3.0 Cloud Technology and Services
3.1 Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud.
3.2 Define the AWS global infrastructure.
3.2 Define the AWS global infrastructure.
3.4 Identify AWS database services.
3.5 Identify AWS network services.
3.6 Identify AWS storage services.
3.7 Identify AWS artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) services and analytics services.
3.8 Identify services from other in-scope AWS service categories.
3.1 Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud
In this section, candidates are expected to understand how AWS services are deployed, managed, and monitored. Key concepts include:
- AWS Management Console: A web interface for managing all AWS resources.
- AWS CLI (Command Line Interface): A powerful tool for automating cloud services via scripting.
- AWS SDKs (Software Development Kits): Allow developers to interact with AWS services using code.
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk: An easy-to-use service for deploying and managing applications in the AWS Cloud without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.
- AWS CloudFormation: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) service that helps define and provision infrastructure resources automatically.
- Amazon EC2: Provides scalable computing capacity in the cloud, where you can deploy virtual servers.
- AWS Lambda: Serverless compute service to run code in response to events without managing servers.
- Containers on AWS:
- Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service): Container orchestration service to run containerized applications.
- Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service): Managed Kubernetes service to run Kubernetes clusters.
- AWS Outposts: Extends AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to on-premises facilities.
Operational Aspects:
- AWS Systems Manager: Provides operational insights and automates patch management, configuration, and application deployment.
- AWS CloudWatch: Monitoring service to track operational health.
- AWS Trusted Advisor: Provides real-time recommendations to improve security, performance, and cost optimization.
3.2 Define the AWS Global Infrastructure
This section covers AWS’s global presence and how it supports high availability and low-latency services. Key elements include:
- Regions: AWS has multiple geographic regions, each consisting of multiple Availability Zones (AZs), which are isolated data centers. Regions are physically isolated but connected through low-latency links.
- Availability Zones (AZs): AZs are individual data centers with redundant power, networking, and connectivity within an AWS region. By distributing workloads across multiple AZs, businesses can achieve higher fault tolerance.
- Edge Locations: AWS operates edge locations for content delivery and caching through services like Amazon CloudFront, which reduces latency by serving content closer to users.
- Local Zones: AWS Local Zones extend AWS services closer to large population centers for ultra-low latency use cases.
Key AWS services that leverage the global infrastructure include:
- Amazon Route 53: A scalable DNS service that helps route end users to the best endpoint based on location.
- AWS Global Accelerator: Routes traffic through AWS’s global network to improve availability and performance.
3.4 Identify AWS Database Services
AWS provides various managed database services catering to different types of data and workloads. Key services include:
- Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): Fully managed relational database service supporting engines like:
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- MariaDB
- Oracle
- SQL Server
- Amazon Aurora: A MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database with superior performance and availability.
- Amazon DynamoDB: A fully managed NoSQL database service for key-value and document data models.
- Amazon Redshift: Fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service for large-scale analytics.
- Amazon DocumentDB: Managed document database service designed for JSON data, compatible with MongoDB.
- Amazon Neptune: Graph database service for building and running graph applications.
- Amazon ElastiCache: In-memory data store and cache service supporting Redis and Memcached engines.
3.5 Identify AWS Network Services
AWS provides robust networking services that enable secure, scalable, and highly available communication between AWS resources. These services include:
- Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): Allows users to provision a logically isolated network in the AWS Cloud.
- AWS Direct Connect: Establishes a dedicated network connection from on-premises to AWS.
- AWS VPN: Virtual Private Network service that establishes secure connections between on-premises networks and AWS VPCs.
- Amazon CloudFront: Content Delivery Network (CDN) that delivers content with low latency using edge locations.
- Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): Automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets.
- AWS Transit Gateway: Connects VPCs and on-premises networks through a single gateway.
- AWS Route 53: DNS web service for routing end-user requests to the best endpoint.
- AWS Global Accelerator: Enhances global application performance by routing traffic over AWS’s network infrastructure.
3.6 Identify AWS Storage Services
AWS provides multiple storage services, each suited for different types of data, performance, and access patterns. These include:
- Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): Object storage service for storing any type of data (files, images, videos) in scalable buckets.
- Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store): Provides persistent block storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances.
- Amazon EFS (Elastic File System): Fully managed file system for use with AWS cloud services and on-premises resources.
- Amazon Glacier: Low-cost archival storage for infrequently accessed data.
- AWS Storage Gateway: A hybrid cloud storage service that allows on-premises applications to use cloud storage.
- AWS Snowball/Snowmobile: Physical devices for transferring large volumes of data to and from AWS, useful for data migrations.
3.7 Identify AWS Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Services and Analytics Services
AWS offers a comprehensive set of AI/ML and analytics services for building intelligent applications. Some key services include:
- AI Services:
- Amazon Rekognition: Image and video analysis service.
- Amazon Polly: Converts text into lifelike speech.
- Amazon Comprehend: Natural language processing (NLP) service for text analytics.
- Amazon Lex: Builds conversational interfaces using voice and text.
- Amazon Transcribe: Automatic speech recognition (ASR) service.
- Amazon Translate: Language translation service.
- Machine Learning Services:
- Amazon SageMaker: Fully managed service for building, training, and deploying machine learning models.
- AWS DeepRacer: Autonomous 1/18th scale race car for reinforcement learning.
- AWS Lambda + AI: Integration of serverless compute with AI tools like TensorFlow.
- Analytics Services:
- Amazon Redshift: Data warehousing service.
- Amazon Kinesis: Real-time data streaming.
- AWS Glue: Fully managed ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) service.
- Amazon EMR (Elastic MapReduce): Managed Hadoop and Spark for big data processing.
3.8 Identify Services from Other In-Scope AWS Service Categories
AWS encompasses a wide range of services across multiple categories beyond those covered in other domains. Examples include:
- AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): Manages access to AWS services and resources securely.
- Amazon CloudWatch: Monitoring and management service for AWS resources.
- AWS Config: Tracks changes to AWS resources and evaluates compliance.
- AWS Marketplace: Allows users to buy and sell software that runs on AWS.
These service categories are essential for security, governance, management, and compliance, playing a critical role in the AWS ecosystem.
Summary
The AWS CCP exam requires a broad understanding of AWS’s core services and operational models. From deploying workloads and managing global infrastructure to understanding key services in storage, networking, AI/ML, and analytics, this domain covers the essential technologies and strategies AWS provides to organizations looking to optimize cloud operations. Familiarity with these concepts helps build a strong foundation in cloud technology and AWS service offerings.