AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Exam Training

Set up a free tier AWS account and follow along, as practical experience is optional for the cloud practitioner exam but highly recommended for later AWS sections.

Learn how AWS accounts are created and managed with IAM, users, groups, and policies, and adopt best practices for root usage and authentication via console, CLI, API, or SDK.

Compare the free and paid AWS accounts, learn about $200 in credits, and follow a step-by-step signup to create a free tier account and sign in as root.

Configure your account by creating an account alias, enabling IAM billing access, and setting billing preferences; create a $5 budget with 85% and 100% alerts and enable Cost Explorer.

Create an IAM user, assign them to an admins group with administrator access, then log in to the management console as that user to perform lab exercises.

Install Visual Studio Code and the AWS CLI, download GitHub code, configure credentials and an IAM user, and use CloudShell to run AWS commands.

Explore the fundamentals of AWS (Amazon Web Services) and understand what it is. Note that the theory-only section has no hands-on lessons, focusing on AWS topics and services.

Explore the AWS global infrastructure, including regions, availability zones, subnets, outposts, local and wavelength zones, connected by the AWS global network and backed by CloudFront for global content delivery.

Understand the AWS shared responsibility model by distinguishing customer and AWS duties, including data ownership, IAM management, patching, and configuring security groups and encryption.

Learn how application programming interfaces enable cloud interactions through http and https. Use get, post, put, and delete methods to perform AWS actions and S3 object operations via API calls.

Explore the fundamentals of AWS pricing, including compute costs by duration, storage charges for S3 and EBS, outbound data transfer, and pricing models from pay-as-you-go to reserved and volume-based discounts.

Discover the six advantages of cloud computing, including pay-as-you-go expenses, economies of scale with AWS, demand-driven capacity, rapid deployment, reduced data center costs, and global reach.

Explore authentication and access control in AWS by mastering IAM concepts, including users, groups, roles, and policies, and learn how IAM Identity Center enables single sign-on and federation.

Explore AWS identity and access management, using authentication, authorization, users, groups, roles, and policies. Learn login methods via console or programmatic credentials and distinguish root from IAM users.

Create an IAM user and admin group, attach administrator access, and log in as the user to demonstrate group-based permissions and console access in AWS.

Explore AWS IAM authentication methods and multi-factor authentication. See how usernames and passwords secure console access, while access keys enable CLI or API access with MFA devices, and follow MFA best practices for root and IAM users.

Configure multi-factor authentication for an IAM user in the AWS console using an authenticator app, QR code, or secret key, then log in with a second factor.

Discover how IAM roles provide temporary credentials through STS assume role for limited tasks. Examine identity-based versus resource-based policies, including administrator access and bucket-specific policies with implicit denies.

Learn to create an IAM user, define a role with EC2 permissions, and enable secure role switching using STS assume role to grant temporary access while practicing least privilege.

Explore IAM Identity Center, AWS's centralized identity management and single sign-on for AWS accounts and external apps, with built-in federation and easy multi-account access.

Enable IAM Identity Center in your AWS organization. Create administrator and view-only permission sets, add a group and user, assign them to the account, and configure MFA.

Adopt identity and access management best practices by federating human users with an identity provider for temporary credentials, assign roles for workloads, enforce multi-factor authentication, and pursue least-privilege access.

Explore AWS IAM fundamentals, including users, groups, roles, and policies, and learn best practices for securing access with MFA, root user protections, and least privilege.

Explore core AWS compute services, including EC2, AWS Batch, LightSail, and container services for running Docker containers, with beginner-friendly explanations and hands-on launching of EC2 instances and containers.

Explore server virtualization and how hypervisors create virtual machines on shared hardware, enabling portability, efficient resource use, and rapid deployment across cloud architectures.

Explore how Amazon EC2 delivers virtual servers in the cloud with instance types and operating systems, and manage connectivity via public, private, and elastic IPs, subnets, VPC, and NAT gateway.

Learn to launch Linux and Windows ec2 instances by selecting instance types and amis, while understanding snapshots, key pairs, security groups, and ssh/rdp access.

