AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner – Certification Prep
Course Curriculum
21 modules designed to master the subject.
Module 1: Exam Orientation and Study Strategy
Certification purpose and target audience, exam structure, domain weightings, and how to prepare.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Purpose and Target Audience
Discover the purpose of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification and who stands to benefit most from achieving this foundational credential. Understand the value it brings to your career and organization.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Exam Structure, Question Types, and Scoring
Prepare effectively for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam by understanding its format, question styles (multiple choice, multiple response), and scoring methodology. Master the exam day strategy to maximize your performance.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Domain Weightings and Key Focus Areas
Master the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam by understanding its domain weightings and focusing your study on the most critical areas. Learn what's covered in each domain and how to prioritize your preparation.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Study Plan and Resources
Equip yourself with an effective study plan and leverage the best resources to prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. Learn how to maximize your learning and ensure exam readiness.
Module 2: What Is Cloud Computing?
Benefits of cloud computing, cloud economics, CAPEX vs OPEX, and on-demand delivery models.
Benefits of Cloud Computing: Why the Cloud Matters
Explore the transformative benefits of cloud computing, including agility, elasticity, cost savings, and global reach. Understand how moving to the cloud can revolutionize business operations and innovation.
Cloud Economics: Understanding Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Delve into cloud economics, focusing on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Learn how cloud computing impacts financial models, reduces upfront investments, and shifts expenditures to optimize IT budgets.
CAPEX vs. OPEX: Financial Models in Cloud Computing
Understand the fundamental difference between Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) in IT. Learn how cloud computing shifts costs from CAPEX to OPEX and the significant financial implications for businesses.
On-Demand Delivery Models: The Essence of Cloud Agility
Explore the fundamental on-demand delivery model of cloud computing, emphasizing self-service provisioning, rapid elasticity, and pay-as-you-go pricing. Understand how these characteristics empower agility and cost-efficiency in AWS.
Module 3: Cloud Deployment Models
Public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and examples of each.
Cloud Deployment Models: Understanding the Public Cloud
Dive into the Public Cloud deployment model, exploring its characteristics, benefits, and common use cases. Learn why AWS is a prime example of a Public Cloud and how organizations leverage its vast resources.
Cloud Deployment Models: Understanding the Private Cloud
Explore the Private Cloud deployment model, including its characteristics, benefits, and typical use cases. Learn why organizations choose private clouds for enhanced control and data residency requirements.
Cloud Deployment Models: Embracing the Hybrid Cloud
Discover the Hybrid Cloud deployment model, its characteristics, benefits, and typical use cases. Learn how organizations integrate public and private clouds for optimal flexibility, security, and cost efficiency.
Cloud Deployment Models: Real-World Examples
Reinforce your understanding of cloud deployment models with practical examples of public, private, and hybrid clouds. Explore how diverse organizations leverage each model to meet their unique business and technical requirements.
Module 4: Cloud Service Models
IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, their characteristics and use cases.
Cloud Service Models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Explore Infrastructure as a Service IaaS, the foundational cloud service model. Understand its characteristics, benefits, typical use cases, and how AWS services like EC2 embody the IaaS paradigm.
Cloud Service Models: Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Explore Platform as a Service (PaaS), the cloud service model that abstracts infrastructure management. Understand its characteristics, benefits, typical use cases, and how AWS services like Elastic Beanstalk embody the PaaS paradigm.
Cloud Service Models: Software as a Service (SaaS)
Discover Software as a Service (SaaS), the most abstracted cloud model. Understand its characteristics, benefits for end-users, typical use cases, and how AWS offers its own SaaS solutions.
Cloud Service Models: Comparing IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
Gain a comparative overview of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS cloud service models. Understand their unique characteristics, responsibilities, and use cases to choose the right model for any cloud computing scenario.
Module 5: High-Level Architecture and Design
Scalability, elasticity, high availability, fault tolerance, global infrastructure, regions, Availability Zones, and Edge locations.
High-Level Architecture: Scalability and Elasticity
Master the fundamental concepts of scalability and elasticity in cloud computing. Understand the difference between vertical and horizontal scaling, and how AWS services enable dynamic resource adjustment to meet varying demands.
High-Level Architecture: High Availability and Fault Tolerance
Master the crucial cloud design principles of High Availability and Fault Tolerance. Understand their differences, importance for business continuity, and how AWS global infrastructure and services enable resilient architectures.
