AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) 2026 Cheat Sheet
An ultra-concise, tabular reference guide for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (CLF-C02).
1. Exam Overview & Domains
| Domain |
Weight |
Core Focus |
| Domain 1: Cloud Concepts |
24% |
Benefits of cloud, economics (CapEx/OpEx), architecture, and CAF. |
| Domain 2: Security and Compliance |
30% |
Shared Responsibility, IAM, infrastructure security, and compliance. |
| Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services |
34% |
Core services (Compute, Storage, Database, Network, Developer, ML, Integration). |
| Domain 4: Billing, Pricing, and Support |
12% |
Pricing models, cost management tools, and Support Plans. |
Exam Details: 65 Questions | 90 Minutes | Passing Score: 700 / 1000 | Format: Multiple Choice / Multiple Response | 50 scored + 15 unscored questions | No penalty for guessing.
Official reference checked: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Exam Guide and in-scope service list on AWS Certification documentation (checked 2026-06-21).
2. Cloud Concepts & Economics
| Concept |
Key Keywords / Definition |
Exam Focus / Use Case |
| High Availability |
No single point of failure; running in multiple AZs. |
System remains operational even if hardware fails. |
| Fault Tolerance |
System survives component failures without degradation. |
Critical apps needing zero downtime. |
| Scalability |
Grow/shrink system capacity based on workload. |
Handling traffic spikes (vertical/horizontal scaling). |
| Elasticity |
Automated scaling; match resource supply to demand. |
Auto Scaling scale-out/scale-in based on CPU usage. |
| Agility |
Reduce time to spin up resources from weeks to minutes. |
Rapid experimentation and faster time-to-market. |
| Economy of Scale |
Lower pay-as-you-go prices as AWS grows and buys bulk. |
Massive cost savings compared to private data centers. |
| CapEx vs. OpEx |
CapEx: Upfront physical assets. OpEx: Pay-as-you-go costs. |
Cloud changes CapEx (buying servers) into OpEx (utility bills). |
| Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) |
Compare on-premises vs. AWS costs. Includes both direct (hardware, labor) and indirect (power, cooling, space) costs. |
Used to build a financial business case for migrating to the cloud. |
| Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) |
Structure to migrate workloads. 6 Perspectives:
|
Business, People, Governance (Business); Platform, Security, Operations (Technical). |
| CAF Transformation Phases |
Iterative and incremental cloud transformation. 4 Phases:
|
Envision → Align → Launch → Scale (repeat). |
| Envision |
Define business outcomes and how cloud delivers measurable value. |
First phase: identify transformation opportunities and stakeholder alignment. |
| Align |
Identify capability gaps across people, process, and technology. |
Build a concrete roadmap, prioritize initiatives with stakeholders. |
| Launch |
Execute pilot projects to prove value with real workloads. |
Learn from early results, build organizational confidence. |
| Scale |
Expand successful pilots to full production across the enterprise. |
Operationalize best practices, drive broad adoption. |
| Deployment Models |
Public: Fully AWS. Private: On-premises. Hybrid: Combined. |
Use Direct Connect / VPN to connect Hybrid clouds. |
| Rightsizing |
Match resource size/type to actual workload demand. |
Cost optimization: reduce over-provisioned EC2/RDS/EBS capacity. |
| BYOL vs. Included License |
Bring existing software licenses or use license-included AWS pricing. |
Licensing strategy questions, especially Windows/SQL Server/Oracle workloads. |
| Automation Benefits |
Repeatable, faster, lower-error operations using IaC/scripts. |
Reduces manual work and improves operational consistency. |
Migration Strategies (7 Rs)
| Strategy |
Meaning |
Exam Keyword |
| Retire |
Remove apps no longer needed. |
Reduce scope and cost. |
| Retain |
Keep on-premises for now. |
Not ready, compliance, dependency constraints. |
| Rehost |
Lift and shift to AWS. |
Fast migration to EC2, Application Migration Service. |
| Replatform |
Move with small optimizations. |
Managed DB, Elastic Beanstalk, minimal code change. |
| Repurchase |
Move to SaaS/product replacement. |
Replace self-managed app with marketplace/SaaS option. |
| Refactor / Re-architect |
Redesign for cloud-native benefits. |
Serverless, microservices, highest effort/highest benefit. |
| Relocate |
Move infrastructure without purchasing new hardware or rewriting. |
VMware Cloud on AWS migration. |
3. Shared Responsibility Model
| AWS Responsibility (Security OF the Cloud) |
Customer Responsibility (Security IN the Cloud) |
| Physical infrastructure, data centers, host virtualization OS. |
Customer data, application code, identity management (IAM). |
| Global Infrastructure (Edge locations, AZs, Regions). |
Guest Operating Systems (patching EC2 virtual machines). |
| Managed databases (RDS OS patching, hardware failures). |
Firewall configurations (Security Groups, Network ACLs). |
| Physical security, security audits, server destruction. |
Encryption settings (At-rest using KMS, In-transit using SSL/TLS). |
Responsibility shifts by service: EC2 = customer patches guest OS and apps; RDS = AWS patches database host/OS, customer manages data/access/config; Lambda = AWS manages servers/runtime infrastructure, customer manages code, data, IAM, and configuration.