Learn to securely connect to Linux and Windows EC2 instances using SSH, RDP, and EC2 instance connect, and manage security groups and instance states in AWS.

Learn how EC2 user data runs commands at first boot to configure instances, and how metadata exposes instance information via the 169.254/latest/meta-data path, including private and public IPv4 addresses.

Launch and compare ec2 instances using imds v1 and v2, retrieve instance metadata with curl, and deploy a user data script to install apache and generate a dynamic web page.

Compare access keys and IAM roles to grant EC2 permissions, and learn why roles with STS provide temporary credentials and better security for S3 access.

Learn to manage AWS permissions on an EC2 instance by using access keys and IAM roles, configure credentials with aws configure, and switch to temporary role-based credentials for secure access.

Explore AWS Batch, a managed service that runs and schedules containerized batch jobs on ECS or EKS, with compute provisioning via job definitions, queues, and options for EC2 or Fargate.

Learn how LightSail offers a simple, low-cost way to deploy virtual servers with pre-configured OS and databases, basic networking, and optional load balancing for non-technical users.

Learn how Docker containers enable lightweight, isolated microservices and cloud-native architectures on AWS, contrasting containers with virtualization and exploring ECS, API communications, Lambda functions, and serverless options.

Amazon elastic container service (ECS) fundamentals: clusters, task definitions, images from ECR or Docker Hub, and EC2 or Fargate launch types with services, auto scaling, and load balancing.

Deploy a docker container on AWS Fargate, create a cluster and task definition, launch a task, view logs, then set up a two-task service with load balancing and auto scaling.

Explore AWS compute services including EC2 instances, AMI, EBS snapshots, and user data versus metadata; learn about access keys, roles, Batch, LightSail, ECS, and Fargate.

Explore AWS storage services across block-based, file-based, and object-based systems, including Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).

Understand block, file, and object storage by comparing hard drives, NAS, and AWS S3 buckets; learn how REST APIs enable scalable, low cost object storage.

Learn how Amazon EBS provides block storage with volumes in an availability zone, and how instant stores offer ephemeral storage; snapshots back up volumes and AMIs derive from them.

Back up EBS volumes with snapshots, including incremental copies stored in S3, and automate creation, retention, and deletion of EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs using Data Lifecycle Manager.

Launch and manage Amazon EBS volumes across availability zones, attach, format, mount, snapshot, and migrate data between instances while cleaning up resources.

Learn how to create a custom web server ami from an ec2 instance, use user data, capture ebs snapshots, and launch identical instances across regions and availability zones.

Amazon elastic file system (efs): linux-only shared storage with regional and one-zone deployments, NFS mount targets, cross-region replication for disaster recovery, and scalable storage classes.

Discover Amazon S3 as an object-based storage service with buckets and objects, rest api access via http urls, and private gateway endpoint options for secure cloud storage.

Explore Amazon S3 storage classes and their durability of 11 nines, varying availability across one zone IA and multi-AZ tiers, cost tradeoffs, and archiving options like Glacier Deep Archive.

Learn to create S3 buckets and upload objects, ensure global uniqueness and region awareness, choose storage class, enable default encryption, and configure bucket policies for controlled public access.

Learn how S3 versioning preserves, retrieves, and restores objects, how cross-region and same-region replication copies new versions, and how lifecycle rules transition storage and delete objects over time.

Set up S3 replication with source and destination buckets and versioning, then create an IAM role and replication rule, and test with file uploads while reviewing lifecycle.

Create an Amazon S3 static website by creating a bucket, enabling static hosting with index.html, uploading files, and applying a public access bucket policy.

Explore S3 permissions and bucket policies by building and testing identity-based and bucket policies for a test user, demonstrating get, put, delete permissions and deny overrides.

Master Amazon FSx, a fully managed file system with Windows File Server and Lustre options. Learn AD integration, S3 integration, and use cases in high-performance computing and data-intensive workloads.

Discover Amazon S3 Glacier for secure, durable, low-cost archival and long-term backup with multiple storage classes, pay only for what you need with no upfront fees, and flexible retrieval options.

