Section 3.3 - AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide
Tags: aws, cloudskills, examprep, cloud
Published: 2022-02-25 19:46:06

**This series is intended to be a personal study guide. Information may not be comprehensive or accurate. I am sharing it in case others find it useful. Please feel free to comment if any information is inaccurate.**

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**<u>3.3 Identify the core AWS services</u>**

**Describe the categories of services on AWS**

- _[Compute](https://aws.amazon.com/products/compute/?nc2=h_ql_prod_cp)_ - instances, containers, serverless computing
- _[Storage](https://aws.amazon.com/products/storage/?nc2=h_ql_prod_st)_- scalable, reliable, secure, fast-access
- _[Network](https://aws.amazon.com/products/networking/?nc2=h_ql_prod_nt)_  - VPCs, connections to other cloud resources and the internet
- _[Database](https://aws.amazon.com/products/databases/?nc2=h_ql_prod_db)_  - managed database services cover a wide range of database types and use cases

**Identify AWS compute services**

- _Recognize there are different compute families_
     - Each instance type offers different compute, memory, and storage capabilities, and is grouped in an instance family based on these capabilities
- _Recognize the different services that provide compute_
     - _[Lambda](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/)_ 
          - Run code without provisioning infrastructure
          - Respond to code execution requests
          - Pay per millisecond
     - _[Elastic Container Service (ECS)](https://aws.amazon.com/ecs/)_
          - Fully managed container orchestration service
          - Launch containers with preferred CI/CD and automation tools
     - _[EC2](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/)_
          - Offers complete control over compute resources with choice of processor, storage, networking, operating system, and purchase model
- _Recognize that elasticity is achieved through auto-scaling_
     - Compute services automatically adjust to meet workload demands
- _Identify the purpose of load balancers_
     - Distribute network traffic to improve application scalability


**Identify the different AWS storage services**

- _Describe [S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/)_
     - Object storage with eleven 9s of durability (99.999999999%)
     - Multiple [storage classes](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/?pg=ln&sec=be) to reduce cost
          - Standard
          - Intelligent Tiering - optimizes storage costs by monitoring access patterns
          - Standard Infrequent Access - data accessed less frequently but needed quickly
          - One Zone Infrequent Access - similar to standard, but for workloads that don’t require availability 
          - Glacier - archive storage
          - Glacier Deep Archive - long-term archive storage
     - Data stored in Buckets
     - Charges for storage and for retrieval
- _Describe [S3 Glacier](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/glacier/)_
     - S3 storage class designed for archive storage
     - Data transfer takes minutes to hours
     - Glacier Deep Archive is lowest-cost storage class
- _Describe [Elastic Block Store (EBS)](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/)_
     - Block storage service designed for EC2
     - Multiple volume types to optimize performance and cost
     - SSD for transactional workloads
     - HDD for throughput intensive workloads
- _Describe [Snowball](https://aws.amazon.com/snowball/?whats-new-cards.sort-by=item.additionalFields.postDateTime&whats-new-cards.sort-order=desc)_
     - Edge computing, data migration, and edge storage device
     - Storage Optimized - block and object storage suitable for local storage and data transfer
     - Compute Optimized - more CPUs and an optional GPU for added compute
- _Describe [Elastic File System (EFS)](https://aws.amazon.com/efs/)_
     - File system that automatically grows and shrinks as files are added and removed
     - Provisioning and maintenance are not required
     - Share file data between applications
- _Describe [Storage Gateway](https://aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/)_
     - Hybrid cloud services that connect on-prem applications with cloud storage
     - Move backups to the cloud, cache data locally for low-latency

**Identify AWS networking services**

- _Identify [VPC](https://aws.amazon.com/vpc/)_ - isolate cloud resources by building a virtual  network environment
- _Identify [security groups](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/VPC_SecurityGroups.html)_ - virtual firewall for instance in a VPC
- _Identify the purpose of [Route 53](https://aws.amazon.com/route53/)_ - DNS service for routing users to applications
- _Identify [VPN](https://aws.amazon.com/vpn/), [Direct Connect](https://aws.amazon.com/directconnect/)_
     - VPN - build a cloud-based VPN on the Amazon network
     - Direct Connect - bypass public internet and connect to AWS resources directly through the AWS network

**Identify different AWS database services**

- _Install databases on EC2 compared to managed databases_
     - [Choosing between Amazon RDS, Amazon EC2 or VMware Cloud on AWS for Your Oracle Database](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/oracle-database-aws-best-practices/choosing-between-amazon-rds-amazon-ec2-or-vmware-cloud-on-aws-for-your-oracle-database.html)
     - Managed are easier to setup, manage, and maintain
     - EC2 databases offer more control and flexibility
- _Identify [RDS](https://aws.amazon.com/rds/)_
     - Relational Database Service
     - Managed relational database service
     - Multiple database engines available (Amazon Aurora, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle Database, and SQL Server)
- _Identify [DynamoDB](https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/)_
     - NoSQL key-value database
     - Single-digit millisecond performance and near infinite throughput
     - Easily integrates with other AWS services
- _Identify [Redshift](https://aws.amazon.com/redshift/)_
     - Data warehouse
     - Connect to data storage and to analytics tools
     - Uses SQL to analyze structured and semi-structured data across multiple sources

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