4. AWS Well-Architected Framework (6 Pillars)
| Pillar |
Key Design Principle |
Exam Focus / Keyword |
| Operational Excellence |
Perform operations as code, make frequent, small, reversible changes. |
Continuous improvement, post-mortems, automating deployment. |
| Security |
Implement a strong identity foundation, protect data at rest/transit. |
Principle of Least Privilege, traceability (logging), encrypt everything. |
| Reliability |
Automatically recover from failure, scale horizontally. |
Test recovery procedures, Multi-AZ design, fault tolerance. |
| Performance Efficiency |
Use serverless architectures, go global in minutes. |
Democratizing advanced technologies, mechanical sympathy. |
| Cost Optimization |
Measure overall efficiency, stop spending money on undifferentiated work. |
Analyze spend, use managed services, pay-as-you-go matching. |
| Sustainability |
Maximize utilization, minimize resources required. |
Shared responsibility for environmental impact, reduction of waste. |
5. Core Technology Services
Global Infrastructure
| Component |
Definition |
Exam Focus |
| Region |
Physical geographic area with multiple Availability Zones. |
Choose for latency, cost, service availability, and data residency. |
| Availability Zone (AZ) |
One or more discrete data centers in a Region. |
Multi-AZ improves high availability; AZs avoid shared single points of failure. |
| Edge Location |
CDN/security edge site used by services like CloudFront and Route 53. |
Cache and serve content closer to users for lower latency. |
| Multi-Region |
Workloads/data deployed across Regions. |
Disaster recovery, business continuity, global latency, sovereignty. |
Compute Services
| Service |
Type |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon EC2 |
Virtual Servers |
IaaS, resizable capacity, full OS access. |
Legacy apps, custom software needing specific OS config. |
| EC2 Instance Types |
General, compute, memory, storage, accelerated computing. |
Pick based on workload profile: CPU-heavy, RAM-heavy, local storage, GPU/ML. |
|
| Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) |
ALB/NLB/GWLB, distributes traffic. |
Improves availability and scales traffic across multiple targets/AZs. |
|
| Auto Scaling |
Automatic scale out/in. |
Provides elasticity by matching capacity to demand. |
|
| AWS Lambda |
Serverless |
FaaS, event-driven, runs code max 15 mins. |
Run code without managing servers; pay only for execution time. |
| Amazon ECS |
Container Orchestration |
AWS-native, runs Docker containers. |
Running microservices in Docker at scale. |
| Amazon EKS |
Container Orchestration |
Managed Kubernetes standard. |
Migrating existing Kubernetes workloads to AWS. |
| Amazon ECR |
Container Registry |
Secure storage and sharing of container images. |
Private Docker registry to store container images for ECS or EKS. |
| AWS Fargate |
Serverless Compute |
Container-only compute; no EC2 to manage. |
Serverless Docker containers for ECS or EKS. |
| Elastic Beanstalk |
PaaS |
Quick deploy, upload code, AWS handles infrastructure. |
Developers who want to deploy web apps without configuring infrastructure. |
| Amazon Lightsail |
Virtual Servers |
VPS, simple, low cost, predictable monthly pricing. |
Simple websites, blogs, test environments, small business apps. |
| AWS Batch |
Compute |
Runs batch jobs at any scale. |
High-throughput, automated large-scale batch processing. |
| AWS Outposts |
Hybrid Compute |
Run native AWS services on-premises. |
Extremely low latency or local data residency requirements. |
| AWS Wavelength |
Edge Compute |
Connects to 5G networks, ultra-low latency. |
Mobile edge applications (video streaming, gaming, IoT). |
| AWS Local Zones |
Edge Compute |
Places compute/storage near large cities. |
Running low-latency applications close to end-users. |
| VMware Cloud on AWS |
Hybrid Compute |
Runs VMware workloads natively on AWS. |
Migrating on-premises VMware vSphere environments without modifying workloads. |
Storage Services
| Service |
Type |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon S3 |
Object Storage |
Key-value store, 99.999999999% durability, static hosting. |