AWS Global Infrastructure: Regions, AZs, and Edge Locations
Explore the robust AWS Global Infrastructure, including the hierarchical structure of Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations. Understand how this architecture ensures high availability, fault tolerance, and low latency for your cloud deployments worldwide.
AWS Global Infrastructure: Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations
Explore the robust AWS Global Infrastructure, including the hierarchical structure of Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations. Understand how this architecture ensures high availability, fault tolerance, and low latency for your cloud deployments worldwide.
Module 6: AWS Shared Responsibility Model
Shared Responsibility basics, what AWS is responsible for, and what the customer is responsible for.
AWS Shared Responsibility Model: The Core of Cloud Security
Master the foundational AWS Shared Responsibility Model, a critical concept for cloud security and the Cloud Practitioner exam. Understand who is responsible for what, ensuring robust security in the cloud.
AWS Shared Responsibility Model: AWS's Role - 'Security OF the Cloud'
Delve deeper into AWS's specific responsibilities under the Shared Responsibility Model. Understand what 'Security OF the Cloud' truly entails, covering AWS's obligations for physical security, infrastructure, networking, and managed services.
AWS Shared Responsibility Model: Customer's Role - 'Security IN the Cloud'
Gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer's responsibilities under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model. Explore what 'Security IN the Cloud' entails for your data, operating systems, applications, and network configurations.
Module 7: Identity and Access Management
IAM concepts: users, groups, roles, policies, best practices, and Multi-factor authentication (MFA).
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): Users, Groups, Roles, and Policies
Master the fundamental concepts of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Learn about IAM users, groups, roles, and policies, and how they work together to securely control access to your AWS resources with the principle of least privilege.
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): Best Practices
Fortify your AWS environment by implementing IAM best practices. Learn essential recommendations for managing the root user, enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), applying the principle of least privilege, and conducting regular security audits.
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Fortify your AWS account security with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Learn what MFA is, why it's critical, the various types of MFA devices supported by AWS, and step-by-step guidance on how to enable it for different AWS identities.
Module 8: Security Tools and Services
AWS Identity services (IAM, AWS SSO), key protection services (KMS, Secrets Manager), web application security (WAF, Shield), and encryption.
AWS Security Tools and Services: Identity Services (IAM, AWS SSO)
Explore AWS Identity services, focusing on the foundational role of IAM and the centralized access management capabilities of AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO). Learn how these services secure access across multiple AWS accounts and integrated applications.
AWS Security Tools and Services: Key Protection (KMS, Secrets Manager)
Master AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and AWS Secrets Manager, essential tools for protecting encryption keys and sensitive credentials. Learn how these services enhance data security, compliance, and streamline credential management across your AWS environment.
AWS Security Tools and Services: Web Application Security (WAF, Shield)
Fortify your web applications against common exploits and DDoS attacks using AWS WAF and AWS Shield. Understand how these services provide essential layers of defense, ensuring the availability and integrity of your online presence.
AWS Security Tools and Services: Encryption at Rest vs. In Transit
Master the crucial concepts of encryption at rest and encryption in transit within AWS. Understand their importance for data protection, how AWS services implement them, and the various encryption options available to secure your sensitive information.
Module 9: Compliance and Governance
AWS compliance programs, shared compliance responsibility, AWS Artifact, and governance frameworks.
AWS Security and Compliance: Key Compliance Programs (ISO, SOC, PCI DSS)
Master the critical AWS compliance programs like ISO 27001, SOC reports, and PCI DSS. Understand the importance of compliance in cloud environments and how AWS helps customers meet their regulatory obligations through shared responsibility and robust certifications.
AWS Compliance and Governance: Shared Compliance Responsibility
Deepen your understanding of shared compliance responsibility in the AWS Cloud. Learn how AWS and customers collaborate to meet regulatory requirements, differentiating between AWS's compliance status and the customer's ongoing compliance obligations.
AWS Compliance and Governance: AWS Artifact for Audit Documents
Master AWS Artifact, your on-demand portal for compliance reports. Learn how to access AWS's security and compliance documents (ISO, SOC, PCI DSS) to streamline your own audit processes and validate AWS's compliance posture.
AWS Compliance and Governance: Governance Frameworks and Policies
Master cloud governance frameworks and policies within AWS. Learn how organizations establish internal oversight, integrate AWS tools for policy enforcement, and ensure ongoing compliance and controlled resource management in the cloud.
