AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification

 AMAZON WEB SERVICES: 

AWS stands for Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing platform provided by Amazon. AWS offers a wide range of services including compute, storage, database, analytics, machine learning, networking, mobile, security, and IoT (Internet of Things) services. These services are available on a pay-as-you-go basis, which means that customers only pay for the resources they use. 

 

AWS has become one of the most popular cloud computing platforms in the world, serving millions of customers, ranging from startups to large enterprises. Some of the benefits of using AWS include scalability, flexibility, security, and reliability. AWS also provides a global infrastructure, allowing customers to deploy their applications in multiple regions around the world, providing low latency and high availability to end-users. 

 

WHY IT’S USED? 


AWS is used for several reasons, including: 

  1. Scalability: AWS allows users to quickly and easily scale their infrastructure up or down as needed, based on changes in demand. This means users can scale their applications to handle sudden traffic spikes or seasonal demand without having to invest in additional hardware. 


  1. Flexibility: AWS provides a wide range of services that can be used for various purposes, such as storage, computing, networking, and databases. This makes it easy for users to customize their infrastructure to meet their specific needs. 


  1. Cost-effectiveness: AWS is a pay-as-you-go service, which means that users only pay for the resources they use. This can be more cost-effective than investing in on-premises hardware that may need to be fully utilized. 


  1. Reliability: AWS has a highly reliable infrastructure that is designed to minimize downtime and ensure that applications are always available. AWS also offers backup and disaster recovery services to help users recover from unexpected events. 


  1. Security: AWS provides a highly secure infrastructure with encryption, network security, and identity and access management. AWS is also compliant with various security standards and regulations. 


Overall, AWS is used by organizations of all sizes to build and run applications, store and analyze data, and deliver content to users around the world. 

 

CERTIFICATIONS: 


FOUNDATIONAL 

  • Knowledge-based certification for a foundational understanding of AWS Cloud. 
  • No prior experience is needed. 


ASSOCIATE 

  • Role-based certifications that showcase your knowledge and skills on AWS and build your credibility as an AWS Cloud professional.  
  • Prior cloud and/or strong on-premises IT experience is recommended. 


PROFESSIONAL 

  • Role-based certifications validate the advanced skills and knowledge required to design secure, optimized, and modernized applications and automate processes on AWS.  
  • 2 years of prior AWS Cloud experience is recommended. 


SPECIALTY 

  • Dive deeper and position yourself as a trusted advisor to your stakeholders and/or customers in these strategic areas.  


 AWS CERTIFIED CLOUD PRACTITIONER: 


The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner offers a foundational understanding of AWS Cloud concepts, services, and terminology. This is a good starting point for individuals in non-technical roles with no prior IT or cloud experience or for those with on-premises IT experience looking for basic AWS Cloud fluency. This certification can give candidates the confidence to tackle role-based AWS Certifications. 

 

Who should take this exam? 

This certification is intended for candidates who may be: 

  • From a non-IT background and exploring a career in the AWS Cloud 
  • In sales/marketing/business analyst roles looking to communicate more effectively with stakeholders and customers about the AWS Cloud 
  • In on-premises IT or cloud roles, but new to AWS Cloud, and need a primer before diving into role-based AWS Certification(s) 

 

What you'll learn 

Preparing for and attaining this certification will give you: 

  • Basic understanding of IT services and their uses on AWS Cloud 
  • Knowledge of core AWS services and use cases, billing and pricing models, security concepts, and how the cloud impacts your business 

 

What does it take to earn this certification? 

To earn this certification, you will need to take and pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (CLF-C01). The exam features a combination of two question formats: multiple choice and multiple responses. Additional information, such as a detailed exam content outline, is in the exam guide. 

 

EXAM OVERVIEW: 

Level: Foundational 
Length: 90 minutes to complete the exam 
Cost: 100 USD 
Format: 65 questions; either multiple-choice or multiple responses 
Delivery method: Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam. 

 

CONCEPTS TO LEARN FOR THIS CERTIFICATION:

Domain 1: Cloud Concepts   

1.1 Define the AWS Cloud and its value proposition 

 Define the benefits of the AWS cloud including:  

  • Security  
  • Reliability  
  • High Availability  
  • Elasticity  
  • Agility  
  • Pay-as-you go pricing  
  • Scalability  
  • Global Reach  
  • Economy of scale   

 Explain how the AWS cloud allows users to focus on business value  

Shifting technical resources to revenue-generating activities as opposed to managing infrastructure  

 

1.2 Identify aspects of AWS Cloud economics  

 Define items that would be part of a Total Cost of Ownership proposal  

  • Understand the role of operational expenses (OpEx)  
  • Understand the role of capital expenses (CapEx)  
  • Understand labor costs associated with on-premises operations  
  • Understand the impact of software licensing costs when moving to the cloud  

 Identify which operations will reduce costs by moving to the cloud  

  • Right-sized infrastructure  
  • Benefits of automation  
  • Reduce compliance scope (for example, reporting)  
  • Managed services (for example, RDS, ECS, EKS, DynamoDB)  

1.3 Explain the different cloud architecture design principles  

 Explain the design principles  

  • Design for failure  
  • Decouple components versus monolithic architecture  
  • Implement elasticity in the cloud versus on-premises  
  • Think parallel. 