Unstructured files, backups, static websites, data lake storage. |
| S3 Storage Classes |
Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Standard-IA, One Zone-IA, Glacier Instant/Flexible/Deep Archive. |
Match retrieval frequency, availability needs, and archive cost. |
|
| S3 Lifecycle Policies |
Automatically transition/expire objects. |
Move older logs/backups to cheaper storage or delete after retention period. |
|
| S3 Glacier |
Archive |
Glacier Instant/Flexible/Deep Archive (up to 12h retrieval). |
Long-term backup/compliance archiving at ultra-low cost. |
| Amazon EBS |
Block Storage |
Persistent volume, tied to single AZ, attached to EC2. |
Database storage or boot volumes for individual EC2 instances. |
| EC2 Instance Store |
Ephemeral block storage physically attached to host. |
Temporary cache/scratch data; data lost if instance stops/terminates/fails. |
|
| Amazon EFS |
File Storage |
Shared network file system, Linux, scalable, multi-AZ. |
Shared storage for multiple EC2 instances simultaneously. |
| Amazon FSx |
File Storage |
Native Windows (FSx for Windows) or Lustre (high-perf). |
High-performance computing or Windows server migration. |
| Storage Gateway |
Hybrid |
File Gateway, Volume Gateway (Cached/Stored), Tape Gateway. |
Connects on-premises environments to cloud storage. |
| AWS Backup |
Backup |
Managed, centralized, automated backup across services. |
Automating backup policies for EBS, RDS, S3, etc. |
Database Services
| Service |
Type |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon RDS |
Relational |
Managed SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle). |
OLTP applications, complex queries, traditional databases. |
| Amazon Aurora |
Relational |
Proprietary RDS, MySQL/PostgreSQL compatible, 3-5x performance. |
High-throughput, self-healing relational database requirements. |
| Amazon DynamoDB |
NoSQL |
Key-value, serverless, single-digit millisecond latency. |
Shopping carts, user profiles, high-speed read/write web apps. |
| Amazon ElastiCache |
In-Memory |
Redis or Memcached compatible. |
Caching frequently read database queries to reduce load. |
| Amazon Redshift |
Relational |
Columnar data warehouse, OLAP. |
Large-scale data analytics, business intelligence (BI) reports. |
| Amazon DocumentDB |
NoSQL |
Managed MongoDB compatible. |
Storing JSON data structures and content management. |
| Amazon Neptune |
Graph DB |
Managed graph database. |
Social networks, fraud detection, recommendation engines. |
| AWS DMS / SCT |
Migration |
DMS moves data; Schema Conversion Tool converts schemas. |
Migrating homogeneous/heterogeneous databases to AWS managed databases. |
Networking & Content Delivery
| Service |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon VPC |
Isolated virtual network, Subnets, Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway. |
Logically isolating your AWS resources in a private network. |
| Security Group |
Stateful, instance-level firewall. |
Controlling inbound and outbound traffic for individual EC2 instances. |
| Network ACL (NACL) |
Stateless, subnet-level firewall. |
Securing entire VPC subnets with explicit allow/deny rules. |
| Route 53 |
Global DNS, health checks, domain registration, latency routing. |
Mapping domain names to IP addresses; routing users to closest resources. |
| CloudFront |
Global Content Delivery Network (CDN), Edge Locations, caching. |
Fast content delivery (images, videos, APIs) to users worldwide. |
| Direct Connect |
Dedicated physical cable, bypasses the internet, secure, consistent. |
Establishing a high-speed, private connection from on-prem to AWS. |
| AWS VPN |
Site-to-Site (IPsec) VPN, Client VPN (OpenVPN endpoint). |
Securely connecting on-premises data centers or remote employees to VPC. |
| Transit Gateway |
Hub-and-spoke network router. |
Connecting thousands of VPCs and on-premises networks together. |
| Global Accelerator |
Optimizes IP routing using the AWS global network. |
Improving global user latency by up to 60% via Static IPs. |
| API Gateway |
Managed API creation, hosting, and protection. |
