Amanda Cross

New Content: Ten Programming Labs and a Category for Microsoft 365

Cloud Academy August Content Update

In July, our team of expert certification specialists released five new or updated learning paths, 23 courses, 26 hands-on labs, and eight lab challenges!

Good news: we’ve created a new category in the training library! It is a dedicated space for Microsoft 365 content, which is in high demand from our customers. Going forward, you can find all your Microsoft 365 in one convenient place in the training library.

New Content on Cloud Academy

June’s new content fell into these categories:

AWS

COURSE: Using AWS Secrets Manager to Manage, Rotate, and Retrieve Secrets

This course explores AWS Secrets Manager to help you understand how it can be used to implement security best practices by protecting your secrets such as database credentials, API keys, and plaintext.

COURSE: Understanding Data File Formats

This course explores various data file formats that are used for data analytics, big data, and machine learning. It’s ideal for you if you’re looking to understand which file type you should use for your big data or analytic pipelines and make a decision on which file type is right for your workload.

LEARNING PATH: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02) Certification Preparation for AWS

This certification learning path is specifically designed to prepare you for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02) exam released by AWS in July 2021.

COURSE: What is a Data Lake

This course covers the basics of data lakes, how they are different from data warehouses, and the components that make up a successful data lake.

COURSE: AWS Cost Management: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

In this course, you will learn about KPIs, how to use them correctly, and how to make the most of them in your individual use case.

COURSE: Working with Amazon EBS Multi-Attach

This course discusses Multi-Attach, a feature of the Amazon Elastic Block Store which allows multiple instances to access the same volume. You’ll get introduced to the feature and learn what it is, including its operational features and its restrictions.

COURSE: AWS Auto Scaling Policy Types

This course explores the various auto scaling policies that exist within AWS. We’ll cover what each policy does, their strengths and weaknesses, and when best to use them. Understanding the ins and outs of these policies will help you save money and keep your customers happy by removing latency and downtime.

COURSE: Amazon Redshift Resize Operations

This course covers how to scale Amazon Redshift, focusing on how it can scale storage and compute resources to meet demand.

COURSE: Amazon Redshift Concurrency Scaling

This course covers Amazon Redshift’s Concurrency Scaling feature, which adds query processing power to a cluster for specific users or queues as needed. You’ll get introduced to concurrency scaling, what it does, its basic purpose, and how to activate it. We’ll round things off with a demo from the AWS platform, which will guide you through the process of setting up concurrency scaling in your environment.

COURSE: AWS Cost Management: Cost Allocation

In this course, you’ll learn about cost allocation in AWS, including best practices and how to apply common strategies.

HANDS-ON LAB: Configuring an AWS Lambda Target on an Application Load Balancer

The lab walks the user through the process of creating a new AWS Lambda function and configuring it as a target for an Application Load Balancer (ALB).

LEARNING PATH: AWS Management & Governance

AWS provides a number of tools and services to help you enable, provision, and operate your AWS environment, and this learning path contains all of our content relating to the services listed within the AWS Management & Governance category of the AWS Management Console. It’s packed full of courses, labs, and assessments, allowing you to develop your skills and knowledge in a specific area.

HANDS-ON LAB: Mitigating Amazon RDS Performance Bottlenecks With a Read Replica

In this lab, you’ll learn how to create read replicas in Amazon RDS.

COURSE: Tablet Talk: AWS Storage Explained

This Tablet Talk explores all the storage options that are available within AWS.

HANDS-ON LAB: Configuring Redirects for a Static Website Hosted on Amazon S3

This lab walks you through the process of configuring static website redirects from one Amazon S3 bucket to another, as well as conditional routing rules.

LAB CHALLENGE: AWS Storage Patterns Challenge

This challenge tests your knowledge of storage options in AWS and should be of interest to those studying for the Solutions Architect Associate certification.

HANDS-ON LAB: Migrating Hard-coded Secrets in AWS Lambda to AWS Secrets Manager

In this lab, you will migrate a hard-coded API key in an AWS Lambda function to AWS Secrets Manager and update the function code to follow a secure pattern that is also easy to maintain.

