AWS Architecture Masterclass

By the end, you can

1. Design a scalable, fault-tolerant application on AWS and explain why each service is there
2. Lock down accounts, networks and data with IAM, VPC design and encryption
3. Find and fix a broken AWS setup, from a missing route to a wrong policy
4. Cut a monthly bill without hurting performance
5. Pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam

What you get

• Assignments after every moduleA real design or build task after each module, reviewed with feedback, so you practise exactly what the exam and the job ask.
• Live classesTaught live on a schedule, with time to ask questions as they come up. Every class is recorded, so a missed session is never lost.
• Reading materialsRunnable, chapter-by-chapter notes with real outputs, in the portal. Read at your own pace and come back to revise any time.
• Topic-wise guided labsA step-by-step hands-on lab for every topic, with hints when you get stuck, so you learn by building and not just by watching.
• Chapter-wise quiz and flash cardsA short quiz after every chapter and spaced flash cards, so what you read actually sticks.
• Weekly assessmentsA short timed test every week on what was taught, scored on the portal, so gaps show up while there is still time to fix them.

Your path, stage by stage

9 stages, in the order you learn them. Each one has a clear goal and ends with something you build and keep. Every topic runs on your own machine first.

1. 1Get into AWS safely
2. 2Build the network
3. 3Store and serve
4. 4Go serverless
5. 5Scale and pick databases
6. 6Run it day to day
7. 7Lock it down
8. 8Data and automation
9. 9Recover and pass the exam

1. 01

   Stage 1 of 9

   Get into AWS safely

   Set up accounts, users and permissions the right way, and spread traffic across servers.

   You buildA least-privilege IAM setup and a load-balanced web app

   Core, IAM and load balancing5 topics

   Accounts, identity and spreading traffic across servers.

   • Introduction to AWS (Cloud, Global Infrastructure & IAM)
   • IAM Deep Dive (Users, Groups, Roles & Policies)
   • Load Balancing Explained, HAProxy Demo (Local Setup)
   • Elastic Load Balancer (ELB), Distributing Traffic in AWS
   • EC2 Networking, Storage & Access Management (Part 1)
2. 02

   Stage 2 of 9

   Build the network

   Design a private network with public and private subnets, gateways, firewalls and DNS.

   You buildA VPC with a public web tier and a private database tier

   VPC and networking8 topics

   Private networks, subnets, gateways, firewalls and DNS.

   • Public & Private Subnets with EC2 and Docker
   • NAT Gateway
   • VPC Peering
   • Transit Gateway
   • VPC Endpoints & PrivateLink
   • AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)
   • VPC Flow Logs & How DNS Works
   • Amazon Route 53
3. 03

   Stage 3 of 9

   Store and serve

   Keep files in S3, put APIs behind API Gateway and deliver content fast worldwide.

   You buildA courses API behind API Gateway and a static site on S3 and CloudFront

   Storage, APIs and delivery6 topics

   Object storage, APIs and delivering content fast worldwide.

   • Amazon S3 Part 1 (Buckets, Objects, Storage Classes & CLI)
   • Amazon API Gateway (REST APIs, HTTP APIs, Lambda & Security)
   • Build a Courses API in the AWS console
   • API Gateway advanced (REST APIs, mapping, keys, WebSocket, custom domain and Pulumi)
   • Amazon S3 Part 2 (Replication, Object Lock, Events, Static Sites & Performance)
   • Amazon CloudFront and Global Accelerator
4. 04

   Stage 4 of 9

   Go serverless

   Run code without servers and connect services through queues and events.

   You buildAn order flow built with Lambda, SQS, SNS and Step Functions

   Serverless and decoupling3 topics

   Code without servers, and services that talk through queues and events.

   • AWS Lambda (Serverless Compute)
   • Decoupling with SQS and SNS
   • EventBridge and Step Functions
5. 05

   Stage 5 of 9

   Scale and pick databases

   Scale compute on its own and choose between RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB and ElastiCache.

   You buildA flash-sale architecture that scales out and caches hot reads

   Scaling and databases4 topics

   Scaling compute and choosing the right managed database.

   • EC2 Pricing Models and Auto Scaling
   • Relational Databases (Amazon RDS and Aurora)
   • Amazon DynamoDB
   • ElastiCache and Caching Strategies
6. 06

   Stage 6 of 9

   Run it day to day

   Watch and audit what runs, run containers and pick the right disks.

   You buildDashboards, alarms and an audit trail for your app, and a container on ECS

   Operations, containers and storage4 topics

   Watching, auditing and running containers and disks.

   • Monitoring and Auditing (CloudWatch, CloudTrail and AWS Config)
   • Containers on AWS (ECR, ECS, Fargate, EKS and App Runner)
   • Block and File Storage (EBS, EFS, FSx and Instance Store)
   • Hybrid Cloud (VPN, Direct Connect, Storage Gateway, DataSync and Snow Family)
7. 07

   Stage 7 of 9

   Lock it down

   Govern many accounts, encrypt data, keep secrets safe and catch threats early.

   You buildA multi-account setup with encryption, secrets and threat alerts

   Governance and security3 topics

   Many accounts, encryption, secrets and threat detection.

   • Multi-Account Governance (Organizations, SCPs, Control Tower and Cost Management)
   • Encryption and Secrets (KMS, Secrets Manager, Parameter Store, ACM and CloudHSM)
   • Threat Detection and Protection (GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, Shield and Security Hub)
8. 08

   Stage 8 of 9

   Data and automation

   Stream and analyse data, write infrastructure as code and move existing systems in.

   You buildYour whole stack written as code, and a small data lake you can query

   Data, IaC and migration4 topics

   Streaming, analytics, infrastructure as code and migration.

   • Streaming Data (Kinesis Data Streams, Firehose, Managed Flink and MSK)
   • Analytics (S3 Data Lake, Athena, Glue, Redshift, OpenSearch, EMR and QuickSight)
   • Infrastructure as Code and Operations (CloudFormation, CDK, Elastic Beanstalk and Systems Manager)
   • Migration and Backup (DMS, MGN, AWS Backup and Batch)
9. 09

   Stage 9 of 9

   Recover and pass the exam

   Plan for disasters, use the AI services and get ready for SAA-C03.

   You buildA recovery plan with clear targets, and full-length mock exams

   Resilience, AI services and exam3 topics

   Recovery plans, AI services and the SAA-C03 exam.

   • Disaster Recovery and High Availability
   • AI and Machine Learning Services on AWS
   • Well-Architected Framework and SAA-C03 Exam Strategy