Series · 29 of 29 parts published
Learn AWS from Scratch
An ordered series that walks you through Amazon Web Services: nine sections, from the fundamentals and permissions to servers, networking, storage, modern applications and security. Each part builds on the one before.
Parts finished
Section 1 of 9 Fundamentals
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01
What is AWS? The Global Infrastructure, from Regions to Edge Locations
What cloud computing is, how AWS is spread across the world in Regions, Availability Zones and edge locations, how to pick a Region, and who is responsible for what.
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02
IAM: Who Can Do What in Your AWS Account
How to manage identities and permissions with users, groups, policies and roles, stop using the root user, and apply least privilege.
Section 2 of 9 Servers and their storage
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03
EC2: Your First Server
What EC2 is, how to choose an instance type, how to protect it with security groups, and how to launch a real web server that sets itself up on boot, using an IAM role instead of keys.
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04
EC2: Pricing Options and Networking
How to pay far less for the same server with Savings Plans and Spot, the difference between private, public and Elastic IPs, placement groups, network interfaces and hibernation.
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05
Server Storage: EBS, AMI and EFS
Where does a server's data live? EBS disks and snapshots, AMI system images, local instance store and the shared EFS file system, and when to choose each.
Section 3 of 9 High availability and scaling
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06
Load Balancing: Keeping Your Site Up
The difference between scaling and high availability, how a load balancer spreads visitors across servers and avoids failed ones, the ALB, NLB and GWLB types, and a hands-on where you watch the balancing happen.
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07
Auto Scaling and Building a Full Application
Let AWS add servers at peak times, remove them when it's quiet and replace failed ones, then bring everything together into the design of a full, fault-tolerant application, and see how Elastic Beanstalk shortens the work.
Section 4 of 9 Databases
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08
Managed Databases: RDS and Aurora
Stop running your database by hand. How RDS handles backups, patches and failover for you, the difference between Multi-AZ and read replicas, what Aurora adds, and a hands-on where you build a private database.
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09
Caching with ElastiCache
Why reading from the database on every request is slow and expensive, how an in-memory cache solves it, the Valkey, Redis and Memcached engines, the ways to keep data fresh, and a hands-on where you build a cache and a leaderboard.
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10
Which Database Should You Choose?
Relational, key-value, document, graph, time series or search. What each kind is good for, how to choose among AWS's many databases with a few simple questions, and how a real application's data layer grows step by step.
Section 5 of 9 Networking and content delivery
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11
DNS and Route 53: Your Site's Address
How a name like example.com turns into an address, what the record types mean, the difference between CNAME and Alias, Route 53's routing policies and health checks, and a hands-on that doesn't require buying a domain.
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12
CloudFront and Global Accelerator: Closer to Your Visitors
Why distance slows your site, how CloudFront keeps copies near your visitors, how to protect your origin and clear the cache, what Global Accelerator does for traffic that can't be cached, and when to choose each.
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13
VPC: Your Private Network
Open up the network your servers have been running in, and understand address ranges, subnets, internet and NAT gateways, route tables, safe access, two firewalls and flow logs, then build a VPC from scratch.
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14
VPC: Connecting Networks
How to connect VPCs with peering and Transit Gateway, reach AWS services privately through endpoints, link your office with VPN or Direct Connect, and control network costs, with a hands-on for the two most useful connections.
Section 6 of 9 Object storage
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15
S3: Object Storage Basics
What object storage is and how it differs from disks, buckets and objects, who can reach them, versioning and replication, hosting a static site, and a hands-on where you watch versioning rescue a deleted file.
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16
S3: Storage Classes and Lifecycle
Not every file deserves the same price. Get to know S3's storage classes from Standard to Deep Archive, when to choose each, how lifecycle rules move your files automatically, and how much you can save on your bill.
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17
S3: Security and Encryption
How to encrypt your data in S3 and who holds the keys, enforcing HTTPS, sharing a private file with a signed link, understanding CORS, and protecting data from deletion with MFA Delete and Object Lock, with a hands-on.
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18
More Storage and Transfer Services
Ready-made file systems in FSx, linking your office to cloud storage with Storage Gateway, moving data with DataSync and Transfer Family, what to do when your data outgrows the internet, and a full comparison of storage services.
Section 7 of 9 Modern applications
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19
Connecting Services: SQS, SNS and Kinesis
Why services should not call each other directly, how an SQS queue absorbs load, how SNS sends one message to many, when you need a Kinesis stream, and a hands-on where you build a fan-out with a filter.
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20
Containers: ECS, Fargate and EKS
What a container is and how it differs from a virtual machine, storing images in ECR, running them with ECS on Fargate, the difference between the two IAM roles, when to choose EKS, and a hands-on where a service replaces a stopped task.
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21
Serverless: Lambda, API Gateway and DynamoDB
Run code without servers and pay only when it runs. How Lambda works and what limits it, cold starts, DynamoDB tables and their keys, API Gateway as the front door, and a hands-on where you build a working API.
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22
Designing Serverless Applications
Putting the pieces together. Long workflows with Step Functions, users with Cognito, two complete application designs, microservices and a cheap win with CloudFront, with hands-ons on a file that triggers a function and a workflow that decides.
Section 8 of 9 Data and AI
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23
Analyzing Data: Athena, Redshift and Glue
Getting answers from your data. Querying S3 with SQL in Athena, a data warehouse with Redshift, preparing data with Glue, plus search, big jobs, dashboards and streams, with a hands-on where Parquet cuts what a query reads.
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24
Ready-Made AI Services
Add AI to your application without a machine learning team. Services for images, speech, translation and documents, generative models on Bedrock, building your own with SageMaker AI, which ones support Arabic, and a hands-on chaining several of them.
Section 9 of 9 Security and operations
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25
Monitoring and Auditing: CloudWatch, CloudTrail and Config
How do you know your application is healthy, who changed what, and whether your settings are still as they should be? Metrics, logs and alarms in CloudWatch, EventBridge, CloudTrail and Config, with a hands-on alarm that emails you.
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26
Advanced Identity: Organizations and Identity Center
Managing many accounts with Organizations and SCPs, conditions in IAM policies, roles versus resource policies, permissions boundaries and how AWS makes a decision, single sign-on with Identity Center, and a hands-on simulating policies.
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27
Encryption, Secrets and Threat Protection
How KMS protects your keys, where to keep passwords with Parameter Store and Secrets Manager, free certificates from ACM, stopping attacks with WAF and Shield, and detecting threats with GuardDuty, Inspector and Macie, with a hands-on.
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28
Disaster Recovery and Migration
What RPO and RTO mean, the four disaster recovery strategies and their cost, central backups with AWS Backup, moving databases with DMS and servers with AWS Transform MGN, and a hands-on where you delete data and bring it back.
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29
Cost and Good Architecture
The series finale. Where your money goes on the network, the tools that watch your bill, the Well-Architected Framework, building everything from a template with CloudFormation, Systems Manager, and where to go after this series, with a hands-on.