AWS Solution Architect Professional Exam Guide

 

One of the most sought-after careers in cloud computing is an AWS solutions architect. It's challenging and satisfying work with a good beginning wage and bright career potential.

An AWS solutions architect position can be ideal for you if you enjoy coding, consider yourself to be a strategic thinker, and are solutions-focused. Discover what these specialists perform, what they are responsible for, and how you may become one by reading on.

AWS Solution Architect Professional Certification for?

I'd advise you to embark on this endeavor only if you have a couple of years of AWS experience and have explored a couple of various services and types of architectural designs.

It is intended for people who are looking to gain the complete picture of what's possible using AWS and want to provide advice on the most appropriate architectures for particular problems.

According to me, this certification is best for you in the event that you're an AWS cloud expert (or you'd like to become one) or are trying to be an architect in a firm that has a significant presence on AWS.

If you've taken other AWS certifications, that could be beneficial to you. This is perhaps the most difficult of AWS certifications, therefore having been through the entire process in other AWS certifications can help.

In my case, I completed my AWS Solution Architect associate certification three years ago. If you're less than 2 years of experience working with AWS I'd suggest you take this certification before you take the other. The notes I wrote are available and suggestions for that particular experience!

Exam subjects and the required skills

There are five areas of information in which the diverse issues are classified:

• Domain 1. design for organizational complexity (12.5 percent of the exam)

• Domain 2 Designs for New Solutions (31% of the exam)

• Domain 3. Planning for Migration (15 percent from the exam)

• Domain 4 Cost Control (12.5 percent of the exam)

• Domain 5 Continuous improvement (29 percent in the exam)

in terms of your overall knowledge, here are some of the subjects that AWS would like you to feel comfortable with prior to you take your exam:

• A familiarity using AWS APIs and CLI.

• You should be at ease using CloudFormation.

• Understand billing and utilize Web Console.

• Learn to make use of scripting.

• Learn about the running of apps for Windows as well as Linux systems, and what you can do to ensure they are current.

• Ability to analyze the requirements of cloud-based applications and provide architectural suggestions for the deployment, implementation and provisioning apps using AWS.

• Ability to create an integrated architecture using key AWS technology (e.g., VPN, AWS Direct Connect) as an ongoing integration and deployment procedure.

• Learn to describe and use the five foundations in the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

• Architect a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) process.

Yes, it's an extensive area of knowledge and it's probably not an exhaustive list.

How do I become the AWS Solutions Architect?

There are a few steps you'll have to follow to begin working for the position of AWS solution architect.

Step One: Get a bachelor's degree.

A degree in cloud computing can help you learn how to work with computers and programs with a focus on cloud. Much more hands-on than other degrees cloud computing follows an "labs-first method" which means you'll be creating programs, solving difficult issues, and making sure that your solutions are effective.

Step Two: Get your Amazon Web Services Certified Solution Architecture Associate Certificate.

There are numerous cloud architect certifications that are available However, that of AWS's Certified Solutions Associate Certification is among the most well-known. WGU's cloud computing degree will prepare you for this exam and provides the knowledge and skills you require to pass to take the AWS Professional Solutions Architect certification.

Step Three: Gain experience.

Prior to earning the next stage of AWS certification, you need to test and apply your cloud computing abilities in real-world situations. Achieving at least two years' practical experience with cloud computing can help you build the confidence needed to take on that AWS Solution Architect certification and get a job.

Step Four: Earn your AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Professional Certification.

The certification you earn validates your ability to create and deploy applications for AWS and proves to employers that possess the necessary skills to take cloud initiatives into action.

Step Five: Consider an advanced degree.

As the demand for this field continues to increase and so does the increasing competition between applicants. The process of obtaining the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in IT management or an advanced degree will make you stand out to prospective employers and demonstrate that you're committed to the career path with cloud computing.

What skills does an AWS Solutions Architect Need?

In order to excel in this position it is necessary to have a distinct set of both hard and soft abilities. A few of them are:

• Decision-making

• The critical thinking

• Problem-solving

• Strong communication

• Attention to detail

• Understanding of lifecycles for software development

• Experience with AWS CLI AWS APIs AWS CloudFormation templates as well as AWS CloudFormation templates, AWS Billing Console as well as AWS Management Console. AWS Administration Console

• The ability to script a language

• Experience in Windows and Linux environments

Study notes

This is a list of notes on subjects that I had no idea about and that I needed to conduct some research. It's not a complete list, however, it may assist you in identifying areas of knowledge that you aren't aware of. The list I created was using the questions I was unable to answer in the tests which is the gaps in my knowledge!

Alexa to help businesses

• An application that lets users to create Alexa Echo devices for office use.

• Integrates with office tools (e.g. calendars, room booking systems sharing videos, files etc. ).

• then Echo devices can be used to address business queries, arrange meetings or use other sources.

Amazon Connect

• Cloud-based contact centers (system to facilitate communication between companies and common public e.g. call centers for support)

• Features: Provides skilled-based routing, automated call distribution, call recording, and reporting

• Lets you design automatized "Contact flows" that direct users to the correct operator ("press X when you have to perform"Y")

• The contact flow can be combined with lambda in order to tailor the flow's decision-making programmatically to your workflow (e.g. get a reservation from the caller , and determine the next steps based on the status of reservation)

• It provides the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and keeps transcripts of every conversation or flow

Amazon Kinesis Video Stream

• Different service than Kinesis Data Stream (it goes in a totally distinct category)

• Microphones, cameras and other devices can utilize Kinesis streaming libraries for video (producer library) to make data available (real timing as well as buffered)

• The data can be consumed real-time or buffered (saved continuously in S3) Real-time vs. batch technique

• Rekognition is a method in order to obtain metadata streams.

AWS Networking notes

• Network ACL (NACL) Rules that resemble firewalls for the entire subnet/vpc to block or enable traffic (stateless. For ephemeral ports, outgoing traffic must be explicitly specified )

• Security Groups: Per instance firewall-like rules to disable traffic (stateful. E.g. If you permit incoming port 80, the outgoing port for traffic that is coming to port 80 is going to be permitted as well.)

• You can provide an open IP to a load balancer via an Network load balancer using an elastic IP and an Application Load balancer using Global Accelerator

AWS Shield

• Service for DDoS attack protection.

• There's a Shield Advanced option. Alongside the standard network and transport layer security features that are included in Standard, AWS Shield Advanced offers additional protection and detection against complex and massive DDoS attacks, with near-real-time surveillance of attacks, and Integration in conjunction with AWS WAF.

CloudFront

• CloudFront signed cookies let you to limit who can access your content, even if you do not want to alter your URLs currently in use or when you wish to allow access to several restricted files, like all the content in the subscribers area of a site. This topic will explain the requirements regarding signed cookies. It also explains how to create signed cookies with customized and canned policies.

Direct Connect

• Direct Connect is utilized to link to an Amazon VPC to an On premises network

• Utilize Direct Link between VPC and the on-premise network

• Utilize a device within the on-premise network that can support BGP as well as MD5 Authentication (needed to create Direct Connect link between your data center and the VPC)

• Direct Connect connections consist of one link between the network you are using and AWS without redundancy.

• Traffic that is connected to on-prem through Direct Connect connection is blocked from the internet.

• You will need to set up an online interface (public private, transit or) for the first time before you can begin connecting to the AWS Direct Connect connection.