Blog · Exam

SOA-C03: CloudOps Engineer - Associate

8 articles, each explaining one topic from the documentation and ending at a stage you can play.

The SOA-C03 path32 stages, about 14.5 hours, $15

SOA-C03 · Core architecture

gp3, io2, st1 or sc1: choosing an EBS volume by the numbers

gp3 includes 3,000 IOPS at any size, io2 is the sub-millisecond volume, st1 sells throughput by the TiB, and the instance sets the last ceiling.

Ends at Volumes That FitFree5 min read · video coming

SAA-C03 · Networking

How a private subnet reaches the internet: the NAT gateway, hop by hop

A NAT gateway lets private instances start connections out while nothing on the internet starts one in. Follow every hop, and see the address the far end sees.

Ends at Private but Connected Free at release6 min read · video coming

SCS-C03 · Security

How AWS decides a request: why an explicit deny always wins

Every request starts denied. An Allow lets it through, and one Deny in any policy ends it. The order AWS reads policies in, and how to find the Deny.

Ends at Deny WinsFree5 min read · video coming

SAA-C03 · Networking

Security group or network ACL: which one dropped the packet?

Security groups are stateful and only allow. Network ACLs are stateless, numbered and can deny. Follow one HTTPS request to see which layer drops what.

Ends at Guard Rails Paid5 min read · video coming

SAP-C02 · Networking

Transit gateway route tables: association and propagation, with one packet

Association picks the table a packet is looked up in. Propagation picks which tables know a VPC. Follow one packet to see how a transit gateway segments.

Ends at Routing Domains Paid5 min read · video coming

SAA-C03 · Networking

What actually makes a subnet public

Not its name, not a public IP, not the gateway alone. The subnet's route table decides, and the main route table decides for every subnet you forgot.

Ends at Open for BusinessFree5 min read · video coming

SAA-C03 · Networking

Why can't my private subnet reach S3? Gateway and interface endpoints

With no internet gateway or NAT, a private subnet can still reach AWS services. A gateway endpoint adds a route; an interface endpoint adds an address.

Ends at Shortcut to S3 Paid5 min read · video coming

SOA-C03 · Operations and delivery

Why CloudWatch shows no memory for your EC2 instance

EC2 publishes CPU, network, disk operations and status checks. Memory and disk space live inside the guest, where the CloudWatch agent reads them.

Ends at Measure ItFree5 min read · video coming