AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Domain 3

Cloud Technology and Services

Official Exam Guide: Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services
Skill Builder: AWS Cloud Practitioner Foundational (CLF-C02) Exam Prep

---

How to Study This Domain Effectively

Study Tips

1. Group services by category - Organize services by function: Compute, Storage, Database, Networking, Security, Management, Analytics, Machine Learning. This helps you identify the right service type quickly during the exam.

2. Focus on use cases - Understand WHEN to use each service, not deep technical details. Learn “Lambda for serverless event-driven functions” rather than Lambda runtime configurations.

3. Create comparison tables - Compare similar services: EC2 vs Lambda, RDS vs DynamoDB, S3 vs EBS vs EFS. Exam questions ask you to choose between similar services based on requirements.

4. Understand service integration - Learn how services work together: EC2 + ELB + Auto Scaling, Lambda + API Gateway, S3 + CloudFront.

5. Use AWS Free Tier - Hands-on practice with EC2, S3, RDS, and Lambda cements understanding.

Recommended Approach

1. Start with Compute (EC2, Lambda)
2. Learn Storage (S3, EBS, EFS)
3. Master Database (RDS, DynamoDB)
4. Study Networking (VPC, CloudFront, Route 53)
5. Learn Management & Monitoring (CloudWatch, CloudFormation)
6. Cover Application Integration (SNS, SQS)
7. Review Analytics & Machine Learning basics

---

Core AWS Services by Category

COMPUTE SERVICES

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)

• Virtual servers in the cloud
• Instance types: General purpose, Compute optimized, Memory optimized
• Pricing: On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, Savings Plans
• Auto Scaling for elasticity
• Amazon EC2

AWS Lambda

• Serverless compute - run code without servers
• Event-driven, automatic scaling
• Pay only for compute time
• Use for: Event processing, data transformation, APIs
• AWS Lambda

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Deploy applications without managing infrastructure
• Handles capacity provisioning, load balancing, auto-scaling
• AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Container Services

• Amazon ECS - AWS container orchestration
• Amazon EKS - Managed Kubernetes
• AWS Fargate - Serverless containers

• Amazon ECS

  Amazon EKS

---

STORAGE SERVICES

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)

• Object storage for any type of data
• 11 9’s durability (99.999999999%)
• Storage classes: Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier
• Use for: Backups, data lakes, static websites, archives
• Amazon S3

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)

• Block storage for EC2 instances
• Volume types: gp3 (general), io2 (high performance), st1 (throughput), sc1 (cold)
• Snapshots for backups
• Amazon EBS

Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

• Shared file storage for multiple EC2 instances
• NFS protocol
• Automatic scaling
• Amazon EFS

Storage Comparison

• S3 - Object storage, web accessible
• EBS - Block storage, single EC2 instance
• EFS - File storage, multiple EC2 instances

---

DATABASE SERVICES

Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service)

• Managed relational databases
• Engines: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MariaDB
• Multi-AZ for high availability
• Read replicas for scaling reads
• Use for: Structured data, ACID transactions
• Amazon RDS

Amazon DynamoDB

• Managed NoSQL database
• Key-value and document data model
• Single-digit millisecond performance
• Automatic scaling
• Use for: High-scale applications, gaming, IoT
• Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon Aurora

• AWS high-performance relational database
• MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible
• 5x faster than MySQL, 3x faster than PostgreSQL
• Global Database for worldwide replication
• Amazon Aurora

Amazon Redshift

• Data warehouse for analytics
• Petabyte-scale
• Use for: Business intelligence, analytics
• Amazon Redshift

Database Migration

• AWS DMS - Database Migration Service
• AWS DataSync - Data transfer service
• AWS DMS

---

NETWORKING & CONTENT DELIVERY

Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)

• Isolated network environment
• Subnets (public and private)
• Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway
• Security Groups, Network ACLs
• Amazon VPC

Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)

• Distributes traffic across targets
• Types: Application Load Balancer (ALB), Network Load Balancer (NLB)
• Improves availability and fault tolerance
• Elastic Load Balancing

Amazon CloudFront

• Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Caches content at Edge Locations
• Reduces latency for global users
• Amazon CloudFront

Amazon Route 53

• DNS web service
• Domain registration
• Health checking and failover
• Amazon Route 53

AWS Direct Connect

• Dedicated network connection to AWS
• More consistent performance than internet
• AWS Direct Connect

---

SECURITY, IDENTITY & COMPLIANCE

AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management)

