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# System prepended metadata

title: 'Exam Prep Resources :: AWS Solutions Architect'

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# Exam Prep Resources :: AWS Solutions Architect

:::info
Instructor: Stuart Fox (awsfox@amazon.com)
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## 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/

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## 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

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## 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

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## 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/

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## 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/

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## 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 

