The AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam begins with foundational knowledge. Day 1 focuses on understanding the global infrastructure, core services, and identity management. This is critical for designing secure and scalable architectures.
🎯 Study Objectives
- Understand AWS Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations
- Learn the purpose of IAM, EC2, S3, RDS, and VPC
- Explore the Shared Responsibility Model
- Review AWS Support Plans and Pricing Models
🌍 Global Infrastructure
- Region: A physical location with multiple Availability Zones (e.g.,
us-east-1) - Availability Zone (AZ): Isolated data centers within a region
- Edge Location: Used by services like CloudFront for low-latency delivery
Design for fault tolerance by deploying across multiple AZs.
🔐 Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Users, Groups, Roles, Policies
- IAM is global and free
- Use IAM Roles for EC2 and cross-service access
- Apply least privilege principle for security
🧰 Core Services Overview
| Service | Purpose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 | Virtual servers | Pay-as-you-go, choose instance types |
| S3 | Object storage | Durable, scalable, supports versioning |
| RDS | Managed databases | Supports Multi-AZ for HA |
| VPC | Network isolation | Define subnets, route tables, security groups |
🧠 Exam Tips
- Know the difference between Regions, AZs, and Edge Locations
- Understand IAM roles vs users
- Be familiar with EC2 pricing models: On-Demand, Reserved, Spot
- Expect questions on the Shared Responsibility Model
🧪 Hands-On Labs
- Create an IAM user with custom permissions
- Launch a basic EC2 instance in a specific AZ
- Upload files to S3 and enable versioning
- Explore VPC Wizard to create a custom network
📎 Resources
- AWS Global Infrastructure Overview
- IAM Best Practices
- AWS Skill Builder: Cloud Practitioner Essentials (for foundational review)
✅ Summary
Day 1 sets the foundation for everything that follows. Understanding AWS’s global architecture and core services is essential for designing resilient, secure, and cost-effective solutions.