Hands-On Introduction to Cloud Computing with AWS from Udemy

Welcome to Hands-On Introduction to Cloud Computing with AWS. I'm Lucas, an AWS-certified professional, and I’m thrilled to guide you through the essential AWS services in a beginner-friendly, practical format.

This course is designed to give you a solid foundation in AWS. We’ll start with the basics—setting up your AWS account, understanding the Free Tier, and learning how to set budgets and estimate costs effectively.

From there, we’ll dive into the core AWS services you’ll use most frequently:

IAM (Identity and Access Management) for secure user access control.
S3 (Simple Storage Service) for managing files and storage.
EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) for launching virtual servers.
VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) for networking fundamentals.

We’ll also explore additional AWS offerings, including Route 53 for domain management, CloudFront for caching, different flavors of Databases, Lambda for running serverless code, and toward the end, CloudWatch for monitoring and tools like Lightsail or Amplify for deploying applications efficiently.

By the end of this course, you’ll be confident navigating AWS, creating resources, and working with its most commonly used services. Whether you're new to cloud computing or looking to strengthen your AWS skills, this course is the perfect starting point to build your cloud expertise. Let’s get started.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Hands-on cloud experience with aws.
Set up your first aws account and navigate through the management console.

Understand and implement core aws services: iam, s3, ec2, vpc, and more.
Learn how to buy a domain name and host applications on aws.

Hands-on cloud experience with aws.
Set up your first aws account and navigate through the management console.
Understand and implement core aws services: iam, s3, ec2, vpc, and more.
Learn how to buy a domain name and host applications on aws.

Syllabus

Account alias

Introduction

Welcome!

Important

Global infrastructure

Free tier

Pricing calculator

Account creation

Setting budget

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Root MFA

User creation

Permissions

Groups

Roles

Custom policies

Password policy

Global service

Simple Storage Service (S3)

S3 Introduction

Bucket creation

First upload

Pre-signed URL

Versioning

Storage classes

Public bucket

Static website hosting

Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

EC2 Introduction

First Linux instance

Connect to Linux

First Windows instance

Connect to Windows

Instance types

Elastic IP

HTTP server

More on Security Groups

Userdata

Backups and custom AMI

Metrics and ASG

ASG stress test

Scale out

Load Balancers

Application Load Balancer (ALB)

Target Group

Elastic File System (EFS)

Cleaning up

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

VPC Introduction

Creation wizard

VPC Dashboard

EC2s in our subnets

Route tables and NAT

NACLs

Flow logs

Important note

Command Line Interface (CLI)

Access Key and CLI Installation

Configuration and basic usage

VPC Endpoint

Console to Code

Route 53

Route 53 Introduction

Domain registration

Whois

Hosted zone

Domain for S3

Domain for EC2

Domain for ALB

Certificate and HTTPS

Weighted routing

CloudFront

CloudFront Introduction

Dashboard

Caching S3 website

CloudFront distribution with custom domain

Caching S3 private content with OAC

Fronting EC2 with CloudFront

Geoblocking and cleanup

Databases

Databases Introduction

RDS with PostgreSQL

Modifying RDS

DynamoDB

Using DynamoDB

DocumentDB

Connecting to DocumentDB

Aurora Serverless

Lambda

Lambda Introduction

Our first Lambda function

Variables and Monitoring

Triggers

CloudWatch

CloudWatch Introduction

Setting alarm

API Gateway

API Gateway Introduction

Connection to EC2

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Provides a solid foundation in AWS, starting with account setup and progressing to core services like IAM, S3, EC2, and VPC, which are essential for cloud practitioners

Covers domain management with Route 53 and caching with CloudFront, which are valuable skills for deploying and optimizing web applications on AWS

Explores serverless computing with Lambda and monitoring with CloudWatch, which are increasingly important for modern cloud architectures and DevOps practices

Includes hands-on labs and practical exercises, allowing learners to gain real-world experience with AWS services and build confidence in their cloud skills

Features sections on setting budgets and estimating costs, which are crucial for managing cloud resources effectively and avoiding unexpected expenses

Requires learners to create an AWS account, which may involve providing payment information, even if utilizing the free tier, which may be a barrier for some

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 Hands-On Introduction to Cloud Computing with AWS with these activities:

Review Networking Fundamentals

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Solidify your understanding of networking concepts before diving into VPCs. This will make grasping the purpose and configuration of VPCs much easier.

Browse courses on Networking Fundamentals

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Review basic networking concepts like IP addresses, subnets, and routing.
Practice subnet calculations to ensure you can quickly determine network ranges.
Familiarize yourself with common network protocols like TCP and UDP.

Read 'AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide'

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Gain a broader understanding of AWS services and their use cases. This book will help you prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, validating your knowledge.

View AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide on Amazon

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Read the book cover to cover, focusing on key concepts and services.
Take practice exams to assess your understanding and identify areas for improvement.
Review the AWS documentation for services you find challenging.

Deploy a Simple Web Application

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Solidify your understanding of multiple AWS services by deploying a simple web application. This project will require you to use EC2, S3, and potentially Route 53 and CloudFront.

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Create an S3 bucket to host static website files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
Launch an EC2 instance and configure it as a web server (e.g., using Apache or Nginx).
Configure Route 53 to point a domain name to your S3 bucket and EC2 instance.
Set up CloudFront to cache your website content for faster delivery.

Four other activities

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Show all seven activities

Document Your AWS Learning Journey

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Reinforce your learning by creating blog posts or documentation on the AWS services you're exploring. Explaining concepts to others helps solidify your own understanding.

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Choose a specific AWS service or concept to focus on.
Write a blog post or create a video tutorial explaining the service and how to use it.
Share your content on social media or online forums to get feedback.

IAM Policy Creation Challenges

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Master IAM policies by working through a series of increasingly complex policy creation challenges. This will improve your understanding of permissions and security.

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Start with basic policies that grant access to specific S3 buckets or EC2 instances.
Progress to more complex policies that use conditions and variables.
Test your policies thoroughly to ensure they grant the correct permissions.

Infrastructure as Code with CloudFormation

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Automate the deployment of your AWS infrastructure using CloudFormation. This will help you understand how to manage infrastructure as code and improve your efficiency.

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Learn the basics of CloudFormation syntax and structure.
Create a CloudFormation template to deploy a simple EC2 instance or S3 bucket.
Expand your template to include more complex resources and configurations.
Use CloudFormation to automate the deployment of your web application project.

Read 'AWS Cookbook'

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Learn practical solutions to common AWS challenges. This book will help you troubleshoot issues and optimize your AWS deployments.

View Putting Knowledge to Work on Amazon

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Browse the book for solutions to specific problems you're facing.
Implement the solutions in your own AWS environment.
Adapt the solutions to fit your specific needs.

Career center

Learners who complete Hands-On Introduction to Cloud Computing with AWS will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Cloud Engineer

A Cloud Engineer is responsible for implementing, managing, and supporting cloud infrastructure and services. This course provides fundamental knowledge and skills for the Cloud Engineer role. The course covers core AWS services such as Identity and Access Management, Simple Storage Service, Elastic Compute Cloud, and Virtual Private Cloud, all of which are critical for cloud infrastructure. The hands-on approach in this course will allow learners to get real experience working with services and resources. This course will help Cloud Engineers better understand a variety of AWS services and resources, which also gives them the knowledge they need to troubleshoot more complex issues.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Engineer

Cloud Support Engineer

A Cloud Support Engineer provides technical assistance to customers using cloud platforms. This course is an ideal starting point for anyone interested in this role, as understanding the core services of AWS, which are the foundation of this course, is essential. You’ll learn to navigate the AWS console, create resources, and work with services like IAM for security, S3 for storage, EC2 for virtual servers, and VPC for networking. The ability to diagnose and solve problems related to AWS is fundamental for a Cloud Support Engineer, and this course provides hands-on experience to help build that skill.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Support Engineer

Solutions Architect

Solutions Architects design cloud computing solutions for organizations. This course in cloud computing with Amazon Web Services helps build a foundation for this role. The course provides hands-on experience with core AWS services such as IAM, S3, EC2, and VPC, all of which are very relevant to this position. A Solutions Architect needs to understand how to combine different AWS services to fulfill business requirements, and this course provides an opportunity to experiment and gain exposure to a wide range of services. The course also touches on important topics such as domain management with Route 53 and content delivery with CloudFront.

See salaries and explore the career path for Solutions Architect

DevOps Engineer

DevOps Engineers use tools and practices to automate and streamline software development and deployment; this often includes managing cloud infrastructure. This course will be useful to those who wish to become a DevOps Engineer, since it offers practical experience with AWS services like EC2 for virtual servers, S3 for storage, and VPC for networking. The course touches on key automation and configuration tools that are essential to DevOps work, like command line interface access, load balancers, and auto scaling. The course will help a DevOps Engineer gain specific, practical experience with these tools.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Engineer

Systems Administrator

A Systems Administrator manages computer systems and servers, often encompassing cloud resources. This course will give a prospective Systems Administrator valuable hands-on experience with cloud services. It emphasizes the core AWS services that are frequently used to host infrastructure, including EC2 for virtual servers, IAM for security, and VPC for networking. The course’s hands-on approach is especially useful for aspiring Systems Administrators since it allows them to gain practical skills for managing cloud-based infrastructure.