Exposing serverless backends (Lambda) as REST/WebSocket APIs. |
| AWS PrivateLink |
Private service connectivity through VPC endpoints. |
Access supported AWS/SaaS services privately without public internet exposure. |
Route 53 Routing Policies
| Policy |
Core Behavior / Meaning |
Primary Exam Use Case / Keyword |
| Simple |
Single resource, basic DNS query resolution. |
Redirecting domain traffic to a single resource; no health check failover. |
| Weighted |
Routes traffic to multiple resources in proportions you specify. |
Blue/Green deployments, testing new versions on a fraction of users (e.g., 90%/10%). |
| Latency |
Routes traffic to the AWS Region with the lowest network latency. |
Providing the fastest response times for globally distributed users. |
| Failover |
Active-Passive disaster recovery. |
Automatically routing users to a secondary resource (backup) if the primary is unhealthy. |
| Geolocation |
Routes traffic based on the geographic location of the user. |
Localizing website language, managing regional compliance, or content restrictions. |
| Geoproximity |
Routes traffic based on user/resource distance; can adjust boundaries using Bias. |
Shifting the geographic region boundaries served by specific resources. |
| Multivalue Answer |
Returns up to 8 healthy IP addresses in response to DNS queries. |
Simple, decentralized, DNS-based load balancing with health checks. |
Analytics Services
| Service |
Type |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon Athena |
Serverless Query |
Query S3 files directly using standard SQL. |
Querying logs/data stored in S3 without loading them into a database. |
| Amazon EMR |
Big Data / Hadoop |
Elastic MapReduce, Spark, Hadoop, HBase. |
Running and scaling petabyte-scale distributed data processing frameworks. |
| Amazon MSK |
Streaming / Kafka |
Managed Apache Kafka cluster. |
Building and running real-time streaming data applications. |
| Amazon Kinesis |
Streaming |
Real-time data ingestion, processing, and analysis. |
Ingesting real-time application logs or IoT device sensor data. |
| AWS Glue |
ETL Service |
Extract, Transform, Load; serverless data catalog. |
Discovering schemas and preparing data for database/analytics platforms. |
| Amazon QuickSight |
Business Intelligence |
Serverless BI dashboards, ML-powered visualizations. |
Creating interactive business reports and dashboards for stakeholders. |
| Amazon OpenSearch Service |
Search/analytics |
Log analytics, search, observability. |
Searching and analyzing application logs/events. |
End User Computing, Business Applications, & IoT
| Service |
Type |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon WorkSpaces |
End User Computing |
DaaS, persistent virtual desktops (Windows/Linux). |
Providing employees with remote access to virtual office desktops. |
| Amazon AppStream 2.0 |
End User Computing |
Non-persistent desktop application streaming. |
Streaming high-performance desktop apps to a web browser on any device. |
| WorkSpaces Secure Browser |
End User Computing |
Secure browser access to internal websites/SaaS. |
Browser-only workforce access without full virtual desktops. |
| Amazon Connect |
Business App |
Omnichannel cloud contact center, customer service helpdesk. |
Setting up a scalable customer support phone system and chat center. |
| Amazon SES |
Business App |
Simple Email Service, marketing and transaction emails. |
Automatically sending order confirmation or newsletter emails to customers. |
| AWS Amplify |
Frontend & Mobile |
Full-stack web/mobile app build tools and hosting. |
Rapidly building and hosting mobile and web frontends on AWS. |
| AWS AppSync |
Frontend & Mobile |
Managed GraphQL APIs. |
Connecting web/mobile apps to data sources with real-time sync. |
| AWS IoT Core |
IoT |
Secure device-to-cloud connection, message broker. |
Connecting and routing messages from millions of IoT sensors to AWS. |
6. Security, Identity, & Compliance
Core Security & Identity
| Service |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| AWS IAM |
Users, Groups, Roles, Policies, MFA, Access Analyzer. |
Control who can access what in your AWS account (Least Privilege). |