Module 10: Compute Core Services
Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and containers (ECS, EKS, Fargate).
AWS Compute Core Services: Amazon EC2 - Instances, Types, and Use Cases
Master Amazon EC2, the cornerstone of AWS compute. Explore EC2 instance types and families, key features like AMIs and Security Groups, and common use cases for launching and managing virtual servers in the cloud.
AWS Compute Core Services: AWS Lambda and Serverless Computing
Master AWS Lambda, the cornerstone of serverless computing. Understand its benefits like no server management, automatic scaling, and pay-per-execution. Explore common use cases and differentiate Lambda from EC2 as you delve into serverless architecture.
AWS Compute Core Services: AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Master AWS Elastic Beanstalk, a powerful Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering that simplifies deployment and scaling of web applications. Understand its benefits, supported platforms, and how it abstracts infrastructure management for developers.
AWS Compute Core Services: Containers - ECS, EKS, and Fargate Overview
Explore the world of containers on AWS, focusing on Amazon Elastic Container Service ECS, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service EKS, and AWS Fargate. Understand their purpose, key features, and when to choose each for deploying scalable and portable microservices.
Module 11: Storage Core Services
Amazon S3, data lifecycle management, block storage (EBS), and file storage (EFS).
AWS Storage Core Services: Amazon S3 Basics and Storage Classes
Master Amazon S3, the leading object storage service. Explore its core concepts, unparalleled durability and scalability, diverse storage classes (Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier, One Zone-IA), and common use cases for cloud-native data management.
AWS Storage Core Services: Data Lifecycle Management with Amazon S3
Master Amazon S3 Data Lifecycle Management. Learn how to optimize costs and meet compliance requirements by automatically transitioning objects between storage classes and expiring old data using S3 Lifecycle policies.
AWS Storage Core Services: Block Storage with Amazon EBS
Master Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), AWS's high-performance block storage solution. Understand the characteristics of block storage, various EBS volume types (SSD, HDD), their performance metrics, and how they provide persistent storage for Amazon EC2 instances.
AWS Storage Core Services: File Storage with Amazon EFS
Discover Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), AWS's scalable and elastic file storage solution. Understand its shared access characteristics, common use cases, and how it differs from S3 and EBS for persistent data storage in the cloud.
Module 12: Database Core Services
Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Aurora, and when to choose each database type.
AWS Database Core Services: Amazon RDS and Managed Relational Databases
Master Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service), AWS's managed service for relational databases. Understand its benefits, supported database engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, Aurora), and key features like Multi-AZ deployments and Read Replicas for high availability and performance.
AWS Database Core Services: Amazon DynamoDB (NoSQL)
Master Amazon DynamoDB, AWS's fully managed NoSQL database service. Discover its unparalleled performance with single-digit millisecond latency at any scale, its flexible data model, and common use cases for web, mobile, and gaming applications.
AWS Database Core Services: Amazon Aurora Overview
Discover Amazon Aurora, AWS's high-performance, fully managed, MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database. Explore its unique architecture, unparalleled speed, high availability, and durability, and understand why it's a top choice for demanding enterprise workloads.
AWS Database Core Services: When to Choose Each Database Type
Master the art of selecting the optimal AWS database service. This comprehensive guide compares Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, and Aurora, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and ideal use cases to help you make informed architectural decisions for your applications.
Module 13: Networking and Content Delivery
Amazon VPC, subnets, routing, Elastic Load Balancing, and Amazon CloudFront.
AWS Networking and Content Delivery: Amazon VPC Fundamentals
Master Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), the foundational networking service in AWS. Learn its core concepts: VPC, subnets, route tables, Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway, Security Groups, and Network ACLs, and how to build a logically isolated and secure network in the cloud.
AWS Networking and Content Delivery: Subnets, Routing, IGW, and NAT Gateway
Dive deeper into Amazon VPC networking. Master the critical roles of subnets, route tables, Internet Gateway (IGW) for public internet access, and NAT Gateway for outbound internet access from private subnets, ensuring secure and controlled network topology.
AWS Networking and Content Delivery: Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
Master Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), AWS's highly available service for distributing incoming application traffic across multiple targets. Explore the different types of load balancers (ALB, NLB, CLB), their features, and when to use each for building scalable, fault-tolerant web applications.
