# Virtualization, containers and system scalability

*MuleSoft Integration Foundations Study Guide · Recognize and interpret essential integration concepts and terminology · Last updated November 2, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/mulesoft-integration-foundations/essential-integration-concepts-and-terminology/virtualization-containers-and-system-scalability*

The compute and storage building blocks behind Mule deployments (virtual machines, bare-metal servers, containers on Kubernetes, replica disk and external object stores) and the principles of vertical and horizontal scaling, high availability clusters and load balancing.

- Certification: Salesforce MuleSoft Integration Foundations
- Exam section: Recognize and interpret essential integration concepts and terminology
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/mulesoft-integration-foundations

**Official exam objective:**

> Identify the types of virtualization, computing, and storage infrastructure required by enterprise systems and describe the principles of system scalability.

## What the exam expects

- Identify the compute options enterprise systems run on: bare-metal servers, virtual machines and containers orchestrated by Kubernetes.
- Explain what a hypervisor does and tell block, file and object storage apart.
- Distinguish local, volatile storage on a runtime instance from external persistent storage such as an object store or persistent queue.
- Tell vertical scaling (a bigger node) from horizontal scaling (more nodes) and name the limits of each.
- Explain how a high availability cluster and a load balancer keep a service running when a node fails.

Key terms:
- **Virtual machine (VM)**: a virtualized server, as opposed to a bare-metal server.
- **Hypervisor**: software installed on a host machine that provisions the resources to create and run virtual machines.
- **Container**: an isolated unit that runs one application's runtime; Kubernetes orchestrates many of them.
- **Vertical scaling**: adding cores or memory to one node (scale up).
- **Horizontal scaling**: adding nodes, replicas or workers that share the workload (scale out).
- **High availability (HA) cluster**: multiple nodes acting as a unit so that service continues when one fails.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime Fabric infrastructure | Customer-managed Kubernetes on AWS, Azure, VMs or bare metal | [Deployment Options](https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-manager/deployment-strategies) |
| Hypervisor | Installed on a host machine; provisions and runs virtual machines | [AWS Compute](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-compute/explore-aws-compute) |
| Container vs VM | Containers share the host OS and kernel; each VM has its own OS | [AWS Container Services](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-compute/discover-aws-container-services) |
| Storage categories | Block (addressed chunks), file (hierarchy), object (flat, unique ID) | [AWS Storage Options](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-storage/explore-aws-storage-types) |
| Runtime Fabric and Docker/Kubernetes | Older page: bundled; today's overview: you provide them; exam aligns to Spring '24 | [Runtime Fabric Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-fabric/latest/), [Exam Guide](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=005298961&language=en_US&type=1) |
| Runtime Fabric isolation | A separate Mule runtime server per application | [Runtime Fabric Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-fabric/latest/) |
| CloudHub 2.0 isolation | Each replica runs in a separate container | [CloudHub 2.0 Architecture](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/ch2-architecture) |
| CloudHub 2.0 vertical scaling | Choose a vCore size; minimum 8 GB storage per replica | [CloudHub 2.0 Architecture](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/ch2-architecture) |
| CloudHub 2.0 local disk | Cleared on restart or redeploy; use Object Store v2 to persist | [CloudHub 2.0 Clustering](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/ch2-clustering) |
| Persistent queue retention | Up to 4 days | [CloudHub HA features](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub/cloudhub-fabric) |
| Minimum Mule cluster | At least two Mule runtime engines on different machines | [Mule HA clusters](https://docs.mulesoft.com/mule-runtime/latest/mule-high-availability-ha-clusters) |
| Active-active model | No primary server; any node takes over | [High availability cluster](https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/esb/high-availability-cluster) |

## Check yourself

- Why can adding nodes slow down an application that relies heavily on Object Stores?
- When does a CloudHub 2.0 application need Object Store v2 instead of its local disk?
- How long can a message wait in a CloudHub persistent queue?

## Sources

- [High availability cluster](https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/esb/high-availability-cluster)
- [Mule Runtime High Availability (HA) Cluster Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/mule-runtime/latest/mule-high-availability-ha-clusters)
- [Anypoint Runtime Fabric Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-fabric/latest/)
- [CloudHub 2.0 Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/)
- [CloudHub 2.0 Architecture](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/ch2-architecture)
- [CloudHub 2.0 Clustering](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub-2/ch2-clustering)
- [CloudHub High Availability Features](https://docs.mulesoft.com/cloudhub/cloudhub-fabric)
- [Deployment Options](https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-manager/deployment-strategies)
- [Understanding AWS Compute Services](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-compute/explore-aws-compute)
- [Discover AWS Container Services](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-compute/discover-aws-container-services)
- [AWS Storage Options Explained](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/aws-storage/explore-aws-storage-types)
- [MuleSoft Integration Foundations Exam Guide](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=005298961&language=en_US&type=1)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 3 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the MuleSoft Integration Foundations pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams