Week 7 Worklog

Week 7 Objectives:

  • Review and reinforce theoretical knowledge of core AWS services and architectural best practices.
  • Practice AWS Cloud Practitioner exam questions daily to improve service recognition and scenario analysis.
  • Strengthen understanding of AWS security, network design, storage strategies, compute options, and database availability models.
  • Build the ability to confidently select correct AWS services based on business requirements, cost considerations, and operational expectations.

Tasks to be carried out this week:

DayTaskStart DateCompletion DateReference Material
1Cloud Concepts & Well-Architected Framework
- Cloud Value: Studied cloud benefits: CapEx to OpEx shift, Elasticity, and rapid innovation.
- Performance Services: Differentiated use cases: CloudFront (Content caching), Global Accelerator (Routing via AWS backbone), and Route 53 (DNS Management).
- Well-Architected Framework: Reviewed 6 pillars (Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance, Cost, Sustainability) and related keywords.
- Infrastructure as Code: Understood CloudFormation (Automated deployment) and AWS Service Catalog (Service governance).		20/10/202520/10/2025Module Review
2Networking, VPC Components & Hybrid Connectivity
- VPC Structure: Reviewed CIDR, Subnet isolation, and Public/Private network planning.
- Hybrid Connectivity: Compared AWS Site-to-Site VPN (Internet, encrypted) vs. AWS Direct Connect (Dedicated, low latency).
- Gateways: Differentiated Internet Gateway (Inbound/Outbound for Public subnet) and NAT Gateway (Outbound only for Private subnet).
- Security Layers: Compared Security Groups (Stateful, Instance-level) and Network ACLs (Stateless, Subnet-level).
- Routing: Studied Route 53 policies: Failover, Weighted, Geolocation.		21/10/202521/10/2025Module Review
3Databases, High Availability & Migration
- Amazon RDS: Differentiated Multi-AZ (High Availability/Disaster Recovery) vs. Read Replicas (Scaling read workloads).
- Security: Learned Database encryption (KMS) and IAM Auth for MySQL/PostgreSQL.
- Migration Tools: Used DMS for continuous data replication and SCT for schema conversion between different engines.
- Use Cases: Differentiated DynamoDB (NoSQL, micro-second latency) and Redshift (Analytics, Petabyte-scale).		22/10/202522/10/2025Module Review
4S3 Storage Architecture & Security Controls
- Storage Classes: Selected optimal storage classes: Standard, Intelligent-Tiering (auto cost-opt), Glacier/Deep Archive (long-term).
- Storage Comparison: Differentiated S3 (Object), EFS/FSx (Shared File), and EBS (Block storage for EC2).
- Access Control: Differentiated IAM Policies (User-based) and S3 Bucket Policies (Resource-based). Configured Block Public Access.
- Disaster Recovery: Explored Cross-Region Replication (CRR) for regional data resilience.		23/10/202523/10/2025Module Review
5Compute, Pricing & Operational Efficiency
- EC2 Pricing Models: Selected pricing models: On-Demand (short-term, unpredictable), Reserved/Savings Plans (long-term, steady), Spot (flexible, cheap).
- Architecture: Designed HA architecture with Elastic Load Balancer combined with Auto Scaling Group.
- Serverless: Reviewed AWS Lambda for event-driven tasks and operational cost optimization.
- Operational Tools: Used EC2 Image Builder for standardized AMIs and Compute Optimizer for resource recommendations.		24/10/202524/10/2025Module Review

Week 7 Achievements:

  • Completed 2–3 AWS Cloud Practitioner practice exam sets every day with consistent improvement in performance.
  • Successfully reviewed theory and real-business scenarios involving key AWS domains including Compute, Storage, Networking, Security, and Databases.
  • Improved ability to differentiate AWS services with similar purposes such as: Elastic Load Balancing vs Route 53 vs Global Accelerator, S3 storage classes vs EBS vs EFS, Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas in RDS.
  • Fully understood the theoretical foundation behind cost optimization options (On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot Instances).
  • Strengthened the theoretical knowledge of identity and access control: IAM users, roles, policies, MFA, least privilege principle.
  • Enhanced comprehension of the AWS Well-Architected Framework theory and its six pillars for exam requirement questions.