DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor from edX

The third and the final course in the DevOps series will teach how to use AWS Services to control the architecture in order to reach a better operational state.

Monitoring and Operation are key aspects for both the release pipeline and production environments, because they provide instruments that help discover what's happening, as well as do modifications and enhancements on infrastructure that is currently running. This course teaches how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as Amazon EventBridge and AWS Config for continuous compliance. It also covers Amazon CloudTrail and a little bit of Machine Learning for Monitoring operations!

What's inside

Learning objectives

How to use amazon cloudwatch for monitoring
Understanding amazon eventbridge and aws config for compliance
How to use machine learning for monitoring operations
Describe the benefits of monitoring ci/cd pipelines
Differentiate between environment, application, and network metrics
Explore the benefits of amazon cloudwatch

Explore ways to monitor your application and network
Describe the importance of operation in ci/cd pipelines
Explain how you can mitigate risks in the devops journey
Explore the benefits of aws systems manager
Explore common third-party services and tool for devops operations

How to use amazon cloudwatch for monitoring
Understanding amazon eventbridge and aws config for compliance
How to use machine learning for monitoring operations
Describe the benefits of monitoring ci/cd pipelines
Differentiate between environment, application, and network metrics
Explore the benefits of amazon cloudwatch
Explore ways to monitor your application and network
Describe the importance of operation in ci/cd pipelines
Explain how you can mitigate risks in the devops journey
Explore the benefits of aws systems manager
Explore common third-party services and tool for devops operations

Syllabus

Week 1

This week, you will start by reviewing topics covered in the first and second courses of the DevOps on AWS series. You will then learn about the importance of monitoring and why instrumenting your environment is helpful. You will explore how Amazon CloudWatch provides you with data and actionable insights to monitor your applications, respond to system-wide performance changes, optimize resource utilization, and get a unified view of operational health. Lastly, you will get hands-on with other important AWS solutions to monitor pipeline changes.

Traffic lights

Read about what's good

what should give you pause

and possible dealbreakers

Explores DevOps operations and monitoring, standard in industry

Helps learners monitor and optimize applications and infrastructure

Covers Amazon CloudWatch and other AWS solutions for performance and operational monitoring

Reviews topics from the first two courses in the DevOps on AWS series

Taught by Russell Sayers, Rafael Lopes, and Alana Layton, experts in DevOps and operations

Reviews summary

Practical aws devops operations & monitoring

According to students, this course offers a largely positive experience, providing valuable insights into DevOps operations on AWS. Learners frequently praise the hands-on labs and practical examples, which help solidify understanding and offer real-world applicability. The instructor's explanations are often described as clear and concise, making the content easy to follow. While many found the course highly beneficial for enhancing their skills, some feedback indicates that it's best suited for those with basic AWS knowledge. More recent reviews suggest that some labs may be outdated, requiring learners to troubleshoot or adapt to current AWS services.

The instructor provides excellent and easy-to-follow explanations.

"The instructor is great and explains everything clearly and concisely."

"Lectures are well-explained and easy to follow, even for complex topics."

"I found the explanations excellent and gained a lot of valuable insight."

Content offers practical application in professional scenarios.

"The course provides practical knowledge that I can apply directly to my work."

"I appreciate how the concepts presented can be immediately used in real-world DevOps environments."

"This course is good for real-world scenarios for professionals."

Labs provide valuable hands-on experience and solidify understanding.

"The labs are well done and helped solidify my understanding of the concepts discussed in the lectures."

"I enjoyed the practical labs and found them useful for applying the concepts taught."

"I appreciate the hands-on experience and practical knowledge I gained from the labs."

Course benefits learners with existing AWS and DevOps foundations.

"I recommend this course for people who already have basic AWS knowledge."

"I felt some parts were too fast-paced and assumed more prior knowledge than I had."

"This course is a good fit if you are somewhat familiar with AWS basics and the previous courses."

Recent reviews indicate some labs may be outdated or have errors.

"Labs were not up-to-date with AWS changes. Some steps were missing. Some of the resources were deprecated."

"I had some issues with the labs not working sometimes due to outdated instructions."

"I found myself troubleshooting lab setup more than focusing on the actual content."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor with these activities:

Review DevOps on AWS series

Show steps

Review key concepts from the first and second courses of the DevOps on AWS series to lay the foundation for this course.

Show steps

Go back and review the materials from the first and second DevOps on AWS courses.
Take notes on the key concepts to refresh your memory.

Familiarize Yourself with Amazon CloudWatch

Show steps

Follow tutorials to gain hands-on experience with Amazon CloudWatch, the key monitoring tool for this course.

Browse courses on Amazon CloudWatch

Show steps

Search for and find tutorials on Amazon CloudWatch.
Follow the steps in the tutorials to set up and use Amazon CloudWatch.
Experiment with different features of Amazon CloudWatch to monitor your own applications and infrastructure.

Practice Configuring AWS Config

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Complete practice drills to improve your ability to configure AWS Config, a service for ensuring compliance and governance.

Browse courses on AWS Config

Show steps

Find practice drills or exercises on configuring AWS Config.
Follow the instructions in the drills to configure AWS Config in different scenarios.
Test your configurations to ensure they meet your compliance requirements.

