AWS Cloud Practitioner

Define the benefits of the AWS Cloud value proposition

• The AWS Cloud Value PropositionThe six benefits that make up the core case for moving to the cloud: from trading capital expense to going global in minutes.2 min read

Understand concepts of cloud economics

• Cloud Economics ConceptsFrom capital to operational expenditure, how a total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation reveals a data center's hidden costs, and why right-sizing resources is a continuous process, not a one-time step.2 min read

Identify design principles of the AWS Well-Architected Framework

• The AWS Well-Architected FrameworkThe six pillars AWS uses to judge any cloud workload's quality, and the difference between the Framework itself (guidance) and the AWS Well-Architected Tool (a service that reviews your actual workload against it).2 min read

Understand the benefits of and strategies for migrating to the AWS Cloud

• Cloud Migration StrategiesThe six migration strategies (6 R's) for moving an existing application to AWS, from the fastest (rehost) to the deepest (refactor), and when each fits.2 min read

Identify AWS access management capabilities

• AWS Access Management Capabilities (IAM)How AWS evaluates every request: users, groups, roles, and policies, and the decisive evaluation rule — an explicit deny always wins.2 min read

Understand AWS Cloud security, governance, and compliance concepts

• Security, Governance, and Compliance ConceptsThe difference between governance (your internal policies) and compliance (binding external requirements), the defense-in-depth principle, and how CloudTrail and Config work together to prove both.2 min read

Identify components and resources for security support

• AWS Security Support ToolsAWS Shield for DDoS protection, AWS WAF for filtering malicious web traffic, and Security Hub, which aggregates findings from every security tool in one place.1 min read

Understand the AWS shared responsibility model

• The Shared Responsibility ModelThe dividing line between what AWS secures automatically (security of the cloud) and what always stays the customer's responsibility (security in the cloud) — and why that line shifts depending on the service type used.2 min read

Identify AWS network services

• AWS Network ServicesVPC for building your own private network, Route 53 for translating domain names, and CloudFront for speeding up content delivery — three layers working together in any real application.2 min read

Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud

• Methods of Deploying and Operating in AWSFour ways to interact with AWS — the console, the CLI, SDKs, and infrastructure as code — and why mature teams gradually replace the first with the last.2 min read

Identify AWS database services

• AWS Database ServicesWhen to choose a managed relational database (RDS/Aurora) and when to choose serverless NoSQL (DynamoDB), and why many add a caching layer (ElastiCache) on top of either.2 min read

Identify AWS storage services

• AWS Storage ServicesS3 for network-accessed object storage, EBS as a disk attached to a single instance, and S3's multiple storage classes that turn access frequency into a real cost difference.2 min read

Identify AWS compute services

• AWS Compute ServicesThe spectrum of AWS compute from full control (EC2) to no server management at all (Lambda), and where containers (ECS/EKS/Fargate) fall in between.2 min read

Define the AWS global infrastructure

• AWS Global InfrastructureFour geographic units at increasing scale — Regions, Availability Zones, Edge Locations, and Local Zones — and how to pick the right Region for your application.2 min read

Recognize the various account structures in relation to AWS billing and pricing

• AWS Account StructuresFrom a single account to a multi-account strategy via AWS Organizations — consolidated billing, organizational units, and service control policies.2 min read

Identify resources available for billing support

• AWS Billing Support ResourcesFrom proactive alerts (Budgets) to historical analysis (Cost Explorer) and the most granular report available (CUR), and the four support plans that determine response speed when a real problem occurs.1 min read

Compare and contrast the various pricing models for AWS

• AWS Pricing ModelsThe difference between On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and Spot Instances — and when each model is actually the cheapest choice.2 min read