| IAM Policies |
JSON permissions; AWS managed, customer managed, inline. |
Define allowed/denied actions on resources. |
| IAM Roles |
Temporary credentials; assumed by users/services/accounts. |
Preferred access for EC2/Lambda and cross-account access. |
| IAM Identity Center |
Single Sign-On (SSO). |
Centrally manage SSO access to multiple AWS accounts. |
| AWS STS |
Security Token Service, temporary credentials. |
Granting temporary access to resources (e.g., federation, IAM role assumption). |
| Amazon Cognito |
Sign-up, Sign-in, Guest Access. |
Identity provider for web/mobile apps (Google/Facebook login). |
| AWS KMS |
Envelope encryption, customer managed keys (CMKs), shared hardware. |
Creating, deleting, and rotating cryptographic encryption keys. |
| AWS Secrets Manager |
Database credentials, automatic rotation. |
Securely storing and rotating sensitive API/DB keys. |
| AWS Directory Service |
Managed Active Directory. |
Integrates AWS resources with existing on-premises AD. |
| AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) |
SSL/TLS certificates, free public certificates. |
Provisioning, managing, and deploying SSL/TLS encryption certificates. |
| AWS License Manager |
BYOL license management, Dedicated Hosts, usage tracking. |
Governing and tracking software license usage (Windows/SQL Server) to avoid overage penalties. |
Root user exam tip: Protect with MFA, avoid daily use, do not create root access keys, and use IAM/admin roles for routine tasks. Some account-level tasks require root, such as changing root credentials, closing the account, and certain tax/support plan/account settings.
Security Protection & Auditing
| Service |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| AWS WAF |
Layer 7 Web Application Firewall, SQL injection, XSS protection. |
Blocking malicious web attacks targeting HTTP/HTTPS apps. |
| AWS Shield |
Layer 3/4 DDoS protection, Standard (free) and Advanced. |
Protecting applications from massive Distributed Denial of Service attacks. |
| AWS Firewall Manager |
Centralized security rules across accounts. |
Configuring and deploying firewall rules (WAF, Shield, Security Groups) for AWS Organizations. |
| Amazon GuardDuty |
Threat detection, Machine Learning, continuously monitors logs. |
Finding malicious activity (e.g., bitcoin mining, compromised instances). |
| Amazon Inspector |
Vulnerability scanner, EC2, ECR container images, Lambda. |
Scanning application software packages for known security exposures. |
| Amazon Macie |
PII discovery, S3 buckets, Machine Learning. |
Identifying and alerting on sensitive data (e.g., credit cards, SSNs). |
| AWS Artifact |
Compliance portal, ISO/PCI/SOC reports. |
Downloading official AWS compliance documents for audits. |
| AWS Security Hub |
Security posture management, single dashboard. |
Consolidated view of security alerts across GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie. |
| Amazon Detective |
Security investigation. |
Investigating and finding the root cause of security anomalies. |
| AWS CloudHSM |
Dedicated hardware security module (FIPS 140-2 Level 3). |
Managing encryption keys using dedicated cryptographic hardware in AWS. |
7. Management, Governance, & Billing
Management & Monitoring
| Service |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Amazon CloudWatch |
Performance metrics, logs, alarms, dashboards. |
Monitoring resource CPU utilization, setting alarms for high usage. |
| AWS CloudTrail |
API auditing, user history, "Who did what, when, and where." |
Reviewing which user deleted an S3 bucket or changed a route table. |
| AWS Config |
Compliance auditing, configuration history. |
Tracking changes to security group rules over time for compliance. |
| AWS Systems Manager |
SSM, Run Command, Patch Manager, Session Manager. |
Executing shell scripts or applying OS patches to hundreds of EC2s. |
| AWS Organizations |
Multi-account management, OUs, Service Control Policies (SCPs). |
Centrally applying security guardrails and consolidating bills. |
| AWS Control Tower |
Automated landing zone setup, multi-account governance. |
