Introduction

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is designed for individuals who perform a solutions architect role with at least one year of experience designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform. This 5-day intensive training course is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and practical skills required to design, deploy, and manage scalable, highly available, and cost-efficient systems on AWS. Participants will gain hands-on experience with AWS services and architectures, learn best practices, and be prepared to take the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training, participants will:

1. Understand the fundamentals of AWS services, including compute, storage, networking, and database offerings.
2. Learn how to design highly available, fault-tolerant, and cost-effective systems on AWS.
3. Gain proficiency in selecting the appropriate AWS services to meet specific technical requirements.
4. Understand the security best practices for AWS architectures, including identity and access management.
5. Develop the ability to architect and deploy complex AWS solutions for scalability, performance, and cost optimization.
6. Be fully prepared to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam and advance their career in cloud architecture.

Who Should Attend?

This course is ideal for:

• Solutions architects and aspiring solutions architects who want to become proficient in AWS services and solutions.
• Developers, engineers, and IT professionals who are responsible for architecting or managing systems and applications on AWS.
• Professionals seeking to earn the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification.
• Individuals looking to learn best practices for designing cloud solutions on AWS to solve real-world business problems.

Day 1: Introduction to AWS and Basic Cloud Architecture

• Session 1: Overview of AWS and Cloud Computing

  • What is cloud computing? Types of cloud models: Public, Private, Hybrid
  • Introduction to AWS: Core services and architecture overview
  • Benefits of AWS: Scalability, elasticity, cost-efficiency, and security
  • Understanding the AWS Shared Responsibility Model

• Session 2: AWS Global Infrastructure

  • AWS Regions and Availability Zones (AZs): What are they and why are they important?
  • Understanding AWS data centers and edge locations
  • AWS Regions and how they relate to compliance and availability
  • Overview of the AWS Management Console and AWS CLI

• Session 3: Compute Services – EC2 and Lambda

  • Introduction to Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances
  • EC2 instance types, pricing models, and best practices
  • AWS Lambda: Serverless compute and use cases
  • Choosing between EC2 and Lambda for various workloads

Day 2: Storage, Databases, and Networking

• Session 4: AWS Storage Services

  • Overview of AWS storage solutions: Amazon S3, Amazon EBS, and Amazon EFS
  • Amazon S3: Object storage, security, versioning, and lifecycle management
  • Amazon EBS: Block storage for EC2 instances and use cases
  • Amazon EFS: Managed file storage and integration with EC2

• Session 5: AWS Databases

  • Overview of database services: Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, and Aurora
  • Amazon RDS: Relational database management systems (RDS) and high availability
  • Amazon DynamoDB: NoSQL database for single-digit millisecond performance
  • Amazon Aurora: High-performance managed database compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL
  • Choosing the right database for various use cases

• Session 6: Networking and Content Delivery

  • Understanding Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) and creating isolated network environments
  • VPC components: Subnets, route tables, internet gateways, and NAT gateways
  • Amazon Route 53: DNS and domain management
  • Amazon CloudFront: Content delivery network (CDN) and caching content globally
  • AWS Direct Connect: Dedicated network connection to AWS from on-premises

Day 3: Security and Identity Management

• Session 7: AWS Security Services and Best Practices

  • Overview of security in AWS: The Shared Responsibility Model, IAM (Identity and Access Management), and AWS Key Management Service (KMS)
  • AWS IAM: Users, groups, roles, and policies – securing access to AWS resources
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and access management
  • AWS KMS: Data encryption and key management in the cloud
  • Best practices for securing EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and RDS databases

• Session 8: Architecting for High Availability and Fault Tolerance

  • Designing for fault tolerance: Redundancy and failover mechanisms
  • Auto Scaling: Automatically adjusting EC2 capacity to meet demand
  • Load balancing with Amazon Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) and AWS Global Accelerator
  • Using Amazon Route 53 for DNS failover and routing traffic to healthy endpoints
  • Designing highly available systems with multiple Availability Zones and Regions

Day 4: Application Integration, Monitoring, and Cost Optimization

• Session 9: Application Integration and Messaging

  • Introduction to Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) and Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service)
  • AWS Step Functions: Orchestrating serverless workflows
  • Amazon API Gateway: Managing APIs for serverless applications
  • AWS AppSync: Building real-time, serverless GraphQL APIs

• Session 10: Monitoring and Logging

  • Using Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring AWS resources and applications
  • CloudWatch Logs: Collecting and analyzing log data for troubleshooting
  • AWS CloudTrail: Auditing AWS API calls and resource usage
  • Amazon CloudWatch Alarms: Setting up automatic notifications for threshold breaches
  • AWS X-Ray: Distributed tracing for debugging applications

• Session 11: Cost Optimization and Billing

  • AWS pricing models: On-demand, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instances
  • AWS Cost Explorer: Analyzing and forecasting costs
  • AWS Trusted Advisor: Best practices for cost savings, security, and performance
  • Cost management strategies: Right-sizing instances and optimizing storage costs

Day 5: Exam Review, Case Studies, and Final Preparation

• Session 12: Review of Key Topics for the AWS Solutions Architect Exam

  • Review of core services: EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, RDS, Lambda, and CloudFormation
  • Exam topics: High availability, security, networking, storage, and architecture best practices
  • Focus on areas that typically appear in the exam: Architecture, cost optimization, and security

• Session 13: Case Studies and Hands-on Labs

  • Real-world architecture case studies: Designing solutions for various business needs
  • Hands-on labs: Implementing a simple architecture with EC2, VPC, RDS, and S3
  • Practice creating highly available, secure, and cost-effective solutions

• Session 14: Final Exam Preparation

  • Practice exam questions: Detailed review and discussion of answers
  • Tips for exam day: Time management, question strategies, and avoiding common pitfalls
  • Final Q&A session: Addressing any last-minute doubts and reinforcing key concepts