According to the CompTIA Cloud+ Study Guide1, autoscaling is “the ability to automatically increase or decrease the number of resources allocated to a cloud service based on the current demand”. This means that autoscaling can help a cloud environment adjust to changes in traffic and workload, such as the ones caused by the new marketing promotions.
Ballooning, on the other hand, is “a technique used by hypervisors to reclaim unused memory from a virtual machine and allocate it to another virtual machine that needs more memory”. This means that ballooning can help optimize the memory usage of a cloud environment, but it does not affect the number of resources allocated to a cloud service.
A firewall is “a device or software that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules”. This means that a firewall can help protect a cloud environment from unauthorized access and malicious attacks, but it does not affect the number of resources allocated to a cloud service.
Switches are “devices that connect multiple devices on a network and forward data packets between them”. This means that switches can help improve the network performance and connectivity of a cloud environment, but they do not affect the number of resources allocated to a cloud service.
Based on this information, I think the best answer to your question is D. Autoscaling. Autoscaling can help the company accommodate the new traffic by automatically increasing or decreasing the number of resources allocated to their web-application service based on the current demand. This can also help reduce costs and improve performance and availability.
I hope this helps you understand the concept of autoscaling better. If you want to learn more about CompTIA Cloud+, you can check out some of these resources:
CompTIA Cloud+ : Cloud High Availability & Scaling: A video course that covers the topics of high availability and scaling in cloud environments, including autoscaling, horizontal scaling, vertical scaling and cloud bursting.
Cloud+ (Plus) Certification | CompTIA IT Certifications: The official website of CompTIA Cloud+, where you can find exam details, preparation materials, renewal information and more.