 

Domain 2: Security and Compliance  

2.1 Define the AWS shared responsibility model  

 Recognize the elements of the Shared Responsibility Model  

 Describe the customer’s responsibility on AWS 

  • Describe how the customer’s responsibilities may shift depending on the service used (for example with RDS, Lambda, or EC2)  

 Describe AWS responsibilities  

 

2.2 Define AWS Cloud security and compliance concepts  

 Identify where to find AWS compliance information  

  • Locations of lists of recognized available compliance controls (for example, HIPPA, SOCs)  
  • Recognize that compliance requirements vary among AWS services  

 At a high level, describe how customers achieve compliance on AWS  

  • Identify different encryption options on AWS (for example, In transit, At rest)  

 Describe who enables encryption on AWS for a given service  

 Recognize some services will aid in auditing and reporting  

  • Recognize that logs exist for auditing and monitoring (do not have to understand the logs)  
  • Define Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Config, and AWS CloudTrail  

 Explain the concept of least privileged access  

 

2.3 Identify AWS access management capabilities  

 Understand the purpose of User and Identity Management  

  • Access keys and password policies (rotation, complexity)  
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)  
  • AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)  
  • Groups/users  
  • Roles 
  • Policies managed policies compared to custom policies  
  • Tasks that require the use of root accounts Protection of root accounts  

2.4 Identify resources for security support  

 Recognize there are different network security capabilities  

  • Native AWS services (for example, security groups, Network ACLs, AWS WAF)  
  • 3rd. party security products from the AWS Marketplace  

 Recognize there is documentation and where to find it (for example, best practices, whitepapers, official documents)  

  • AWS Knowledge Center, Security Center, a security forum, and security blogs 
  • Partner Systems Integrators 

 Know that security checks are a component of AWS Trusted Advisor. 

 

 

Domain 3: Technology  

3.1 Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud  

 Identify at a high-level different ways of provisioning and operating in the AWS cloud  

  • Programmatic access, APIs, SDKs, AWS Management Console, CLI, Infrastructure as Code  

 Identify different types of cloud deployment models  

  • All in with cloud/cloud native 
  • Hybrid  
  • On-premises 

 Identify connectivity options  

  • VPN  
  • AWS Direct Connect  
  • Public internet  

 

3.2 Define the AWS global infrastructure  

 Describe the relationships among Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations  

 Describe how to achieve high availability through the use of multiple Availability Zones  

  • Recall that high availability is achieved by using multiple Availability Zones. 
  • Recognize that Availability Zones do not share single points of failure.

 Describe when to consider the use of multiple AWS Regions  

  • Disaster recovery/business continuity 
  • Low latency for end-users  
  • Data sovereignty  

 Describe at a high level the benefits of Edge Locations  

  • Amazon CloudFront  
  • AWS Global Accelerator  

 3.3 Identify the core AWS services  

 Describe the categories of services on AWS (compute, storage, network, database)  

 Identify AWS compute services  

  • Recognize there are different compute families  
  • Recognize the different services that provide compute (for example, AWS Lambda compared to Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon EC2, etc.)  
  • Recognize that elasticity is achieved through Auto Scaling  
  • Identify the purpose of load balancers  

 Identify different AWS storage services  

  • Describe Amazon S3  
  • Describe Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS)  
  • Describe Amazon S3 Glacier  
  • Describe AWS Snowball  
  • Describe Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)  
  • Describe AWS Storage Gateway  

 Identify AWS networking services  

  • Identify VPC  
  • Identify security groups  
  • Identify the purpose of Amazon Route 53  
  • Identify VPN, AWS Direct Connect  

  Identify different AWS database services  

  • Install databases on Amazon EC2 compared to AWS-managed databases. 
  • Identify Amazon RDS  
  • Identify Amazon DynamoDB  
  • Identify Amazon Redshift  

 3.4 Identify resources for technology support  

 Recognize there is documentation (best practices, whitepapers, AWS Knowledge Center, forums, blogs)  

 Identify the various levels and scope of AWS support  

  • AWS Abuse  
  • AWS support cases  
  • Premium support  
  • Technical Account Managers  

 Recognize there is a partner network (marketplace, third-party) including Independent Software Vendors and System Integrators  

 Identify sources of AWS technical assistance and knowledge including professional services, solution architects, training and certification, and the Amazon Partner Network.  

 Identify the benefits of using AWS Trusted Advisor Domain  

 

4: Billing and Pricing  

 

4.1 Compare and contrast the various pricing models for AWS (for example, On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instance pricing)  

 Identify scenarios/best fit for On-Demand Instance pricing  

 Identify scenarios/best fit for Reserved-Instance pricing  

  • Describe Reserved-Instances flexibility  
  • Describe Reserved-Instances behavior in AWS Organizations  

 Identify scenarios/best fit for Spot Instance pricing  

 

4.2 Recognize the various account structures about AWS billing and pricing 

 Recognize that consolidated billing is a feature of AWS Organizations  

 Identify how multiple accounts aid in allocating costs across departments  

 

4.3 Identify resources available for billing support  

 Identify ways to get billing support and information  

  • Cost Explorer, AWS Cost, and Usage Report, Amazon Quick Sight, third-party partners, and AWS Marketplace tools  
  • Open a billing support case.  
  • The role of the Concierge for AWS Enterprise Support Plan customers  

 Identify where to find pricing information on AWS services  

  • AWS Simple Monthly Calculator  
  • AWS Services product pages  
  • AWS Pricing API  

 Recognize that alarms/alerts exist  

 Identify how tags are used in cost allocation. 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

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