• Users, groups, roles, policies
• Principle of least privilege
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• AWS IAM

AWS KMS (Key Management Service)

• Encryption key management
• Encrypt data at rest
• AWS KMS

AWS Shield

• DDoS protection
• Shield Standard (free)
• Shield Advanced (enhanced protection)
• AWS Shield

AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)

• Protects web applications
• Filter malicious traffic
• AWS WAF

---

MANAGEMENT & GOVERNANCE

AWS CloudWatch

• Monitoring and observability
• Metrics, logs, alarms
• Monitor AWS resources and applications
• Amazon CloudWatch

AWS CloudTrail

• Audit logging
• Tracks API calls and user activity
• Compliance and security analysis
• AWS CloudTrail

AWS CloudFormation

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
• Define resources in templates
• Automate provisioning
• AWS CloudFormation

AWS Systems Manager

• Operational insights and automation
• Patch management, configuration management
• AWS Systems Manager

AWS Config

• Track configuration changes
• Compliance auditing
• AWS Config

AWS Trusted Advisor

• Best practice recommendations
• Cost optimization, security, performance
• AWS Trusted Advisor

---

APPLICATION INTEGRATION

Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service)

• Pub/sub messaging
• Send notifications to subscribers
• Amazon SNS

Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service)

• Message queuing
• Decouple application components
• Amazon SQS

AWS Step Functions

• Orchestrate workflows
• Coordinate distributed applications
• AWS Step Functions

---

ANALYTICS

Amazon Athena

• Query S3 data using SQL
• Serverless
• Amazon Athena

Amazon EMR (Elastic MapReduce)

• Big data processing
• Hadoop, Spark frameworks
• Amazon EMR

Amazon Kinesis

• Real-time data streaming
• Process streaming data
• Amazon Kinesis

AWS Glue

• ETL service (Extract, Transform, Load)
• Data catalog
• AWS Glue

---

MACHINE LEARNING & AI

Amazon SageMaker

• Build, train, deploy ML models
• Fully managed
• Amazon SageMaker

Amazon Rekognition

• Image and video analysis
• Face detection, object recognition
• Amazon Rekognition

Amazon Comprehend

• Natural language processing (NLP)
• Sentiment analysis, entity recognition
• Amazon Comprehend

Amazon Lex

• Build conversational interfaces
• Chatbots
• Amazon Lex

---

DEVELOPER TOOLS

AWS CodeCommit

• Source control (like GitHub)
• Git repositories
• AWS CodeCommit

AWS CodeBuild

• Compile source code, run tests
• Continuous integration
• AWS CodeBuild

AWS CodeDeploy

• Automated deployment
• Deploy to EC2, Lambda, on-premises
• AWS CodeDeploy

AWS CodePipeline

• Continuous delivery
• Automate release pipelines
• AWS CodePipeline

---

AWS Service FAQs (Essential Reading)

• EC2 FAQs
• S3 FAQs
• Lambda FAQs
• RDS FAQs
• DynamoDB FAQs
• VPC FAQs
• CloudFront FAQs
• Route 53 FAQs
• CloudWatch FAQs
• CloudFormation FAQs

---

AWS Whitepapers

1. AWS Overview
2. Architecting for the Cloud
3. AWS Storage Services Overview
4. AWS Well-Architected Framework

---

Final Thoughts on Domain 3

Domain 3 (Cloud Technology and Services) represents 34% of the exam - the largest domain.

Key Takeaways:

1. Know service categories - Compute, Storage, Database, Network, Security, Management
2. Understand use cases - When to use each service, not technical details
3. Learn service comparisons - EC2 vs Lambda, RDS vs DynamoDB, S3 vs EBS vs EFS
4. Remember integration patterns - How services work together
5. Focus on top services - EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, DynamoDB, VPC, CloudWatch, IAM

Study Strategy:

• Spend 35-40% of study time on this domain
• Create service comparison charts
• Practice identifying services from use case descriptions
• Use AWS Free Tier hands-on
• Memorize service categories and primary use cases

Common Exam Patterns:

• Serverless compute? → Lambda
• Object storage? → S3
• Relational database? → RDS
• NoSQL database? → DynamoDB
• Content delivery? → CloudFront
• Load balancing? → ELB
• Monitoring? → CloudWatch
• API calls logging? → CloudTrail

Master the top 20-30 services thoroughly - they cover 80% of exam questions!