Setting up a secure, compliant multi-account environment. |
| AWS Trusted Advisor |
Best practices advisor: Cost, Security, Reliability, Performance, Limits. |
Finding idle EC2 instances or public S3 buckets. |
| Well-Architected Tool |
Architecture review against 6 pillars. |
Evaluating workload architectures to ensure they align with best practices. |
| Compute Optimizer |
Machine learning analysis of usage. |
Recommending optimal EC2/Lambda sizes to save money/boost performance. |
| AWS Health Dashboard |
Two views: Service Health Dashboard (global status of all AWS services) and Personal Health Dashboard (personalized alerts for your account/resources). |
Checking general AWS outages vs. getting specific alerts about services that affect your workloads. |
| AWS Service Catalog |
Managed catalog of approved IT services. |
Governing resource creation by allowing users to launch only pre-approved, compliant configurations. |
| AWS CloudFormation |
Infrastructure as Code (IaC), declarative templates (JSON/YAML), drift detection, StackSets. |
Provisioning and managing AWS resources consistently using repeatable, version-controlled templates. |
| AWS Resource Groups & Tag Editor |
Organize and manage resources by tags; bulk tag editing across services/Regions. |
Grouping EC2 instances by Environment: Production tag for centralized management and cost tracking. |
| AWS Service Quotas |
View and manage service limits (formerly Service Limits); request quota increases. |
Checking current EC2 instance count limits and requesting an increase before launching large workloads. |
Billing & Cost Management
| Service / Tool |
Primary Purpose |
Key Exam Scenario |
| AWS Billing Dashboard |
Visual monthly invoice, payments. |
High-level tracking of current month costs. |
| AWS Cost Explorer |
Historic cost visualization, forecasting. |
Identifying spend trends and predicting future cloud bills. |
| AWS Budgets |
Custom cost/usage alerts. |
Triggering email notifications when costs exceed 80% of budget. |
| Cost & Usage Report (CUR) |
Most granular raw data (S3 export). |
Deep dive cost analysis with Athena/QuickSight. |
| AWS Pricing Calculator |
Estimate infrastructure costs. |
Planning costs before deploying an application to AWS. |
| Cost Allocation Tags |
Key-value tagging (Environment: Production). |
Organizing and categorizing resource costs by department/project. |
| Consolidated Billing |
Single bill across AWS Organizations accounts. |
Volume discounts and centralized payment while keeping account isolation. |
| Savings Plans |
1- or 3-year spend commitment. |
Flexible compute savings across EC2, Fargate, and Lambda usage. |
| Reserved Instances |
1- or 3-year instance commitment. |
Steady-state EC2/RDS usage; can share benefits across Organizations accounts. |
| Spot Instances |
Unused EC2 capacity with interruption risk. |
Fault-tolerant, flexible workloads such as batch jobs. |
| Dedicated Hosts / Instances |
Dedicated physical server or dedicated instance placement. |
Compliance, server-bound licenses, physical isolation requirements. |
| Capacity Reservations |
Reserve EC2 capacity in a specific AZ. |
Ensure capacity availability without necessarily getting a billing discount. |
| Data Transfer Pricing |
Inbound usually free; outbound and cross-Region usually charged. |
Watch egress and inter-Region traffic costs. |
| AWS Free Tier |
Free plan: Up to $200 credits over 6 months (new accounts). Always Free: 30+ services within monthly limits (both plans). Short-term trials: Time-limited trials for select paid services. |
Starting hands-on experience with AWS at no cost; practicing core services without incurring charges. |
| AWS Marketplace |
Digital catalog of third-party software. |
Finding, buying, and deploying software that runs on AWS with unified billing. |
| AWS Cost Anomaly Detection |
Machine Learning cost monitors. |
Automatically detecting and alerting on anomalous or unexpected billing activity. |
| AWS Billing Conductor |
Custom pro forma billing. |
Customizing billing parameters and sharing billing views with business partners/clients. |
8. Integration, Developer, & Machine Learning
