AWS Cloud Architect Roadmap
Learning path for AWS Solutions Architect topics
1. Cloud Foundations
Understand cloud computing concepts and AWS fundamentals.
Cloud Computing Concepts
Learn the fundamentals of cloud computing, deployment models, and service models.
Cloud Computing Concepts
Learn the fundamentals of cloud computing, deployment models, and service models.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create your AWS Free Tier account
- Explore the AWS Management Console
- Set up billing alerts and budgets
🔴 Required to Move On
AWS Global Infrastructure
Understand AWS regions, availability zones, and edge locations.
AWS Global Infrastructure
Understand AWS regions, availability zones, and edge locations.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Map out AWS regions and their use cases
- Understand latency implications for your region
🔴 Required to Move On
2. Compute Services
Master AWS compute services from EC2 to serverless.
Amazon EC2
Virtual servers in the cloud - the backbone of AWS compute.
Amazon EC2
Virtual servers in the cloud - the backbone of AWS compute.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Launch an EC2 instance and SSH into it
- Create a custom AMI from your instance
- Set up an Auto Scaling group with launch template
- Configure EC2 with user data scripts
🔴 Required to Move On
AWS Lambda
Run code without provisioning servers - serverless compute.
AWS Lambda
Run code without provisioning servers - serverless compute.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create a Lambda function triggered by S3
- Build an API with Lambda and API Gateway
- Implement a scheduled Lambda (CloudWatch Events)
🔴 Required to Move On
ECS & EKS
Container orchestration on AWS.
ECS & EKS
Container orchestration on AWS.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Deploy a containerized app on ECS Fargate
- Set up an EKS cluster with eksctl
- Push images to ECR
🔴 Required to Move On
3. Storage Services
Master AWS storage options from object to block storage.
Amazon S3
Object storage for the internet - unlimited scalable storage.
Amazon S3
Object storage for the internet - unlimited scalable storage.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create an S3 bucket with versioning
- Set up lifecycle policies for cost optimization
- Host a static website on S3
- Configure cross-region replication
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon EBS
Block storage for EC2 instances.
Amazon EBS
Block storage for EC2 instances.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create and attach EBS volumes to EC2
- Create and restore from snapshots
- Migrate gp2 to gp3 volumes
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon EFS
Managed file storage for EC2 and containers.
Amazon EFS
Managed file storage for EC2 and containers.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create an EFS file system
- Mount EFS on multiple EC2 instances
🔴 Required to Move On
4. Networking & Content Delivery
Build secure and scalable network architectures.
Amazon VPC
Isolated cloud resources in a virtual network.
Amazon VPC
Isolated cloud resources in a virtual network.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Design a VPC with public and private subnets
- Set up NAT Gateway for private subnet internet access
- Configure VPC peering between two VPCs
- Implement VPC Flow Logs
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon Route 53
Scalable DNS and domain registration.
Amazon Route 53
Scalable DNS and domain registration.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Register a domain or transfer existing
- Configure DNS records for your application
- Set up health checks and failover routing
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon CloudFront
Global content delivery network (CDN).
Amazon CloudFront
Global content delivery network (CDN).
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create a CloudFront distribution for S3
- Configure caching behaviors
- Set up HTTPS with ACM certificate
🔴 Required to Move On
Elastic Load Balancing
Distribute traffic across multiple targets.
Elastic Load Balancing
Distribute traffic across multiple targets.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create an ALB with multiple target groups
- Configure path-based routing
- Set up SSL termination
🔴 Required to Move On
5. Database Services
Choose and implement the right database for your workload.
Amazon RDS
Managed relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.).
Amazon RDS
Managed relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.).
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Launch an RDS instance with Multi-AZ
- Create read replicas for scaling
- Configure automated backups and snapshots
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon DynamoDB
Fully managed NoSQL database.
Amazon DynamoDB
Fully managed NoSQL database.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Design a DynamoDB table with GSI
- Implement on-demand vs provisioned capacity
- Set up DynamoDB Streams with Lambda
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon Aurora
High-performance managed relational database.
Amazon Aurora
High-performance managed relational database.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Compare Aurora vs RDS performance
- Set up Aurora Serverless v2
🔴 Required to Move On
Amazon ElastiCache
In-memory caching with Redis or Memcached.
Amazon ElastiCache
In-memory caching with Redis or Memcached.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Set up ElastiCache Redis cluster
- Implement caching for database queries
🔴 Required to Move On
6. Security & Identity
Implement security best practices and identity management.
AWS IAM
Identity and access management for AWS resources.
AWS IAM
Identity and access management for AWS resources.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create IAM policies following least privilege
- Set up cross-account access with roles
- Implement MFA for all users
🔴 Required to Move On
AWS KMS & Secrets Manager
Encryption key management and secrets storage.
AWS KMS & Secrets Manager
Encryption key management and secrets storage.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create and use KMS keys for encryption
- Store and rotate secrets with Secrets Manager
🔴 Required to Move On
7. Monitoring & Management
Monitor, log, and manage your AWS infrastructure.
Amazon CloudWatch
Monitoring and observability for AWS resources.
Amazon CloudWatch
Monitoring and observability for AWS resources.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Create custom CloudWatch dashboards
- Set up alarms for critical metrics
- Configure log groups and retention
🔴 Required to Move On
AWS CloudTrail
Track API calls and user activity.
AWS CloudTrail
Track API calls and user activity.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Enable CloudTrail for all regions
- Analyze CloudTrail logs for security
🔴 Required to Move On
8. Architecture Patterns
Design well-architected solutions on AWS.
Well-Architected Framework
AWS best practices for building secure, resilient, and efficient systems.
Well-Architected Framework
AWS best practices for building secure, resilient, and efficient systems.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Review an existing workload against the 6 pillars
- Use the Well-Architected Tool
🔴 Required to Move On
High Availability & Disaster Recovery
Design systems that survive failures.
High Availability & Disaster Recovery
Design systems that survive failures.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Design a multi-region architecture
- Implement automated failover
- Create a disaster recovery plan
🔴 Required to Move On
Cost Optimization
Optimize AWS spending without sacrificing performance.
Cost Optimization
Optimize AWS spending without sacrificing performance.
Key Skills
📚 Learning Resources
💻 Hands-on Projects
- Analyze costs with Cost Explorer
- Set up budgets and alerts
- Identify right-sizing opportunities
🔴 Required to Move On
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