AWS Networking and Content Delivery: Amazon CloudFront and Edge Caching
Master Amazon CloudFront, AWS's global Content Delivery Network (CDN). Learn its purpose, benefits (low latency, high transfer speeds, security), and how it leverages Edge Locations to accelerate content delivery and enhance user experience worldwide.
Module 14: Application Integration
Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, AWS Step Functions, and EventBridge.
AWS Application Integration: Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service)
Master Amazon SQS, AWS's fully managed message queuing service. Learn how SQS enables decoupled, asynchronous communication between microservices, enhances scalability and reliability, and explore its common use cases for building robust distributed applications.
AWS Application Integration: Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service)
Master Amazon SNS, AWS's fully managed publish/subscribe messaging service. Learn its fan-out capabilities, multi-protocol support, and how it enables real-time notifications, application-to-application communication, and decoupling for scalable distributed systems.
AWS Application Integration: AWS Step Functions (Orchestration Concepts)
Master AWS Step Functions, AWS's serverless workflow orchestration service. Learn how to build resilient, distributed applications by defining visual workflows, managing state, handling errors, and coordinating multiple AWS services, surpassing the capabilities of simple messaging.
AWS Application Integration: Amazon EventBridge Overview
Master Amazon EventBridge, AWS's serverless event bus that simplifies event-driven architectures. Learn its purpose, benefits (real-time event routing, schema registry, custom events), and how it connects application components and third-party SaaS applications for building dynamic, responsive systems.
Module 15: AWS Pricing Fundamentals
Pricing models (On-demand, Reserved, Spot), EC2 pricing components, S3 pricing factors, and serverless cost considerations.
AWS Billing, Pricing, and Support: Pricing Models - On-Demand, Reserved, Spot
Master AWS pricing models: On-Demand, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instances. Learn the characteristics, benefits, and ideal use cases for each to effectively optimize your cloud costs and select the most appropriate pricing strategy for diverse workloads.
AWS Pricing Fundamentals: EC2 Pricing Components
Deconstruct Amazon EC2 pricing components to optimize your cloud spend. Learn how instance type, Region, operating system, purchase option (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot), and data transfer each contribute to your overall EC2 costs.
AWS Pricing Fundamentals: S3 Pricing Factors
Deconstruct Amazon S3 pricing factors to optimize your object storage costs. Learn how S3 expenses are calculated based on storage class, amount of data stored, data transfer (egress), and the number of requests made against your objects.
AWS Pricing Fundamentals: Cost Considerations for Serverless
Master cost optimization for serverless architectures on AWS. Understand how pricing is calculated for AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB, and other serverless services based on invocations, compute duration, memory, and data transfer, and learn effective strategies to control your serverless spend.
Module 16: Billing and Cost Management Tools
AWS Billing Dashboard, AWS Cost Explorer, Budgets and cost alerts, and Cost allocation tags.
AWS Billing and Cost Management: The AWS Billing Dashboard
Master the AWS Billing Dashboard, your central hub for monitoring and managing AWS costs. Learn to navigate its key features, including monthly bill summaries, cost breakdowns by service, and tools to track your spending, ensuring transparent financial oversight of your cloud resources.
AWS Billing and Cost Management: AWS Cost Explorer
Master AWS Cost Explorer, the powerful tool for visualizing, understanding, and managing your AWS costs and usage over time. Learn its key features for analyzing past spend, forecasting future costs, and identifying optimization opportunities across your AWS environment.
AWS Billing and Cost Management: Budgets and Cost Alerts
Master AWS Budgets, a powerful tool for proactive cost management. Learn to set custom cost and usage budgets, monitor your spending against predefined thresholds, and receive alerts when actual or forecasted costs exceed your limits, preventing bill shock and ensuring financial control.
AWS Billing and Cost Management: Cost Allocation Tags
Master AWS Cost Allocation Tags, a vital tool for organizing resources and gaining granular visibility into your cloud spend. Learn how to apply tags, activate them for billing, and use them to track costs by project, department, or environment for enhanced financial accountability.
Module 17: AWS Support Plans
Support levels, features, and Trusted Advisor overview.
AWS Support Plans: Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise
Master the different AWS Support Plans – Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise. Learn the characteristics, benefits, and typical use cases of each level, and how they provide varying degrees of technical support, response times, and access to AWS expertise for your cloud operations.
