New on Cloud Academy: Red Hat, Agile, OWASP Labs, Amazon SageMaker Lab, Linux Command Line Lab, SQL, Git Labs, Scrum Master, Azure Architects Lab, and Much More

Happy New Year!

We hope you’re ready to kick your training in overdrive in 2020 because we have a ton of new content for you. Not only do we have a bunch of new courses, hands-on labs, and lab challenges on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, but we also have three new courses on Red Hat, three new Git Hands-on Labs, and five OWASP Lab Challenges!

2020 is already off to a great start for Cloud Academy, so we hope you’re ready to jump right into this new training content.


New on Cloud Academy

At any time, you can find all of our new releases by going to our Training Library and finding the section titled “New this month in our library.” You can also keep track of what new training is coming for the next 4-6 weeks with our Content Roadmap.


AWS

Course: Implementing Cross-Account Access Using IAM

This course focuses on how to implement cross-account access using IAM roles. It will explain what cross-account access is and why you would implement it. It then looks at the key steps involved in its configuration before a demonstration is given to show you how to implement it.

Course: How to Share Resources Across Multiple Accounts Using AWS Resource Access Manager

This course looks at how you can share resources such as subnets, transit gateways, Aurora DB clusters and more, between AWS accounts or within your AWS organization using the AWS Resource Access Manager.

Course: How to Share CMKs Across Multiple Accounts Using AWS KMS

This course focuses looks at how you can use the same Customer Master Keys (CMKs) for encryption across multiple AWS accounts using the Key Management Service.  It will define the key principles and components required to share the CMKs in addition to a demonstration on how to carry out those actions.

Hands-on Lab: Using SageMaker Notebooks to Train and Deploy Machine Learning Models

Amazon SageMaker notebooks provide a fully-managed environment for machine learning and data science development. You will use a SageMaker notebook instance to train and deploy a machine learning model using Python. You will go through the process of preparing raw data for use with machine learning algorithms.

Hands-on Lab: Amazon SageMaker Notebook Playground

Amazon SageMaker notebooks provide a fully-managed environment for machine learning and data science development. This playground lab allows you to choose from Amazon’s curated library of sample notebooks to learn about what is most important to you.


Azure

Course: Configuring Azure Application and Data Security

Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of options to secure and protect your data, regardless of the format. In this course, we will cover the protection of your data from external and internal threats, whether those threats be malicious or accidental. We will see how good design combined with the right configuration can secure your organization’s most precious asset: its data.

Lab Challenge: Microsoft Azure Architect Challenge

In this lab challenge, you will need to prove your general knowledge of content related to the AZ-300 certification. You’ll be given a desired end state and be required to reach it using your knowledge of Microsoft Azure and relevant tools.


Google Cloud Platform

Learning Path: Google Associate Cloud Engineer (preview)

This learning path is designed to help you and your team prepare for the Google Associate Cloud Engineer exam. Candidates who pass the Associate Cloud Engineer exam will earn the Associate Cloud Engineer certification from Google.

Course: Managing Networking and Compute Resources on Google Cloud Platform

This course has been designed to teach you how to manage networking and compute resources on Google Cloud Platform. The content in this course will help prepare you for the Associate Cloud Engineer exam.

Course: Deploying Applications on GCP – Data, Networking, and More

This course will help prepare you for the Google Professional Cloud Developer Certification exam, which requires a working knowledge of building cloud-native systems on GCP, and covers a wide variety of topics, from designing distributed systems to knowing how to create different storage resources.

Hands-on Lab: Analyze and Retrieve Information from Text Using Google Cloud Natural Language

Google Cloud Natural Language is a machine learning service that enables you to analyze and retrieve different kinds of information from text, or from a text document, uploaded to Cloud Storage. In this lab, you will use Cloud Natural Language to perform entity analysis and sentiment analysis.


DevOps

Course: Deploying Cloud-Native Applications with Microservices Architectures

Do you have a requirement to identify the right frameworks and tools to build your own Microservices Architecture? If so this course is for you! In this course, we’ll teach you how to combine different frameworks and tools into a microservices architecture that fits your organizational needs.

Course: Ansible Essentials: Simplicity in Automation Technical Overview 

Sprawling infrastructure and snowflake woes? Then Ansible is the solution you need! Ansible is designed to be minimal in nature, consistent, secure, and highly reliable. Ansible is a highly sought after skill in the marketplace with an extremely low learning curve for administrators, developers, and IT managers.

Hands-on Lab: Using Git for Version Control: Branching

Git is a version control system for tracking changes in code. In this lab, you’ll practice using Git to clone a repository, make a change to a file, and commit that change using Git. You’ll also learn more about the basics of version control with Git.