LAB CHALLENGE: AWS CodeBuild Challenge

This AWS lab challenge tests your ability to configure an AWS CodeBuild project.

LAB CHALLENGE: Amazon S3 Static Website Challenge

This lab challenge tests your ability to configure a static website hosted in Amazon S3, as well as URL redirects and conditional error page rendering.

LAB CHALLENGE: Amazon Elastic Block Store Challenge

This lab challenge tests your ability to create and attach EBS volumes and should be of interest to anyone studying for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification.

Google Cloud

HANDS-ON LAB: Starting Using Cloud Firestore in Datastore Mode as NoSQL Database

This lab will help you to understand the core components of Firestore in Datastore mode, as well as create a NoSQL database and insert the first document.

HANDS-ON LAB: Working with Advanced Components in Cloud Firestore in Datastore Mode

This lab guides you in using indexes and hierarchies and performing GQL as the queries.

LAB CHALLENGE: Google Cloud Firestore in Datastore Mode Challenge

This challenge tests your ability to build document-based databases on Google Cloud.

HANDS-ON LAB: Google Cloud Firestore in Datastore Mode Playground

This is a free GCP environment where you can practice creating a document-based database, creating entities, and then querying them by using GQL.

HANDS-ON LAB: Building an API with Google Cloud API Gateway

This lab guides you in creating an API to expose handled and hosted workloads on Google Cloud such as Cloud Functions and Cloud Run services.

LAB CHALLENGE: Google Cloud API Gateway Challenge

This challenge tests your knowledge of creating and exposing Google’s workloads through an API.

HANDS-ON LAB: Google Cloud API Gateway Playground

By following this playground, you’ll be able to create an API and expose a Google hosted workload with the API.

Microsoft Azure

COURSE: Introduction to Microsoft Power Virtual Agents

This course will teach you how to use and build your own chatbots.

COURSE: Data Governance in Microsoft 365

In this course, we take a look at data governance in Microsoft 365 and what it’s used for.

COURSE: Introduction to Microsoft Virtual Power Agents

This course will teach you how to use and build your own chatbots using Microsoft Virtual Power Agents.

HANDS-ON LAB: Monitor Azure Data Factory using Azure Monitor

In this hands-on lab, you will provision a monitoring solution for the ADF resource using Azure Log Analytics and Log solution.

HANDS-ON LAB: Optimizing Azure SQL Databases

This lab expands our Azure SQL Database lab content and covers some exam objectives for AZ-300/Azure Database Administrator Associate certification candidates.

COURSE: Deploy and Migrate an SAP Landscape to Azure

This course looks at how crucial infrastructure components can be deployed and configured in preparation for migrating servers and data from SAP to the Azure cloud.

LEARNING PATH: Getting Hands-On with Azure CLI

This learning path takes you through the deployment and management of cloud technologies on Microsoft Azure using the CLI tools.

LAB CHALLENGE: Azure Data Factory Monitoring Challenge

This lab challenges you to create monitoring services for Data Factory activities and adds to the Data Engineer (DP-203) Exam library catalog.

HANDS-ON LAB: Introduction to Azure Bicep Templates

This introductory lab guides you through the process of creating a basic Bicep template and deploying it using the Azure CLI.

HANDS-ON LAB: Securing Azure Storage Account using Private Endpoints

In this lab, you’ll learn how to secure storage accounts in Azure using private endpoints.

HANDS-ON LAB: Using Parameters and Variables with Azure Bicep Templates

This is a beginner-level lab that introduces learners to storing reusable and often-referenced values as parameters and variables.

HANDS-ON LAB: Utilizing Parameter Files with Azure Bicep Templates

In this lab, you’ll learn the benefits of collating parameters in a separate parameters file and will also have the opportunity to deploy a Bicep template alongside it.

COURSE: Records Management and Retention in Microsoft 365

This course explores records management and retention, starting with a quick intro to the service, and then taking a look at how to use retention labels to declare records.

Data Science & AI

COURSE: Building Machine Learning Pipelines with scikit-learn — Part One

This course is the first in a two-part series that covers how to build machine learning pipelines using scikit-learn, a library for the Python programming language.