Learn how AWS Storage Gateway connects on-premises applications to cloud storage, enabling access to S3 via file, volume, and backup gateways for hybrid cloud, disaster recovery, and low-latency data.

Explore AWS elastic disaster recovery (DRS): block-based replication to AWS, using staging and recovery subnets, continuous lock level replication to EBS, enabling recovery in minutes with seconds RPO.

Discover EBS, EFS, and S3 storage options, including snapshots, lifecycle management, and cross-region backups. Learn S3 storage classes, versioning, encryption, and AWS storage gateway for hybrid setups.

Explore DNS and Route 53 to direct traffic, use elastic load balancing to distribute connections across EC2 instances, and leverage auto scaling for cloud elasticity.

Explore domain name system and Amazon Route 53, including DNS records (A, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, NS, SOA), hosted zones, health checks, and routing policies for traffic across regions.

Register a domain with route 53 to enable DNS management, traffic management, and a hosted zone, while noting auto renew and potential support steps.

Understand scaling up versus scaling out, and how stateless and stateful apps influence architecture, with externalizing state to services like EFS or DynamoDB for scalable AWS systems.

Scale and maintain ec2 availability with auto scaling, launching or terminating instances in a vpc across zones. Integrates with cloudwatch, elb, and health checks, using launch templates and scaling policies.

Create an auto scaling group with a launch template and user data to deploy two EC2 instances across us-east-1a and us-east-1b, running Apache and serving a zone-specific page.

Explore Amazon elastic load balancing and how it distributes traffic across EC2 instances, containers, IP addresses, and Lambda functions using health checks and target groups for high availability.

Create an application load balancer in front of an auto scaling group, register targets dynamically, and route http traffic across two availability zones for healthy, balanced traffic.

Explore scaling policies for auto scaling groups, including target tracking, simple, step, and scheduled scaling. Learn how CPU utilization guides launches and terminations to optimize performance.

Create dynamic scaling policy for an auto scaling group, adjust min and max, distribute across zones, and use target tracking on the load balancer's request count per target to scale.

Explore DNS routing with Amazon Route 53, including domain registration, resolution, health checks, and routing policies like failover and latency. Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing enable elasticity and availability.

Learn about serverless services and event-driven architectures on AWS, including Lambda, with a pure consumption model, elasticity, and distributed components communicating via notification services or message buses.

Learn serverless services and event-driven architecture on AWS, deploying code without managing infrastructure, with automatic scaling, high availability, and decoupled workflows using S3, Lambda, SQS, DynamoDB, and SNS.

Explore AWS Lambda, a serverless function service that runs code in response to events, supports sync and async invocations, multiple languages, and memory-duration pricing.

Explore AWS Lambda by creating a function that logs to CloudWatch logs, deploys with from-scratch Python code, and triggers via test events, CLI, and S3 object creation.

Learn how application integration services enable event-driven architectures by connecting components with Eventbridge, SNS, and SQS; decoupling with queues, pushing notifications, and orchestrating workflows with Lambda and DynamoDB.

Coordinate application components with AWS Step Functions in a visual state machine, coordinating Lambda functions, branches, wait conditions, and executions using the JSON-based Amazon States Language.

Learn how Amazon EventBridge, formerly CloudWatch events, processes EC2 instance state changes via an event bus and rules that trigger SNS email notifications when instances terminate.

Build an event-driven application using SNS, SQS, and Lambda. Submit a message to SNS, have it queue via SQS, trigger Lambda, and write the event to CloudWatch logs.

Amazon API gateway acts as the front end for your APIs, connecting internet clients to AWS services like Lambda and EC2, and enabling access to data and backend logic.

Explore AWS serverless services such as Lambda, Fargate, EventBridge, Step Functions, SQS, SNS, API Gateway, S3, and DynamoDB, and learn how automatic scaling and pay-as-you-go pricing enable scalable apps.

Explore AWS networking with Amazon VPC, detailing how to connect into VPCs using Direct Connect and VPN, and easing complex concepts for practical understanding.

Discover amazon virtual private cloud (vpc) in aws region, an isolated space with subnets in zones, cidr blocks, route tables, and public vs private hosting of ec2, rds, and efs.