Application Integration
| Service |
Architecture |
Communication Model |
Primary Exam Keyword / Scenario |
| Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) |
Message Queue |
Pull-based (Consumers pull messages) |
Decoupling components; processing asynchronous transactions. |
| Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) |
Pub/Sub Topic |
Push-based (Fan-out pattern) |
Broadcasting single notifications (Email, SMS) to multiple targets. |
| EventBridge |
Serverless Event Bus |
Push-based (Event routing & scheduling) |
Routes real-time events from AWS services, SaaS apps, and custom apps using pattern matching rules; supports scheduled events via EventBridge Scheduler; sends to multiple targets (Lambda, SNS, SQS, Kinesis, Firehose, etc.); event transformation and filtering capabilities. |
| Step Functions |
State Machine Workflow |
Visual orchestration |
Coordinating sequential multi-step serverless tasks (Lambda). |
| AWS SWF (Simple Work Flows) |
Coordinated Workflow |
Task-based (Deciders & Workers) |
Orchestrating complex, long-running, programmatic workflows; human approval steps and custom retry/compensation logic. |
Developer Tools
| Service |
Primary Function |
Primary Exam Use Case |
| AWS CLI |
Command Line Interface |
Control AWS services using text commands in a terminal. |
| AWS CloudShell |
Browser-based shell |
Executing CLI scripts directly from the AWS Console without installs. |
| AWS Cloud9 |
Browser-based IDE |
Writing and debugging code collaboratively in the cloud. |
| AWS CodeCommit |
Git Repository |
Hosting private Git repositories natively in AWS. |
| AWS CodeBuild |
Build & Test |
Compiling source code and running automated testing scripts. |
| AWS CodeDeploy |
Code Deployment |
Automating application updates onto EC2, ECS, or Lambda. |
| AWS CodePipeline |
CI/CD Orchestration |
Designing and managing the workflow from commit to deploy. |
| AWS X-Ray |
Distributed tracing & debugging |
Analyzing and debugging production, distributed serverless applications (visualizing service maps). |
| AWS CDK |
Infrastructure as Code using programming languages |
Defining repeatable AWS infrastructure with code. |
Machine Learning & AI (No ML expertise required)
| Service |
Primary Function / Keyword |
Primary Exam Scenario |
| Amazon SageMaker |
Build, Train, Deploy custom ML. |
Fully custom machine learning modeling workbench. |
| Amazon Bedrock |
Generative AI, Foundation Models. |
Building generative AI apps using API-based foundation models. |
| Amazon Lex |
Conversational chatbots (Alexa tech). |
Creating customer service chatbots for websites/apps. |
| Amazon Rekognition |
Image & Video analysis. |
Facial recognition, locating unsafe content, labeling objects in photos. |
| Amazon Transcribe |
Speech-to-Text. |
Generating text transcripts from audio recordings. |
| Amazon Polly |
Text-to-Speech. |
Converting written text into lifelike spoken voice. |
| Amazon Translate |
Language translation. |
Localizing application text content into multiple languages. |
| Amazon Comprehend |
Natural Language Processing (NLP). |
Analyzing customer feedback text for sentiment (Positive/Negative). |
| Amazon Textract |
Document OCR + data extraction. |
Extracting table structures and form data from scanned PDF invoices. |
| Amazon Kendra |
Intelligent Document Search. |
Finding answers across thousands of PDF and Word files. |
9. Migration & Support
Migration & Transfer
| Service |
Key Keywords / Characteristics |
Primary Exam Use Case / Scenario |
| Database Migration Service (DMS) |
Minimal downtime, homogeneous/heterogeneous. |
Migrating database to AWS while source remains operational. |
| Migration Hub |
Single tracking dashboard. |
Monitoring progress of application migrations across multiple tools. |
| Application Discovery Service |
Discover inventory, profiling resources. |
Cataloging on-premises server configurations to plan migrations. |
| Application Migration Service (MGN) |
Lift-and-shift server replication. |
Rehosting virtual/physical servers onto EC2 instances. |
| AWS Snow Family |
Physical data transport. Snowcone < Snowball < Snowmobile.
