# Exam Prep Resources :: AWS Solutions Architect :::info Instructor: Stuart Fox (awsfox@amazon.com) ::: ## Domain 1 - Design Resilient Architectures ### Choose Reliable/Resilient Storage * Amazon EBS FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/faqs/ * Whitepaper – AWS Storage Services Overview: https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/AWS%20Storage%20Services%20Whitepaper-v9.pdf * SPL Lab – Introduction to Amazon Elastic Block Store: https://amazon.qwiklabs.com/catalog?keywords=Introduction+to+Amazon+Elastic+Block+Store+%28EBS%29&format%5B%5D=any&level%5B%5D=any&duration%5B%5D=any&price%5B%5D=any&modality%5B%5D=any&language%5B%5D=any * Amazon EC2 Instance Store: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/InstanceStorage.html ### Determine How To Design Decoupling Mechanisms Using AWS Services * Elastic Load Balancing Documentation: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/elastic-load-balancing/ * Amazon SQS FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/sqs/faqs/ * Elastic Load Balancing FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/faqs/ * Amazon EC2 FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/ * Amazon Route 53 Documentation: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/route53/ ### Determine How To Design a Multi-tier Architecture Solution * Amazon S3 storage classes: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes *  Amazon Glacier page for more details: https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/ *  Amazon Glacier Documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glacier/index.html#lang/en_us *  Amazon EFS - https://aws.amazon.com/efs/faq/ *  Amazon S3 - https://aws.amazon.com/s3/faqs/ *  Amazon Glacier - https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/faqs/ *  Amazon CloudFront - https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/faqs/ *  Introduction to Amazon S3 Lab – https://amazon.qwiklabs.com/catalog?keywords=Introduction+to+Amazon+Simple+Storage+Service+%28S3%29&format%5B%5D=any&level%5B%5D=any&duration%5B%5D=any&price%5B%5D=any&modality%5B%5D=any&language%5B%5D=any *  Introduction to Amazon EFS – https://amazon.qwiklabs.com/catalog?keywords=Introduction+to+Amazon+Elastic+File+System+%28EFS%29&format%5B%5D=any&level%5B%5D=any&duration%5B%5D=any&price%5B%5D=any&modality%5B%5D=any&language%5B%5D=any ### Determine How To Design High Availability and/or Fault Tolerant Solutions * AWS Well Architected Framework: https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/ --- ## Domain 2 - Design Performance Architectures ### Choose Performance Storage and Databases * Amazon EBS: https://aws.amazon.com/ebs * Amazon EBS FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/faq * Amazon RDS: https://aws.amazon.com/rds * Amazon RDS FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/rds/faq ### Applying Caching to Improve Performance * Amazon ElastiCache: http://aws.amazon.com/elasticache/ * Video: Introduction to Amazon ElastiCache: https://youtu.be/8eD2eNljURE ### Designing Solutions for Elasticity and Scaling * AWS ELB FAQ https://aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/faqs/ * AWS Cloudwatch FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/faqs/ * AWS EC2 Autoscaling FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/autoscaling/faqs/ * AWS Autoscaling FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/faqs/ * Introduction to Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling lab: https://amazon.qwiklabs.com/catalog?keywords=Introduction+to+Amazon+EC2+Auto+Scaling&format%5B%5D=any&level%5B%5D=any&duration%5B%5D=any&price%5B%5D=any&modality%5B%5D=any&language%5B%5D=any --- ## Domain 3 - Specify Secure Applications and Architectures ### Determine How to Secure Application Tiers * Protecting Data Using Server-Side Encryption: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/serv-side-encryption.html * AWS KMS: http://aws.amazon.com/kms * Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes: https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/AWS_Security_Whitepaper.pdf * AWS Security Best Practices whitepaper: https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/aws-security-best-practices.pdf * IAM Best Practices: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html * Best Practices for Managing AWS Access Keys/Roles: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-access-keys-best-practices.html#use-roles ### Determine How to Secure Data * “Protecting Your Data in AWS” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb_W1w_TwLk * “Encrypting Data at Rest” whitepaper: https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/AWS_Securing_Data_at_Rest_with_Encryption.pdf * “Protecting Data Using Encryption” in Amazon S3 Developer Guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/UsingEncryption.html * “AWS: Overview of Security Processes” whitepaper: https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/AWS_Security_Whitepaper.pdf * "IAM Policies and Bucket Policies and ACLs! Oh, My! (Controlling Access to S3 Resources) in Amazon Security blog (http://blogs.aws.amazon.com/security/post/TxPOJBY6FE360K/IAM-policies-and-Bucket-Policies-and-ACLs-Oh-My-Controlling-Access-to-S3-Resourc) ### Define the Networking Infrastructure For a Single VPC Application * Network ACLs: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_ACLs.html * VPC Networking Components: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Networking.html * AWS re:Invent 2015: VPC Fundamentals and Connectivity Options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_bQ6Dgk6k8 * Linux Bastion Hosts on the AWS Cloud: https://s3.amazonaws.com/quickstart-reference/linux/bastion/latest/doc/linux-bastion-hosts-on-the-aws-cloud.pdf * What is Amazon VPC?: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Introduction.html --- ## Domain 4 - Design Cost-Optimized Architectures ### Determine How to Design Cost-Optimized Storage * Amazon S3 Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/ * Amazon S3 Reduced Redundancy Storage: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/reduced-redundancy/ * Amazon EBS Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/ * Amazon Lambda Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/ * Amazon DynamoDB Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/pricing/ * Amazon API Gateway Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/api-gateway/pricing/ * Amazon EBS Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/ * Amazon CloudFront Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/pricing/ ### Determine How to Design Cost-Optimized Compute * Amazon EC2 Pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/ * Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/reserved-instances/ * Amazon EC2 Spot Instances: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/spot/ --- ## Domain 5 - Define Operationally-Excellent Architectures ### Design Features in Solutions That Enable Operational Excellence * Amazon CloudWatch: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/cloudwatch/ * Amazon CloudWatch FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/cloudwatch/faqs/ * Amazon CloudTrail: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/cloudtrail/ * Amazon CloudTrail FAQs: https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/cloudtrail/faqs/ --- ## Course Wrap-up ### Certification * AWS Certification: https://aws.amazon.com/certification * Exam details: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-associate/ * Self-Paced Labs: https://aws.amazon.com/training/self-paced-labs/ * Courses: https://aws.amazon.com/training/course-descriptions/ ### Resources * Whitepapers: https://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/ * Architecture Center: https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/ * Documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/index.html#lang/en_us