AWS Cloud Practioner Exam

AWS EC2

Elastic Compute Cloud. Re-sizeable virtual instances in the cloud; pay for compute capacity by the second/hour

AWS EC2 Auto Scaling

Automatically adds/removes EC2 instances based on demand to maintain performance and control cost

AWS ELB (Elastic Load Balancing)

Distributes incoming traffic across multiple EC2 instances or targets for high availability

AWS Lambda

Server-less compute service; runs code in response to events; pay per execution

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

PaaS that automatically handles deployment, scaling and provisioning for webapps

AWS ECS (Elastic Container Service)

Fully managed container orchestration for Docker containers

AWS EKS

Fully managed Kubernetes service on AWS

AWS Fargate

Server-less compute engine for containers; works with ECS and EKS, no EC2 instances to manage

AWS Outposts

Extends AWS Infrastructure to on-premise data centers

AWS Lightsail

Simplified virtual private server service for simple workloads and small projects; used for beginner AWS customers

AWS S3

Simple Storage Service to store objects with unlimited scalability where data is stored in buckets

AWS S3 Glacier

Low-cost object storage for data archiving and long-term backup with retrieval times from minutes to hours

AWS EBS (Elastic Block Store)

Persistent block-level storage volumes for use with EC2 instances

AWS EFS (Elastic File System)

Scalable, fully managed shared file storage for use with EC2; accessible by multiple instances

AWS Storage Gateway

Hybrid Cloud storage service connecting on-premises environments to AWS cloud storage

AWS Snowball

Physical Device used to transfer large amounts of data in/out of AWS

AWS RDS (Relational Database Service)

Fully managed relational database supporting engines like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MariaDB

AWS Aurora

AWS’s own MySQL/Postgre SQL-compatible relational database, built for cloud with higher performance.

AWS DynamoDB

NoSQL key-value database

AWS RedShift

Data warehouse service for large-scale data analytics

AWS DMS (Data Migration Service)

Helps migrate databases to AWS quickly and securely with minimal downtime

AWS ElastiCache

In-memory caching to improve application performance

AWS VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)

Provision an isolated section of AWS cloud to launch resources in a virtual network

AWS Route 53

Scalable DNS and domain name registration service that routes end users to applications

AWS CloudFront

Content Delivery Network (CDN) that securely delivers data, videos and APIs with low latency via edge locations

AWS Direct Connect

Dedicated private network connection from on-premises to AWS, bypassing the public internet

AWS VPN

Establishes a secure encrypted connection between on-premises networks and AWS VPCs over the internet

AWS Transit Gateway

Connects VPCs and on-premises networks through a central hub

AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management)

Securely manage access to AWS services/resources; controls users, groups, roles, and permissions

AWS Organizations

Centrally manage and govern multiple AWS accounts; enables consolidated billing

AWS GuardDuty

Intelligent threat detection service that continously monitors for malicious activity

AWS Shield

Managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service

AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)

Protects web applications from common web exploits by filtering traffic

AWS KMS (Key Management Service)

Create and control encryption keys used to encrypt data across AWS services

AWS Artifact

Self-service portal for accessing AWS compliance reports and agreements

AWS Trusted Advisor

Provides real-time recommendations for cost optimization, security, performance, and fault tolerance

AWS Inspector

Automated assessment service that checks EC2 instances and containers for vulnerabilities

AWS CloudTrail

Logs and tracks all API calls/user activity across your AWS account for auditing

Amazon Macie

Uses Machine learning to discover and protect sensitive data (like PII) stored in S3

AWS CloudWatch

Monitoring and serviceability service; collects metrics, logs, and sets alarms for AWS resources

AWS Systems Manager

Centralized operational hub to view and control infrastructure, patch instances, and automate tasks

AWS Trusted Advisor vs Personal Heal Dashboard

TA: gives account-wide best practice checkcs

HD: alerts on AWS events affecting your resources

AWS Support Plans: Basic

Free for all AWS accounts. Includes access to documentation, whitepapers, and support forums. 7 core advisor checks and personal health dashboard

