AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a huge player in the cloud computing world, so if you want to become a cloud architect, this Fundamentals of AWS learning path is a great place to start. It's been created especially for beginners and is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of the foundational services offered by AWS including compute, storage, networking, database, and identity & access management (IAM). As you work your way through these topics, you'll also have the opportunity to put your newly acquired knowledge into practice thanks to our hands-on labs, which allow you to try out AWS services in a live cloud environment.

But it's about much more than AWS: this learning path will also introduce you to some core cloud principles like distributed storage, concurrent computing, redundancy, and security, which can be applied to any cloud vendor. At the end of the learning path, you will be presented with a Certificate of Excellence.

If you have any feedback relating to this learning path, please reach out to us at support@cloudacademy.com. 

Learning Objectives

• Understand the compute services available in AWS and how to launch an EC2 instance
• Learn about auto-scaling and load balancing in AWS
• Learn the various storage services offered by AWS and get hands-on experience with both Amazon S3 and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
• Learn about networking in AWS and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud
• Get a comprehensive understanding of AWS databases and learn how to create your own RDS database
• Understand how Identity and Access Management can be used to handle security in AWS cloud environments

Intended Audience

This learning path is designed for anyone interested in taking the first step on their journey into the world of Amazon Web Services.

Prerequisites

To get the most from this learning path, make sure you are already familiar with the basics of cloud computing, in particular, infrastructure as a service (IAAS), as well as Microsoft and Linux essentials, including DNS and DHCP, networking essentials, virtualization, and storage. 

Updates

• April 6, 2018 - Added Learning Path Exam
• 20th May 2019 - Compute Fundamentals for AWS updated to include content on Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) & Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (EKS)
• 18th June 2019 - Added resources AWS Global Infrastructure: Availability Zones, Regions, Edge Locations, RegionalEdge Caches & AWS Shared Responsibility Model
• 18th June 2019 - Added course: Working with AWS Networking and Amazon VPC & AWS: Overview of AWS Identity & Access Management (IAM)
• 18th June 2019 - Removed outdated content: Technical Fundamentals of AWS / Networking Fundamentals of AWS / Security Fundamentals of AWS

FAQs

• What is AWS Web Services?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud platform that offers database storage, content delivery, and compute power to personal and business users. Having seen exponential growth in the sector, AWS allows users to build sophisticated applications at a scalable through leveraging AWS cloud products and solutions.

• How does AWS Cloud work?

Put simply, Amazon Web Services is a collection of Cloud Computing services that allow users to 'rent' their services, creating a seamless approach for many business models. Many allow AWS to run their websites or apps for reasons including cost, storage, efficiency, and security.

• What are the different types of Cloud Computing?

There are three different types of cloud computing: Software-as-a-Service (Saas), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). These make up the Cloud Computing stack with Software ranked highest, followed by Platform and Infrastructure.