Two other activities

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Show all five activities

Build a Sample Monitoring Dashboard

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Create a monitoring dashboard to practice visualizing and analyzing monitoring data, a valuable skill in DevOps.

Show steps

Design a dashboard that meets your specific monitoring needs.
Use Amazon CloudWatch to create and customize widgets.
Configure alerts and notifications to stay informed about critical events.

Contribute to an Open Source Monitoring Project

Show steps

Contribute to an open source monitoring project to gain practical experience and give back to the community.

Show steps

Find an open source monitoring project that aligns with your interests.
Identify ways you can contribute, such as fixing bugs, adding features, or improving documentation.
Submit your contributions to the project and collaborate with other contributors.

Career center

Learners who complete DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

DevOps Engineer

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor is a perfect course for anyone who wants to successfully pivot into becoming a DevOps Engineer. This course covers advanced skills in operating and monitoring the AWS environment from a command line interface, which is something that all DevOps Engineers use on a regular basis. Additionally, this course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, Amazon EventBridge for continuous compliance, and Amazon CloudTrail for event monitoring. The skills you learn in this course will make you a more competitive candidate for DevOps Engineer positions.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Engineer

DevOps Manager

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor is a valuable course for those who want to be DevOps Managers. It covers many skills that are necessary for success in this role, including monitoring and improving system wide performance changes and resource utilization. Some of the topics covered in this course will also help you prepare for AWS DevOps Engineer certification, which is a useful credential for those in management.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Manager

Systems Administrator

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor can be helpful for anyone who wants to get into or advance in the role of Systems Administrator. It covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as Amazon EventBridge for compliance. Additionally, this course will help you understand the benefits of monitoring pipelines, differentiating between environment and application metrics, and monitoring operations using machine learning.

See salaries and explore the career path for Systems Administrator

IT Manager

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor is a great way to prepare for a career as an IT Manager. This course covers the use of Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as Amazon EventBridge and AWS Config for continuous compliance, which can help you to assess resource utilization and system performance. In addition, this course covers how to use third-party services and tools for DevOps operations, which is something that IT Managers need to be aware of.

See salaries and explore the career path for IT Manager

Cloud Engineer

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor can be helpful for those seeking a career as a Cloud Engineer. This course covers the use of Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as Amazon EventBridge and AWS Config for continuous compliance. In addition to this, you will gain experience using AWS Systems Manager and output logs to Amazon CloudWatch, which are valuable skills for a Cloud Engineer.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Engineer

Cloud Architect

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor can help those who want to become Cloud Architects. This course covers Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, Amazon EventBridge, and AWS Config for compliance, as well as how to use these tools to improve operations and monitoring of a cloud environment. This course can help prepare you for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam, which is a valuable credential for those in the role of Cloud Architect.

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Quality Assurance Analyst

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor can be helpful for those who want to be Quality Assurance Analysts. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as how to monitor CI/CD pipelines. This can help Quality Assurance Analysts improve their ability to test software and identify potential issues.

See salaries and explore the career path for Quality Assurance Analyst

Software Engineer

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor can help those interested in becoming Software Engineers. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as how to monitor CI/CD pipelines. This is a valuable skill for Software Engineers, as it can help them quickly identify and resolve performance issues with their own software.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Engineer

Network Administrator

While AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate on Monitor doesn't directly relate to the role of Network Administrator, it does cover foundational topics that may be helpful for this role, including monitoring of network metrics, using Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, and the benefits of monitoring pipelines. In addition to this, it covers the use of Amazon EventBridge for continuous compliance and AWS Config for event monitoring.

See salaries and explore the career path for Network Administrator

Security Analyst

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate on Monitor may be of some use for those interested in becoming Security Analysts. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, which can help security analysts detect changes in system performance. In addition to this, the coure will teach how to use AWS Config for continuous compliance, and AWS CloudTrail for event monitoring. These are tools that are useful to have in a security role.

See salaries and explore the career path for Security Analyst

Site Reliability Engineer

While this course is not directly related to Site Reliability Engineering, it may be useful for someone who wants to get into the field. This course covers how to use tools and services such as Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, Amazon EventBridge for continuous compliance, and AWS Config for event monitoring. These skills are valuable for those who want to work with maintaining and improving software reliability, which is something that is at the core of the role of a Site Reliability Engineer.

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Business Analyst

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor may be helpful for those interested in becoming Business Analysts who want to specialize in IT. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch to monitor system performance and resource utilization. This type of monitoring and analysis is an important part of making more informed business descisions, which is a responsibility of Business Analysts.

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Database Administrator

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor may be useful for aspiring Database Administrators who want to specialize in AWS. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, which can help Database Administrators identify performance issues with their databases. In addition, it covers how to set up monitoring to ensure continuous compliance.

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Project Manager

AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor may be helpful for those who want to be Project Managers. This course covers how to use Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, as well as how to monitor pipelines. This can help Project Managers assess the efficiency of their pipelines and workflow.

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Data Analyst

Topics covered in AWS DevOps on AWS: Operate and Monitor may be useful for those who wish to become Data Analysts. This course covers how to use tools for monitoring and analyzing data. In addition, it covers ways to optimize resource utilization and get a unified view of operational health. These skills are tranferable to role of a Data Analyst, who is often responsible for monitoring and analyzing business data.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Analyst