Create and configure a custom VPC with public and private subnets across two availability zones, using the VPC wizard or manual steps, and verify internet access.

Learn how AWS security groups (instance-level) and network ACLs (subnet-level) protect EC2 instances and databases in a VPC, compare stateful versus stateless firewalls, and master inbound and outbound rules.

Explore security groups and network ACLs in AWS by configuring security groups for SSH and HTTP access, testing inbound and outbound traffic, and illustrating security group chaining and NACL ordering.

Understand private, public, and elastic IP addresses in a VPC: private IPs persist, public IPs are released when stopped, and elastic IPs stay static and move between instances.

Learn to manage ip addresses in EC2 by stopping and starting instances to observe public and private ips, allocate and associate elastic ips, and release them to avoid unused fees.

Learn why NAT gateways are the preferred AWS solution for internet access from private subnets, requiring a public subnet and Elastic IP, and compare them with NAT instances.

Deploy a NAT gateway in a public subnet with an elastic IP, route private subnet traffic to the internet, and verify Apache is installed via user data.

Establish VPC peering to connect VPCs with private IP addresses for direct routing across accounts and regions. Enforce non-overlapping address blocks and non-transitive routing to avoid transit via other VPCs.

Compare Amazon site-to-site VPN and AWS Direct Connect to securely connect on-premises data centers to an AWS VPC, highlighting encryption, internet variability, private Direct Connect benefits, and cost trade-offs.

Explore how a transit gateway acts as a network hub to interconnect multiple VPCs and on-premises networks, attaching VPNs or direct connect gateways and simplifying cross-region routing.

Explore how AWS Outposts extends select AWS services to on-premises data centers, enabling a hybrid cloud with a VPC extension, EC2 and private IP communication across sites.

Explore Amazon VPC architecture, CIDR blocks, subnets, routing, security groups, and network ACLs, and review hybrid connectivity options like VPN, Direct Connect, and transit gateway.

Discover core deployment and automation services on AWS, including CloudFront, a content delivery network, Global Accelerator, CloudFormation for defining and deploying infrastructure, Elastic Beanstalk, and AWS Development Tools for CI/CD.

Discover how Amazon CloudFront speeds content delivery by caching at edge locations and regional caches, delivering from origins like S3 or EC2 behind a load balancer with Lambda@Edge.

Create a secure static site by hosting on S3, serving via a CloudFront distribution, and securing with an ACM SSL/TLS certificate validated in Route 53, plus a Route 53 alias.

Leverage AWS Global Accelerator to route traffic via anycast IPs through edge locations, improving latency and availability for TCP/UDP applications.

Learn infrastructure as code with AWS CloudFormation to deploy resources via JSON or YAML templates, manage stacks and stack sets, and preview updates with change sets for safe, reusable deployments.

Use AWS cloud formation to create and update stacks with YAML templates, deploying an EC2 instance and security group, then attach an EBS volume and add an S3 bucket.

Explore the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), letting you define cloud infrastructure in familiar languages (Python, TypeScript, Java, .NET) and deploy with CloudFormation.

Upload your code to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and leverage platform as a service to deploy environments with auto scaling and load balancing, while supporting web servers and workers.

Explore AWS developer tools for continuous integration and delivery, including code commit, code build, code deploy, and code pipeline, plus code style for IDE integration.

Explore AWS Cloud9, an integrated development environment for writing, running, and debugging code with syntax highlighting, code completion, error checking, and collaboration, integrated with AWS Lambda, EC2, and CodePipeline.

Explore AWS AppConfig, a Systems Manager capability that creates, deploys, and validates configurations, with start configuration session and get latest configuration APIs for EC2, Lambda, mobile, and IoT.

Learn how AWS X-Ray analyzes and debugs distributed applications by tracing latency among components such as client, front end, Elastic Beanstalk, DynamoDB, and SNS, to diagnose performance bottlenecks in microservices.

Explore deployment and automation topics, including CloudFront edge locations, DDoS protection, and latency reduction for content. Compare AWS Global Accelerator, CloudFormation, CDK, Elastic Beanstalk, and X-Ray for reliable, scalable applications.