|
Migrating massive datasets (TB/PB-scale) where internet is too slow. |
| AWS DataSync |
Online automation, sync over WAN. |
Synchronizing local NAS storage data to S3 or EFS on a schedule. |
| AWS Transfer Family |
SFTP, FTPS, FTP wrapper. |
Exposing S3 or EFS storage directly to users via SFTP protocol. |
AWS Support Plans
| Tier |
Technical Support Response Times |
Trusted Advisor Checks |
Key Feature |
|
Basic (Free) |
No technical cases; account/billing support only |
Core checks |
24/7 customer service, docs, whitepapers, AWS re:Post, AWS Health Dashboard. |
| Developer |
< 24h (general), < 12h (system impaired) |
7 Core checks |
Single contact, Email support (biz hours). |
| Business |
< 4h (system impaired), < 1h (production down) |
Full checks |
Unlimited contacts, 24/7 Phone/Email/Chat. |
| Enterprise On-Ramp |
Production/business-critical response faster than Business |
Full checks |
Pool of Technical Account Managers, concierge-style guidance for growing production workloads. |
| Enterprise |
< 15m (business critical down) |
Full checks |
Technical Account Manager (TAM), Concierge Support. |
Technical Resources & Partners
| Resource |
What It Is |
Exam Use Case |
| AWS Documentation / Whitepapers / Blogs |
Official technical guidance and best practices. |
Find authoritative service details and architecture/security guidance. |
| AWS Knowledge Center |
Troubleshooting articles and answers. |
Resolve common AWS account/service issues. |
| AWS re:Post |
Community Q&A and expert answers. |
Ask/search technical questions outside a support case. |
| AWS Prescriptive Guidance |
Migration, modernization, and architecture patterns. |
Follow recommended implementation patterns. |
| AWS Professional Services |
Paid consulting from AWS experts. |
Hands-on help for large migrations or complex transformations. |
| AWS Solutions Architects |
AWS technical advisors. |
Architecture guidance during planning and adoption. |
| AWS Partner Network (APN) |
AWS partner ecosystem: ISVs, system integrators, consultants. |
Find third-party software/services and partner expertise. |
| Trust and Safety Team |
Abuse reporting and investigation. |
Report abuse of AWS resources such as spam, malware, or attacks. |
10. Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
| Service |
SLA Commitment |
Key Exam Detail |
| Amazon Route 53 |
100% (Hosted Zones) |
Only AWS service with a 100% SLA; < 100% → ≥ 99.99% yields 10% credit. |
| Amazon EC2 (Multi-AZ) |
99.99% |
Region-Level SLA: instances deployed across ≥ 2 AZs. |
| Amazon EC2 (Single Instance) |
99.5% |
Instance-Level SLA: individual EC2 instance uptime. |
| Amazon S3 (Standard) |
99.9% |
S3 Standard, Express One Zone, Glacier Flexible, Glacier Deep Archive. |
| Amazon S3 (IA / Intelligent-Tiering) |
99.0% |
S3 Standard-IA, One Zone-IA, Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier Instant Retrieval. |
| Amazon RDS (Multi-AZ) |
99.95% |
Multi-AZ DB Instance or DB Cluster deployment. |
| Amazon RDS (Single DB Instance) |
99.5% |
Single-DB Instance deployment. |
SLA Credit Process: Submit a support case within the second billing cycle after the incident. Credits apply as future service credits (not refunds), minimum $1 USD.
SLA Exclusions (common): Force majeure, customer actions/inactions, customer equipment/software, free-tier services, and services in beta/preview.
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