the storage costs. An email application and a CDN service do not need much compute power, as they mainly involve sending and receiving data. An audio streaming service may need some compute power to process and encode the audio files, but not as much as a gaming application. Therefore, the correct answer is C. A gaming application. References: Cloud Computing for Gaming Applications, Cloud Computing for Online Games: A Survey, Cloud Gaming: A Green Solution to Massive Multiplayer Online Games.

 SaaS, or software as a service, is a cloud computing model that provides on-demand access to ready-to-use, cloud-hosted application software. SaaS customers do not need to install, configure, manage, or maintain any hardware or software infrastructure to use the applications. The cloud service provider is responsible for all the technical aspects of the service, such as hosting, security, performance, availability, updates, and backups. SaaS customers only need an internet connection and a web browser or a mobile app to access the applications. SaaS provides the smallest amount of technical overhead for customers, as they do not have to deal with any of the underlying infrastructure or platform components. SaaS customers can focus on using the applications for their business needs, without worrying about the technical details.

Some examples of SaaS applications are Gmail, Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack, and Zoom .