Hands-on Lab: Using Git for Version Control: Managing Workflows

In this lab, you’ll practice working with multiple remotes to show the distributed nature of Git. You’ll also use Git to undo a commit.

Hands-on Lab: Using Git for Version Control: Top 10 Git Commands

Git is a version control system for managing and tracking changes in code. In this lab, you’ll work a subjective list of top 10 Git commands. These commands will cover a wide range of use cases and with them, you’ll be equipped to efficiently manage workflows like an expert.


Red Hat

Course: Deploying Containerized Applications with Red Hat OpenShift

Containers – why all the hype? If you’re looking for answers then this course is for you! This course provides an in-depth review of containers and why they’ve become so popular. Complementing the technical discussions, several hands-on demonstrations are provided, enabling you to learn about the concepts of containerization by seeing them in action.

Course: Red Hat Virtualization and Infrastructure Migration Technical Overview

Virtualization is everywhere! Exactly what is it and how should you make use of it? The “Virtualization and Infrastructure Migration Technical Overview” course will help you discover the benefits of open source virtualization, how to better manage your virtualization assets, and the best way to move traditional workloads from one virtualization provider to an open virtualization.

Course: Red Hat Agile Integration Technical Overview

In this course, you will learn about the technical platforms that Red Hat offers for integration and messaging purposes. The course begins with a comprehensive look at the OpenShift Container Platform and then dives into Red Hat AMQ, which allows you to asynchronously connect various application platforms and exchange information reliably between them.


Business Transformation

Learning Path: Scrum Master

The Scrum Master Learning Path aims to introduce learners to the Scrum project management methodology. The modules take the learner through all of the key areas of Scrum, as well as some of the other Agile concepts that underpin Scrum to be able to understand and implement scrum as a working methodology within their organization.

Learning Path: Scrum Product Owner

The Scrum Product Owner Learning Path aims to introduce learners to the Scrum project management methodology, as well as a more in-depth look at the Product Owner role. The modules take the learner through all of the key areas of Scrum, as well as some of the other Agile concepts that underpin Scrum to be able to understand and implement scrum as a working methodology within their organization.

Course: AGILE Scrum Master Blended – Facilitating Effective Agile Meetings

Scrum masters need to be able to facilitate all of the agile events and meetings effectively. This course is aimed at Scrum Masters who want to improve their individual knowledge of facilitating scrum events in service to their Scrum team and their wider organization.

Course: AGILE Scrum Master Blended – Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholders come in many different shapes and sizes – they might be customers, users, managers, or colleagues, and you need to manage and collaborate with them effectively to maximize the value of your product.  This course will help you identify who your stakeholders are, what they’re interested in, what they need from you and your product, and how they might be able to help you out.

Course: AGILE Fundamentals

The QA Agile Fundamentals course provides a comprehensive but necessarily high-level overview of the agile mindset, agile frameworks, and agile processes. The course starts with the basics of agile, focussing on the agile mindset, values, and principles.


Programming

Learning Path: Learn SQL – From Newbie to Ninja

If you want to learn how to use structured query language (SQL) to create, query and manipulate data in relational databases then this learning path is for you. This collection of courses and labs will explain the fundamental concepts of SQL before extending your practical knowledge of Structured Query Language.

Course: Introduction to SQL

This course is suited to anyone familiar with computing who is interested in learning how to read and manipulate data stored in a relational database. You’ll cover all the basics to get you comfortable looking at a database and having conversations to facilitate problem-solving.

Course: SQL Master Class

In this course, we go beyond the basics to empower you with the skills, how-to knowledge, and hands-on expertise to work through and solve complex business issues with SQL. We go deep and hands-on with transactions, subqueries, inline views, summarized queries, the exists predicate, and set operations.

Course: Working with SQL – Data Manipulation

In this course, we learn how to use SQL to alter and delete tables and how to use primary and foreign keys. We examine common joins between tables in a relational database. We then delve into inner, outer, left and right joins before learning to manipulate data using the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE functions.


Security 

Hands-on Lab: Linux Command Line Fundamentals

Linux is a popular operating system that is used by a large cross-section of audiences including IT managers, system engineers, and network engineers. In this lab, you will learn the basic commands you can use in almost every Linux distro.

Hands-on Lab: OWASP Exercises: SQL Injection

In this lab, you will attempt a SQL injection attack using just a web browser in order to trick a back-end MySQL database server to execute queries injected by you, and thus gain access to data that you would not be allowed to access otherwise.

Hands-on Lab: OWASP Exercises: Command Execution

In this lab, you will attempt a command execution attack through the DVWA (Damn Vulnerable Web Application) website to force the webserver to execute operating system commands to read and display the contents of files and documents that reside outside of the webserver’s root hosting directory, and which normally should not be accessible from the web.

