AWS CCP Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary list covering core concepts, services, and architecture for the CLF-C01 exam.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A cloud service model that provides direct access to compute, storage, and networking assets, allowing customers to configure the full operating stack.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

A cloud service model that abstracts infrastructure complexity, providing an interface for developers to deploy application code without managing underlying hardware.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

A cloud service model that delivers software applications over the internet directly to end users, such as Gmail or Amazon WorkSpaces.

Elasticity

The ability of a system to automatically add or remove resources to meet changing usage demands in real time.

Scalability

The ability of an application to grow in capacity to meet demand, typically through the automated launching of new server instances.

Hypervisor

Software used to administrate and partition physical server resources into multiple virtual machines.

AWS Free Tier

A program offering new account holders free lightweight access to core AWS services for the first 12 months, plus some permanently free services.

Soft Limit

A default service limit imposed by AWS that can be increased upon manual request by the customer.

AWS Organizations

A service that centralizes administration, billing, and security for multiple AWS accounts controlled by a single company.

Technical Account Manager (TAM)

A dedicated AWS advocate provided under the Enterprise Support plan to guide customers through planning and proactive reviews.

Trusted Advisor

An automated tool that checks account configurations against best practices in cost optimization, security, fault tolerance, and performance.

AWS Region

A distinct geographic area that contains at least two interconnected Availability Zones.

Availability Zone (AZ)

One or more independent, fault-protected data centers within an AWS Region, connected with low-latency networking.

Edge Location

A site where physical infrastructure is deployed to provide low-latency user access to data via services like CloudFront.

Shared Responsibility Model

A framework defining that AWS is responsible for security 'of' the cloud (hardware/global infrastructure), while the customer is responsible for security 'in' the cloud (data/OS).

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

A global service used to securely control access to AWS resources through users, groups, roles, and policies.

Principle of Least Privilege

A security best practice of granting users or services only the minimum permissions necessary to perform their specific tasks.

IAM Role

An identity created in IAM that is intended to be assumed by an AWS service or a federated user rather than a specific person.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

A security layer requiring two forms of identification: something the user knows (password) and something they have (a digital token device).

AWS Artifact

A compliance resource providing access to official AWS security and compliance reports and select online agreements.

AWS Key Management Service (KMS)

A service used to create and manage customer master keys (CMKs) to encrypt and decrypt data used by AWS services.

Resource Tags

Optional metadata labels (key-value pairs) assigned to AWS resources to help identify, organize, and filter them.

AWS CLI

A unified command-line tool that allows users to manage AWS services at the API level using scripts or terminal commands.

Amazon CloudWatch

A monitoring service that collects metrics, stores logs, and triggers actions or alarms based on resource performance.

AWS CloudTrail

A service that logs every API call and action performed in an AWS account for security monitoring and auditing.

Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

A software template containing an operating system and application stack used to launch EC2 instances.

EC2 Instance Store

Temporary, SSD-backed block storage volumes physically attached to the host computer but whose data is lost if the instance stops.

Elastic Block Store (EBS)

A persistent block storage service designed for use with EC2 instances that survives instance shutdowns.

On-Demand Instances

A pricing model where you pay for compute capacity by the hour or second with no long-term commitment.

Spot Instances

A pricing model that allows customers to bid on unused AWS capacity at steep discounts, provided they can handle sudden shutdowns.

Amazon Lightsail

A simplified, managed service offering 'blueprints' to launch virtual private servers, storage, and databases at a flat monthly rate.

AWS Lambda

A serverless computing service that runs code in response to events and automatically manages the underlying compute resources.

Amazon S3

An object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.

Bucket

A container for objects stored in Amazon S3; names must be globally unique across all of AWS.

Durability

The percent likelihood that a stored object will not be lost over the course of a year.

S3 Glacier

An extremely low-cost storage class for S3 designed for long-term data archiving with retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours.

AWS Storage Gateway

A hybrid storage service that enables on-premises applications to seamlessly use AWS cloud storage.

AWS Snowball

A physical hardware appliance used to transfer massive amounts of data (terabytes to petabytes) into and out of the AWS cloud.

Amazon RDS

A managed service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale relational databases such as MySQL, Oracle, or SQL Server.

Amazon Aurora

A proprietary, MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database engine built for the cloud that offers high performance and availability.

Amazon DynamoDB

A fully managed NoSQL database service that provides fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability.

Amazon Redshift

A fast, fully managed data warehouse that makes it simple and cost-effective to analyze all your data using standard SQL.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

A logically isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define.

Security Group

A virtual firewall that controls inbound and outbound traffic at the EC2 instance level.

AWS Direct Connect

A network service that provides an alternative to using the internet to connect a customer\'s on-premises site to AWS.

Amazon CloudFront

A global content delivery network (CDN) service that securely delivers data, videos, and applications with low latency.

AWS CloudFormation

An infrastructure-as-code service that allows you to define and provision AWS resources using JSON or YAML templates.

Continuous Integration (CI)

A software development practice where developers regularly merge code changes into a central repository, triggering automated builds and tests.

Well-Architected Framework

A set of five pillars (Reliability, Performance, Security, Cost, and Operational Excellence) used to evaluate cloud architectures.

AWS Systems Manager

A service that provides visibility and control of your AWS infrastructure, allowing you to automate operational tasks like patching.