AWS Support Plans: Developer

$29 a month or % of usage Business hours email access to Cloud Support Associates. General guidance responses within 24 hours. One primary contact can open cases. Best for testing/development

AWS Support Plans: Business

$100 a month or % of usage; 24/7 phone/email/chat access to cloud support engineers Production-system-down response within 1 hour; production-system-impaired within 4 hours. Full trusted advisor checks, unlimited contact. Recommended for production workloads

AWS Support Plans: Enterprise

$15,000 a month minimum or % of usage. Designated Technical Account Manager (TAM). Business-Critical-System-Down response within 15 minutes. Includes Infrastructure Event Management, Well-Architected Reviews, and Concierge Support. For mission-critical workloads

AWS Pricing Calculator

Tool to estimate the cost of AWS services before deployment

AWS Cost Explorer

Visualize, understand and manage AWS costs and usage over time

AWS Budgets

Set custom and usage budgets that alert you when thresholds are exceeded

AWS Free Tier

Offers limited free usage of many AWS services for 12 months or always-free, depending on service

On-Demand Instances

Pay for EC2 compute capacity by the hour/second with no long term commitment; most flexible and most expensive

Reserved Instances

Commit to EC2 usage for 1 or 3 years in exchange for a significant discount vs On-Demand

Spot Instances

Bid on unused EC2 capacity at steep discounts; can be interrupted by AWS with short notice

Savings Plan

Flexible pricing model offering lower prices in exchange for a committed usage amount (measured in $/hour) over 1 or 3 years

AWS SNS (Simple Notification Service)

Fully managed publisher and subscriber messaging service for sending notifications between distributed systems

AWS SQS (Simple Queue Service)

Fully managed message queuing service that decouples and scales micro services/distributed systems

AWS API Gateway

Fully managed service to create, publish and manage APIs at scale

AWS Well-Architected Framework

Set of best practices across six pillars (operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, sustainability) for designing cloud architectures

Shared Responsibility Model

AWS is responsible for security “of” the cloud (infrastructure)'; customer is responsible for security “in” the cloud (data, access, configuration)

Regions

Physical, geographically separate locations around the world where AWS clusters data centers

AZ (Availability Zones)

One or more discrete data centers within a Region, each with independent power / networking, used for fault tolerance

Edge locations

Sites used by CloudFront to cache content closer to end users for lower latency

Well-Architected Framework: Operational Excellence

Pillar focused on running and monitoring systems to deliver business value, and continually improving process and procedures

Well-Architected Framework: Security

Pillar focused on proteecting data, systems, and assets through risk assessments, access control, and mitigation strategies

Well-Architected Framework: Reliability

Pillar focused on ensuring a workload performs its intended function correctly and consistently, and can recover quickly from failure

Well-Architected Framework: Performance Efficiency

Pillar focused on using IT an computing resources efficiently, and maintaining that efficiency as demand changes and technology evolves

Well-Architected Framework: Cost Optimzation

Pillar focused on avoiding uncessary costs and running systems to deliver maximum business value at the lowest price point

Well-Architected Framework: Sustainability

Pillar focused on minimizing the environmental impact of running cloud workloads

AWS Design Principle: Stop guessing capacity

Use only the compute capacity you need, and scale uo/down automatically as demand changes instead of over-provisioning

AWS Design Principle: Test systems at production scale

Create a production-scale test environment on demand, run your tests, then decommission it - pay only while it’s running

AWS Design Principle: Automate to make architectural experimentation easier

Use automation (like IaC) to create and replicate workloads at low cost, track changes, and easily revert when needed

AWS Design Principle: Allow for evolutionary architectures

Design systems so they can change and improve over time as business needs evolution, instead of treating architecture as a one-time decision

AWS Principle: Drive architectures using data

Collect and analyze data on how architectural choices affect workload behavior to make informed, fact-based improvements