AWS Support Plans: Features and When to Choose Each Level
Delve into the specific features of each AWS Support Plan (Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise), including technical support channels, response times, and access to AWS Trusted Advisor. Learn to choose the optimal plan based on your workload criticality and operational requirements.
AWS Support Plans: Trusted Advisor Overview
Master AWS Trusted Advisor, your personalized cloud expert. Learn how this service inspects your AWS environment, provides real-time guidance across cost optimization, performance, security, and fault tolerance, and differentiates checks available across AWS Support Plans.
Module 18: Security Best Practices
Principle of least privilege, authentication and authorization, logging and monitoring, and incident response.
AWS Security Best Practices: Principle of Least Privilege
Master the foundational security principle of Least Privilege. Understand why it's critical for cloud security, how it's implemented using AWS IAM (users, groups, roles, policies), and its immense benefits in minimizing the impact of security breaches across your AWS environment.
AWS Security Best Practices: Authentication and Authorization
Master the fundamental security concepts of authentication and authorization within AWS. Understand their critical differences, how AWS IAM orchestrates identity verification and permission grants, and the various methods used for each to secure your cloud resources effectively.
AWS Security Best Practices: Logging and Monitoring Basics (CloudTrail, CloudWatch)
Master fundamental logging and monitoring services in AWS – CloudTrail and CloudWatch. Understand their distinct purposes for auditing API calls versus monitoring resource metrics, and how they contribute to robust security, operational excellence, and efficient troubleshooting in your cloud environment.
AWS Security Best Practices: Incident Response Basics
Master the fundamental concepts of incident response in the AWS Cloud. Learn the importance of a well-defined plan, outline the key phases (preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis), and discover relevant AWS services that aid in each stage for effective security incident management.
Module 19: Real-World Scenarios and Use Cases
Typical business use cases, migration patterns, scalable web applications, and data analytics pipelines.
AWS Real-World Scenarios: Typical Business Use Cases for AWS Services
Explore common business use cases for AWS services, mapping real-world scenarios like website hosting, data analytics, mobile backends, and enterprise IT to the most appropriate AWS services and architectural patterns. Understand how AWS empowers diverse industries to innovate and scale.
AWS Real-World Scenarios: Cloud Migration Patterns - Lift and Shift
Master the 'Lift and Shift' cloud migration strategy, a common approach for moving on-premises applications to AWS. Understand its benefits (speed, minimal changes), drawbacks, and when it's the most appropriate strategy for rapid cloud adoption.
AWS Real-World Scenarios: Building Scalable Web Applications
Master the architectural best practices for designing and building highly scalable and available web applications on AWS. Learn to leverage Elastic Load Balancing, Auto Scaling, Amazon RDS, Amazon S3, and Amazon CloudFront to ensure your application can handle any traffic load with resilience.
AWS Real-World Scenarios: Data Analytics Pipelines Overview
Master the architecture of data analytics pipelines on AWS. Explore common stages including ingestion, storage, processing, analysis, and visualization, mapping each to appropriate AWS services like S3, Kinesis, Glue, Athena, Redshift, and QuickSight for deriving valuable business insights.
Module 20: Mock Exams and Exam Strategy
Practice question walkthrough, time management strategies, common distractors, and final readiness checklist.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Practice Question Walkthrough
Master the art of answering AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam questions with a detailed walkthrough. Analyze different question types, common distractors, and the thought process for arriving at the correct answer, reinforcing key concepts for exam success.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Time Management Strategies for the Exam
Master essential time management strategies tailored for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. Learn techniques like the two-pass approach, effective question prioritization, avoiding common pitfalls, and leveraging exam features to maximize your score within the strict time limits.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Common Distractors and How to Approach Them
Master the art of identifying and avoiding common distractors in AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam questions. Learn typical patterns of incorrect answers, hone your critical thinking, and reinforce the importance of reading carefully and applying AWS best practices for exam success.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Final Readiness Checklist
Ensure your complete readiness for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam with this comprehensive final checklist. Consolidate all key preparation steps, including core concept review, extensive question practice, understanding exam logistics, and vital mental preparation for confident exam day success.
Capstone Wrap-Up
Full mock exam simulation, review of weak areas, recap of key concepts, and next steps.
Course Overview
Format
Self-paced reading
Duration
Approx 6-8 hours
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