Hands-on Lab: OWASP Exercises: Dictionary Attack using Hydra

The dictionary attack is one of the most common ways of attempting to crack a user’s password. The attack works by attempting to use all of the words in a given dictionary file as the password for the user. If the user’s password is in the dictionary used in the attack, the attacker is able to gain access. Hydra is a well-known tool for performing dictionary attacks. In this lab, you will use Hydra to perform a dictionary attack on a locally hosted website.

Hands-on Lab: OWASP Exercises: Cross-Site Scripting Attack

Cross-Site Scripting Attacks, better known as XSS Attacks, are where an attacker sends malicious code through a trusted web site. The malicious code is sometimes a script (such as a JavaScript snippet) and is sent through input fields located on the website. In this lab, you will conduct an XSS attack through a DVWA (Damn Vulnerable Web Application) and exploit a vulnerability to hijack a user’s browser session cookie.

Hands-on Lab: OWASP Exercises: Exploiting the Heartbleed Bug

The Heartbleed bug is a serious vulnerability that was found to exist on webservers using the OpenSSL cryptographic library, a popular implementation of the TLS protocol for webservers. In this lab, you will perform the Heartbleed attack using the MetaSploit Framework in order to dump the contents of a vulnerable webserver using an unpatched version of OpenSSL.


Platform Features

Platform Speed Improvements

First of all, we’re excited to announce the release of what we internally called our Need for speed project!

We’ve improved loading times for the most popular pages on our platform. This all started because we felt that we could improve load times on some pages. It may not be flashy, but it’s at the core of the user experience and was something we really wanted to improve.

As always, we set some unbelievably high expectations. Every time we were asked, “How much do you want to improve the loading time…” our answer was, “by one hundred percent.” We were really impressed that our dev team was happy to accept the challenge.

Here some amazing results:

  1. Mobile App: Both the Android and iOS apps are now blazingly fast (and by that we mean 0 milliseconds of loading time) for the most common use cases, i.e. Training Plan loading, Continue Studying content loading, Search, and our library.
  2. Learning Paths: Pages load in less than 500 ms.
  3. Labs: If you go back to the last lab you visited, the subsequent loads take 0 ms. Advancing to the next step in a lab is now immediate.
  4. Courses: Just like with our labs, the loading of the next lecture is now immediate.

Management Dashboard Improvements

Customer Success Manager contact box

We have a fantastic Customer Success team involved in helping our customers thrive within our enterprise products. Now you can reach our Customer Success team directly from our platform to help you address any challenges in your company’s training program.

Reaching the Customer Success Manager (CSM) of your account is as simple as clicking on the dedicated box and sending a message.

Customer Success Box

Enterprise Report sent via email

Cloud Academy reports are an easy way for exporting activities and performance of your company for in-depth analysis. Team managers now can have these reports be delivered directly to your email inbox.

The feature is automated: every time you request the generation of a new report, it is sent automatically to you as soon as it’s ready.

Enterprise Report sent via email

Teams Navigation

When you’re in the Cloud Academy management dashboard, you get everything you need for insight into your teams. The dashboard enables you to organize your company members in dedicated groups and follow them individually along their training journey.

With our new improvement, we streamlined the UI to let you navigate faster between the Team and Members page. Here’s how to get a glimpse of the functionality:

1 – From the Members page, you can jump directly to a user’s team detail just clicking on the “Team” tag.

Teams Navigation

2 – On the Teams page, you get an immediate overview of what users are team managers. This has an added bonus of easily highlighting which teams haven’t yet been assigned a manager.

New “Move to Team” action

Within dynamic organizations, it’s common to create temporary teams or rearrange them periodically. To support this, we added another action called “Move to Team”.

This new action complements the current “Add to Team” action. While the “add” action helps you to allocate a single member to multiple teams, the new “move” action forces a user to be part of only one team.

You can find the new action on both the Teams and Members area, and you can trigger it on multiple users at once.

“Move to Team” Action

New Search Engine

Our new search engine allows you to easily find the exact piece of content you need — as quickly as possible. We wanted to give you a different way to find search results with smaller, “bite-sized” pieces of content. Not only can you find what you’re looking for faster, but you can now quickly filter down to find individual quiz or exam questions and even blogs posts and whitepapers! With this new search engine, you’ll now be able to easily find all of our content. 

Check out all of the content types that we added to our search results. 

Cloud Academy Search Engine

Stay updated

As always, we use Cloud Academy Blog to keep you up-to-date on the latest technology and best practices. All of our new blogs, reports, and updates go directly to our Cloud Academy social media accounts. For the latest updates, follow and like us on the following social media platforms:

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