AWS Management Console

Web-based graphical user interface (GUI) for accessing, configuring, and managing AWS services through a browser

AWS CLI (Command Line Interface)

Unified tool that lets you control multiple AWS services from terminal/command line using commands and scripts

AWS SDKs (Software Development Kits)

Language-specific libraries (e.g. Python/Boto3, Java, Javascript) that let developers interact with AWS services directly from application code

Three ways to interact with AWS

Management Console (GUI, browser-based), CLI (command-line, scriptable) and SDKs (programmatic access within application code)

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

A template containing the software configuration (OS, application server, applications) needed to launch an EC2 instance. Can be preconfigured by AWS, the community, or custom-built by you

EC2 Tenancy: Shared (Default)

Multiple AWS accounts’ EC2 instances may run on the same physical hardware; most cost-effective

EC2 Tenancy: Dedicated Instances

EC2 instances run on hardware dedicated to a single customer, but that hardware may still be shared by other instances in the same account

EC2 Tenancy: Dedicated Instances

EC2 instances run on hardware dedicate to a single customer, but that hardware may still be shared by other instances in the same account

EC2 Tenancy: Dedicated Hosts

A physical server fully dedicated to your use, giving visibility and control over which instances run on it - often used to meet licensing or compliance requirements

Containers

A lightweight, standalone package of software that bundles code and all its dependencies so it runs consistently across environments; multiple containers can share the same OS kernel, unlike VMs. On AWS, managed with services like ECS, EKS, and Fargate

AWS Lex

AI service for building conversational interfaces (chatbots and voice assistants) using natural language understanding and automatic speech recognition; same tech behind Amazon Alexa

OUs (Organizational Units)

Containers within AWS Organizations used to group AWS accounts together so you can apply policies (like Service Control Policies) to multiple accounts at once

AWS License Manager

Service that helps you track, manage, and enforce software license usage (from vendors like Microsoft, Oracle, SAP) acrosss your AWS and on-premises environments to avoid non-compliance and overspending

AWS Always-Free Services

Services with no additional charge beyond the resources they manage, including: IAM, VPC, AWS Organizations (Consolidated Billing), Auto Scaling, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS Cloud Formation, and AWS OpsWorks

NACL (Network Access Control List)

Stateless, Control traffic at network level

Security Groups

Act as a firewall for associated AWS EC2 instances, controlling both inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level. (stateful)

AWS Global Accelerator

Networking service that improves application’s availability and performance for global users. It routes traffic through Amazon’s private global network infrastructure rather than the unpredictable public internet, directing users to the closest, healthiest regional endpoint

AWS Timestream

Fully managed, purpose-built time series database service designed to efficiently store and analyze massive volumes of time-stamped data, such as IoT telemetry, application logs, and market ticks

AWS Security Blog

An official blog maintained by AWS that provides informative and timely articles, best practices, and insights related to security in AWS, offering valuable guidance to help users enhance the security of their AWS environments and resources

AWS Secrets Manager

Fully managed service that helps safely store, rotate and retrieve secrets (sensitive data)

AWS Documentation website

Offers comprehensive official technical documentation, user guides, and best practices for all AWS services

AWS re:Post

Community-driven platform by AWS that allows users to share and discover recommended best practices and solutions for AWS services and workloads

AWS CodeDeploy

AWS service that automates code deployments to any instance including EC2 instances and instances running on-premises, allowing developers to automate the deployment process and release new features quickly

AWS CodeBuild

Fully managed build service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces ready-to-deploy software packages

SSE-KMS

Encrypts data stored in S3 at rest using a KMS key managed by the customer

AWS FSx

Service that offers fully managed third-party file systems with the native compatibility and feature sets for workloads such as Windows-based storage, high-performance computing, machine learning, and electronic design automation

AWS Client VPN

Provides secure SSL/TLS-based connections for remote employees, can be integrated with AWS Directory Service for authentication and allows access to multiple VPCs through endpoints