See salaries and explore the career path for Systems Administrator

Network Engineer

Network engineers design and maintain computer networks, and increasingly, this includes cloud networks. This course is relevant to this role, as it provides a hands-on introduction to AWS networking, specifically how to configure and manage Virtual Private Clouds. The course also covers Route 53 for domain management and CloudFront for content delivery. A Network Engineer will benefit from this course as it provides a strong introduction to AWS specific networking concepts, and offers practice in configuring these tools and services. The course will also help the network engineer better understand how cloud networks are implemented.

See salaries and explore the career path for Network Engineer

Cloud Consultant

Cloud Consultants advise organizations on how to best use cloud technologies to improve business. This course would be useful to those looking for a career as a Cloud Consultant. The course introduces the various AWS services, which provides the broad understanding necessary for offering recommendations. The course’s focus on hands-on experience, especially with services like S3, EC2, and VPC, will give the Cloud Consultant specific and practical knowledge of the technologies they are recommending. A Cloud Consultant will rely on the kind of practical knowledge offered in this course.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Consultant

Database Administrator

A Database Administrator is responsible for the performance, integrity, and security of a database. This course would be helpful for a Database Administrator looking to expand knowledge and skills related to cloud databases. The course covers AWS database services such as RDS, DynamoDB, DocumentDB and Aurora Serverless, all of which are useful to a database administrator. While this course provides an introduction to these tools, it may be the starting point for someone who wishes to become a cloud savvy database professional. This course will help a database administrator understand how AWS works, in addition to the database tools it provides.

See salaries and explore the career path for Database Administrator

Web Developer

A Web Developer creates and maintains websites and web applications, and this frequently includes deploying to cloud platforms. This course would be useful for Web Developers who wish to deploy their sites on Amazon Web Services. The course covers domain management using Route 53, content delivery via CloudFront, and deploying applications using Lightsail and Amplify. It also gives developers the chance to host web applications using EC2. A Web Developer would improve their ability to deploy and manage web applications using this course.

See salaries and explore the career path for Web Developer

Technical Project Manager

A Technical Project Manager oversees technical projects, often involving cloud infrastructure. This course will be useful for a Technical Project Manager as it provides a foundation in understanding the components of a cloud project. The course covers key services like IAM for access management, S3 for storage, and EC2 for compute. The course provides an overview of the structure of AWS so that a project manager can better understand how to manage projects built on the platform. The Technical Project Manager who takes this course will be better equipped to oversee projects that involve AWS.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Project Manager

Application Developer

Application Developers design, develop, and test software applications; this often includes cloud-based applications. This course may be useful for Application Developers as it offers insights into deploying and managing applications on AWS. While the course is an introduction, it covers AWS services necessary for application management, such as EC2 for virtual servers, S3 for storage, and Lambda for serverless code. The course will be beneficial to Application Developers that wish to deploy their applications to AWS as it provides experience with the platform itself.

See salaries and explore the career path for Application Developer

Data Analyst

A Data Analyst collects, processes, and interprets data to provide insights to organizations. This course may be useful for this role, especially as cloud services are increasingly used for data storage and analysis. While not directly focused on data analysis, the course covers AWS services like S3 for storage and databases, which are relevant to this role. A Data Analyst may want to take this course to understand how data is stored and managed in the cloud.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Analyst

Software Engineer

A Software Engineer designs, develops, and tests software systems, and this often involves cloud infrastructure and services. This course may be helpful to a Software Engineer that wants to understand what services are available on AWS. The course provides a hands-on introduction to core AWS services like EC2 and S3. The course provides a great entry point to managing cloud-based infrastructure and services, while also helping a software engineer get hands on experience with many of the services they will need to deploy their applications.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Engineer

IT Manager

An IT Manager is responsible for the planning, implementation, and maintenance of an organization's IT systems. This course may be helpful to an IT Manager. While it does not directly focus on management, the course provides a good overview of AWS's core services, including how they are set up, configured, and maintained. It provides a foundation for understanding the technical resources used in a cloud environment. This course will give an IT Manager a better understanding of what services are available on AWS, allowing them to better oversee their IT operations.

See salaries and explore the career path for IT Manager

Technical Sales Representative

A Technical Sales Representative sells technical products and services, and this includes cloud solutions. Although this course is not specifically oriented toward sales, it can still be helpful to a Technical Sales Representative. It provides an introduction to many of the cloud services of a major cloud provider, AWS, which will help salespeople better communicate the value of these tools. This course will give the sales representative a more practical understanding of the products they are selling.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Sales Representative

Hands-On Introduction to Cloud Computing with AWS

What's inside

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Syllabus

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