Table of Contents
Source: AWS Academy Cloud Foundations Modules 1-10
Front Matter
Chapter 1: Cloud Concepts
Source: AWS Academy Module 1 — Cloud Concepts Overview
Goal: Understand what cloud computing is, why it matters, and how organizations adopt it.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Cloud Computing Concepts | Cloud models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), deployment models, six advantages |
| 02 | Cloud Adoption Framework | AWS CAF six perspectives, migration strategies |
| 03 | Quiz | 12 questions |
Chapter 2: Cloud Economics & Billing
Source: AWS Academy Module 2 — Cloud Economics and Billing
Goal: Understand AWS pricing philosophy, TCO, billing tools, and support plans.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 04 | Cloud Economics & TCO | CapEx vs. OpEx, Total Cost of Ownership, Pricing Calculator |
| 05 | Billing & Cost Management | AWS Organizations, Budgets, Cost Explorer, consolidated billing |
| 06 | Support Plans & Resources | Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise support plans |
| 07 | AWS Marketplace | AWS Marketplace, Partner Network |
| 08 | Quiz | Free Tier, TCO, Organizations, Budgets, Cost Explorer, support plans, Marketplace |
Chapter 3: Global Infrastructure & Services
Source: AWS Academy Module 3 — AWS Global Infrastructure Overview
Goal: Master the physical and logical foundation of AWS plus the service category landscape.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 09 | Global Infrastructure | Regions, Availability Zones, Edge Locations, Points of Presence |
| 10 | Analytics Services | Kinesis, QuickSight, Glue, Athena, EMR |
| 11 | Application Integration | SNS, SQS, Step Functions, EventBridge |
| 12 | Quiz | Regions, AZs, Edge Locations, CloudFront, Global Accelerator, SNS, SQS, Kinesis, QuickSight |
Chapter 4: Security & Compliance
Source: AWS Academy Module 4 — AWS Cloud Security
Goal: Lock in the 30% security domain. Understand shared responsibility, IAM, and compliance.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Shared Responsibility Model | Security of the cloud vs. in the cloud, by service type (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) |
| 14 | IAM Fundamentals | Users, Groups, Roles, Policies, least privilege |
| 15 | IAM Advanced | MFA, access keys, root-user protection, credential rotation |
| 16 | Quiz: IAM | 15 questions |
| 17 | Security Services | KMS, WAF, Shield, GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie |
| 18 | Compliance & Governance | Artifact, CloudTrail, Config, compliance programs |
| 19 | Quiz: Security & Compliance | 15 questions |
Chapter 5: Networking & Content Delivery
Source: AWS Academy Module 5 — Networking and Content Delivery
Goal: Build a mental model of VPCs, security layers, DNS, CDN, and hybrid connectivity.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Networking Basics | IP addresses, IPv4/IPv6, CIDR notation, subnets |
| 21 | Amazon VPC | VPC, subnets, route tables, internet gateways, NAT |
| 22 | Network Security | Security Groups vs. NACLs, stateful vs. stateless |
| 23 | DNS & Content Delivery | Route 53, CloudFront, Global Accelerator |
| 24 | Hybrid Connectivity | Site-to-Site VPN, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, VPC Peering |
| 25 | Quiz | 15 questions |
Chapter 6: Compute
Source: AWS Academy Module 6 — Compute
Goal: Master EC2, serverless compute, and container options.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Compute Services Overview | Four compute categories: VMs, containers, serverless, PaaS |
| 27 | Amazon EC2 | EC2 basics, instance types, AMIs, purchasing options, storage |
| 28 | EC2 Launch & Cost Optimization | Key pairs, user data, tags, instance lifecycle, Four Pillars of cost optimization |
| 29 | Serverless Compute | Lambda, Fargate, ECS, EKS, Elastic Beanstalk |
| 30 | Quiz | AMIs, instance families, purchasing options, launch essentials, cost optimization, containers, serverless |
Chapter 7: Storage
Source: AWS Academy Module 7 — Storage
Goal: Distinguish object, block, file, and archival storage options.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Amazon S3 | S3 object storage, storage classes, lifecycle policies, durability |
| 32 | EBS & EFS | Elastic Block Store, Elastic File System, Instance Store |
| 33 | Hybrid Storage | Storage Gateway |
| 34 | Quiz | S3, EBS, EFS, Instance Store, Storage Gateway, lifecycle, pricing |
Chapter 8: Databases
Source: AWS Academy Module 8 — Databases
Goal: Know when to use relational, NoSQL, data warehouse, or migration tools.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Relational Databases | RDS, Aurora, managed vs. unmanaged, Multi-AZ, read replicas |
| 36 | NoSQL Databases | DynamoDB, keys, partitioning, Global Tables |
| 37 | Database Migration | DMS, SCT |
| 38 | Quiz | 12 questions |
Chapter 9: Cloud Architecture
Source: AWS Academy Module 9 — Cloud Architecture
Goal: Apply the Well-Architected Framework to evaluate and improve cloud designs.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | Well-Architected Framework | Six pillars of architectural excellence |
| 40 | Reliability & Trusted Advisor | MTBF/MTTR, high availability, fault tolerance, Trusted Advisor |
| 41 | Quiz | Well-Architected pillars, availability tiers, Trusted Advisor categories |
Chapter 10: Scaling & Monitoring
Source: AWS Academy Module 10 — Auto Scaling and Monitoring
Goal: Understand load balancing, monitoring, and automatic scaling as an integrated operational system.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | Elastic Load Balancing | ALB, NLB, GWLB — listeners, target groups, health checks |
| 43 | Scaling & Monitoring | CloudWatch metrics/alarms, EC2 Auto Scaling groups, scaling policies |
| 44 | Quiz | ELB types, CloudWatch alarms, Auto Scaling options, AWS Auto Scaling |
Chapter 11: Exam Preparation
Source: AWS Academy
Goal: Validate readiness and close remaining gaps before exam day.
| # | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Exam Strategy | Question types, time management, elimination technique, flagged review |
| 46 | Full Mock Exam | 65 questions, 90 minutes, randomized full-length CLF-C02 simulation with timer, domain scoring, and review mode |
Back Matter
Study Strategy
The book follows the AWS Academy module sequence because concepts build on each other. You should study chapters in order.
- Chapters 1-2: Build the business case (what cloud is and how it's priced).
- Chapter 3: Learn the infrastructure that runs it all.
- Chapter 4: Secure everything before building services.
- Chapters 5-8: Master the core building blocks.
- Chapters 9-10: Design well and operate at scale.
- Chapter 11: Confirm readiness and remediate gaps.