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Certification Cheat Sheets

Architect-voice cheat sheets: when to use what, gotchas, and exam traps.

• Amazon EC2 — Elastic Compute — Resizable virtual servers. Your default compute building block when you need OS-level control.
• AWS Lambda — Serverless Functions — Run code without managing servers. Pay per invocation and duration. Scales to zero.
• Amazon S3 — Object Storage — Eleven-nines durable object storage. The default home for files, backups, data lakes, and static sites.
• EBS vs EFS vs Instance Store — Block vs shared file vs ephemeral storage. Pick by attachment model and durability needs.
• Amazon VPC — Networking Foundations — Your private virtual network. Subnets, route tables, gateways, and the security boundary of everything.
• ELB + Auto Scaling — Elastic Front Door — Distribute traffic across healthy targets and grow/shrink capacity automatically.
• Amazon Route 53 — DNS & Routing — Managed DNS with health checks and routing policies that turn DNS into a traffic controller.
• AWS IAM — Identity & Access — Who can do what, on which resource, under what conditions. The control plane for all access.
• AWS KMS & Encryption — Centralized, audited encryption keys. The backbone of encryption at rest across AWS.
• Amazon RDS & Aurora — Relational — Managed relational databases. Multi-AZ for availability, read replicas for scale.
• Amazon DynamoDB — NoSQL at Scale — Serverless key-value/document database with single-digit-millisecond latency at any scale.
• Cost Optimization & Purchasing — Match commitment to demand: On-Demand, Savings Plans/Reserved, Spot — plus storage tiering.
• Well-Architected Framework — Six pillars AWS uses to review designs. The lens the exam scores you against.
• Amazon SQS — Managed Message Queuing Service — Amazon SQS is a fully managed message queuing service that enables decoupling and scaling of microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.
• AWS Storage Gateway — Hybrid cloud storage solution — AWS Storage Gateway seamlessly connects on-premises environments with cloud storage, bridging the gap between on-premises and AWS.
• Amazon SQS & SNS — Messaging and Notification Services — Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) and SNS (Simple Notification Service) provide managed messaging and notification capabilities for building resilient applications.
• Amazon API Gateway — Managed API service — Amazon API Gateway simplifies the creation, publication, and management of APIs at scale.
• AWS Step Functions — Orchestrate workflows with ease — AWS Step Functions enables you to coordinate multiple AWS services into serverless workflows so you can build and update apps quickly.
• Amazon ECS & Fargate — Simplified Container Management — Amazon ECS allows you to run and manage Docker containers, while Fargate provides serverless compute for containers.
• Amazon EKS — Managed Kubernetes Service — Amazon EKS simplifies running Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own control plane or nodes.
• Amazon CloudWatch — Monitoring and observability service — CloudWatch provides real-time monitoring and observability for AWS resources and applications.
• AWS CloudTrail & AWS Config — Monitoring and Compliance — AWS CloudTrail and AWS Config provide essential monitoring and compliance capabilities for your AWS resources.
• AWS Secrets Manager vs Parameter Store — Managing Secrets and Configuration Data — Both services securely manage sensitive information but are suited for different use cases.
• Amazon Cognito — User Identity and Access Management — Amazon Cognito provides user sign-up, sign-in, and access control, enabling secure authentication for applications.
• Amazon Athena & AWS Glue — Serverless Data Querying and ETL — Athena is a serverless SQL query service for analyzing data in S3, while Glue is a fully managed ETL service that prepares data for analytics.
• Amazon Redshift — Fast, fully-managed data warehouse — Amazon Redshift is a fully-managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service designed for analytics.
• Amazon Kinesis — Real-time data streaming and analytics — Amazon Kinesis enables you to collect, process, and analyze real-time, streaming data.
• AWS Direct Connect vs Site-to-Site VPN — Connectivity Options — AWS Direct Connect and Site-to-Site VPN are services for establishing secure connections between on-premises networks and AWS.
• AWS Transit Gateway — Centralized network routing — AWS Transit Gateway is a service that simplifies the management of multiple VPCs and on-premises networks by providing a single point of connectivity.
• AWS Global Accelerator vs CloudFront — Optimizing Global Applications — AWS Global Accelerator and CloudFront enhance application performance and availability for global users.
• Amazon FSx — Fully managed file storage — Amazon FSx provides fully managed file storage for Windows and Lustre file systems, designed for high performance and ease of use.
• AWS Backup & Disaster Recovery — Centralized data protection — AWS Backup provides a centralized way to automate and centrally manage backups across AWS services.
• AWS Organizations & Control Tower — Centralized account management and governance — AWS Organizations enables centralized management of multiple AWS accounts, while Control Tower provides governance and compliance.
• Elastic Load Balancing — Traffic Distribution Options — Elastic Load Balancing distributes incoming application or network traffic across multiple targets to ensure high availability and fault tolerance.
• AWS Lambda Event Sources & Concurrency — Efficient Event-Driven Architecture — AWS Lambda allows you to run code in response to events without provisioning servers, supporting various event sources and managing concurrency effectively.
• Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling — Dynamic resource management — Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling automates the process of scaling your EC2 instances to meet demand.
• Amazon S3 Replication & Lifecycle — Efficient Data Management — Amazon S3 provides data replication and lifecycle management features for optimizing data storage and availability.
• Amazon EBS Snapshots & Data Lifecycle Manager — Efficient backup and management of EBS volumes — EBS Snapshots provide point-in-time backups of EBS volumes, while Data Lifecycle Manager automates the management of these backups.
• Amazon Aurora Serverless & Global Database — Scalable, on-demand database solutions — Aurora Serverless automatically adjusts capacity; Global Database provides low-latency global access.
• Amazon DynamoDB Streams & Global Tables — Real-time data processing and global replication — DynamoDB Streams and Global Tables enable real-time data processing and multi-region replication for applications requiring low latency and high availability.
• Amazon VPC Endpoints & PrivateLink — Securely connect services without traversing the internet — Amazon VPC Endpoints enable private connections between your VPC and supported AWS services, without requiring internet access.
• AWS Route 53 Resolver — Hybrid DNS Management — Route 53 Resolver provides DNS resolution for hybrid cloud environments, enabling seamless communication between on-premises and AWS resources.
• AWS WAF, Shield & Firewall Manager — Web Application Security Suite — A set of services to protect web applications from common web exploits and DDoS attacks.
• Amazon GuardDuty, Inspector & Detective — Security services for threat detection and compliance — These services provide essential threat detection, vulnerability management, and investigation capabilities within AWS environments.
• AWS Migration Services — Streamlining your cloud transition — AWS Migration Services provide a suite of tools for efficiently migrating applications and data to the AWS cloud.
• AWS Cost Management — Optimize and control your AWS spending — Tools to analyze, manage, and optimize AWS costs effectively.
• Amazon SageMaker — Simplifying Machine Learning — Amazon SageMaker provides a fully managed platform to build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly and efficiently.
• AWS CloudFormation — Infrastructure as Code Simplified — AWS CloudFormation automates the setup and management of AWS resources using code to ensure consistent and repeatable deployments.
• Amazon ECS vs EKS vs Lambda — Compute Service Decision Guide — A guide to choosing between Amazon ECS, EKS, and Lambda for application deployment.
• AWS Systems Manager Fleet Operations — Centralized management for resource fleet — AWS Systems Manager provides operational data from multiple AWS services to automate tasks across resources.

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