COURSE: Building Machine Learning Pipelines with scikit-learn — Part Two

This course is the second in a two-part series that covers how to build machine learning pipelines using scikit-learn, a library for the Python programming language.

HANDS-ON LAB: Machine Learning Python Challenge: Classification

The aim of this lab is to challenge you on building a supervised machine learning pipeline to predict the probability that a subject will suffer from a heart stroke.

HANDS-ON LAB: Machine Learning Python Challenge: Regression

In this lab challenge, you will be tested on your scikit-learn skills to build a machine learning pipeline to predict the price of a stock.

Programming

HANDS-ON LAB: Introducing Generics for Classes and Functions in Scala

This lab guides you in the usage of generics to implement classes and functions polymorphism in Scala.

HANDS-ON LAB: Introduction to Scala Challenge

This challenge tests your knowledge of Scala obtained from our Scala-based hands-on labs.

HANDS-ON LAB: Leveraging Common Scala Immutable Data Structures

This lab allows you to learn the most commonly used data structures such as Lists, Ranges, and Maps.

HANDS-ON LAB: Writing and Using Higher-Order and Anonymous Functions in Scala

This lab will help you understand and work with higher-order functions (functions that take as argument a function, or that return a function) and anonymous functions (functions that don’t have a formal definition).

HANDS-ON LAB: Integrating Common Higher-Order Functions with the For-Expressions in Scala

This lab will help you understand and use for-expressions in Scala to write clean and readable code, and implement higher-order functions.

HANDS-ON LAB: Mastering Pattern Matching in Scala

This lab will help you understand and use pattern matching to match specific conditions, and execute specific expressions depending on the match.

LAB CHALLENGE: Advanced Scala Challenge

This challenge tests your knowledge of advanced Scala components like higher-order functions, for-expressions, and pattern matching.

HANDS-ON LAB: Scala Playground

This playground allows you to fully experiment with all the principles you have learned from the various Scala-based labs and challenges.

LEARNING PATH: Coding with the Functional Programming Paradigm Using Scala

Get confident with the principles and components that Scala offers to start coding following the functional programming paradigm.

HANDS-ON LAB: Working and Visualizing Cryptos Data with CoinGecko and Python

In this lab, you will use the CoinGecko API along with Python to retrieve cryptocurrencies data. You will then use Plotly to visualize the cryptos data.

HANDS-ON LAB: Visualizing Crypto Data with CoinGecko Playground

This lab playground lets you experiment in any way you see fit with the CoinGecko API to retrieve and visualize cryptocurrency data.

Security

LEARNING PATH: IT Security Fundamentals

This is a beginner-level learning path designed to provide you with an introduction to information technology security concepts.

COURSE: Getting Started with Information Security

This course introduces you to the fundamentals of information security.

COURSE: What is the CIA Triad?

This course looks at the CIA triad, which is an essential tenet of cybersecurity.

COURSE: The ISO 27000 Series and Other Common Security Frameworks

This course explores the ISO 27000 series assurance framework, as well as other common security frameworks adopted by organizations to maintain security in their operations.

COURSE: Fundamentals of Information Security Risk Management

This course looks at the key aspects of risk management including risk identification, risk mitigation, and risk controls.

COURSE: Understanding Cyberattacks and How to Counter Them

In this brief course, we look at how cyberattacks are carried out and the various groups of people who have an interest in carrying out such attacks, otherwise known as threat actors.

COURSE: GDPR Overview

This brief course gives a general overview of GDPR and its six principles.

Webinars

Check out the complete list, including links to sign up for future webinars and watch recordings of past ones, on our Webinars page.

Upcoming — click to register

Recent — click to view recording

New Product Features

***TECHNICAL BULLETIN***

An updated version of the Members report is now available. The previous version has been deprecated and will no longer be available after October 31, 2021. You should update any processes that depend on the legacy report before that date. You can read more in the Members Report – Legacy article in the help center.

Changes to the way the product looks or works appear in the Cloud Academy Release Notes page.

The tools in the upper right corner of the Organization screen have changed slightly. The Invite a user button saves you a click when adding new users manually. Also, the widget that appears when you click the number of members has been updated.

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