The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C01) exam has a new version – AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02). Stay updated with the latest changes to earn this certification.
In this article, we are going to discuss the intriguing ways to successfully pass the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam. Firstly, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a top-notch cloud service provider, highly rated in the magic quadrant. It oversees the worldwide cloud infrastructure and has a market share equal to the total of the next four major cloud providers. AWS provides a range of certifications, and AWS Certified SysOps Administrator — Associate is one of the associate-level exams that individuals can pursue before delving into more specialized certificates.
Further, you should know the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate certification requires that the candidate shows the capability to deploy AWS solutions for various scenarios per AWS’s best practices, troubleshoot, and AWS settings for performance. In addition, the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate Certification needs its candidates to be suitable for deploying and managing full production performances on AWS.
Moving forward, you should know who can apply for this exam. So, the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate examination is designated for systems administrators in a systems operations position with at least one year of expertise in deployment, management, and operations on AWS.
Just so you know, here are the job and responsibilities you will get once you clear the exam:
- Firstly, deploying, managing and running scalable, highly accessible, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS
- Secondly, implementing and controlling the flow of data to and from AWS
- Then, selecting the appropriate AWS service based on compute, data, or security requirements
- Also, identifying appropriate use of AWS operational best practices
- Estimating AWS usage costs and identify operational cost control mechanisms
- Further, migrating on-premises workloads to AWS
About the exam
To pass the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam, you should be aware of two types of questions on the test. First, there are Multiple-choice questions where you choose one correct answer from four options. Second, there are Multiple-answers questions where there can be multiple correct answers. The exam is scored on a scale ranging from a minimum of 100 to a maximum of 1000, with a passing score of 720. There are 65 questions in the exam, including 5 unscored ones used for statistical purposes (they don’t affect your score). If you leave a question unanswered, it’s counted as incorrect, but there’s no penalty for guessing.
In addition, you will get 130 minutes to complete and it will cost you $150. If you have done any other AWS certification you would get the coupon as exam benefits which are 50% off of the next exam. In that case, the exam cost would be $75 and I think this coupon is valid for 6 months.
If you’re wondering whether there are any requirements for taking this exam, there are actually no prerequisites. However, it’s recommended that you have at least 1 year of experience working with the AWS Cloud in any capacity. Additionally, having 1 or 2 years of experience with project lifecycles would be helpful if you’re aiming for this certification.
Course Structure: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
The most important step while preparing for such an exam is to understand its objectives. We are making it clear that the exam outline is the syllabus of your examination. Also, this means that the question paper will include the questions related to these objectives only. As a means of demonstrating this knowledge, you will be tested across 7 different domains, with each domain contributing to a total percentage of your overall score. These domains are broken down as:
Updated Course Outline
Domain 1: Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation
1.1 Implementing metrics, alarms, and filters by using AWS monitoring and logging services
- Identify, collect, analyze, and export logs (for example, Amazon CloudWatch Logs, CloudWatch Logs Insights, AWS CloudTrail logs) (AWS Documentation: Analyzing Log Data with CloudWatch Logs Insights, Define Amazon CloudWatch Logs, CloudWatch Logs Insights Sample Queries)
- Collect metrics and logs using the CloudWatch agent (AWS Documentation: Collecting Metrics and Logs from Amazon EC2 Instances and On-Premises Servers)
- Creating CloudWatch alarms (AWS Documentation: Create a CloudWatch Alarm Based on a Static Threshold, Create a CloudWatch alarm for an instance, Using Amazon CloudWatch Alarms)
- Develop metric filters (AWS Documentation: Creating Metrics From Log Events Using Filters, Creating Metric Filters)
- Creating CloudWatch dashboards (AWS Documentation: Creating a CloudWatch Dashboard, Using Amazon CloudWatch Dashboards)
- Configuring notifications (for example, Amazon Simple Notification Service [Amazon SNS], Service Quotas, CloudWatch alarms, AWS Health events) (AWS Documentation: Setting Up Amazon SNS Notifications, Configuring Amazon SNS notifications for Amazon SES, Configuring Notifications for CloudWatch Logs Alarms, Monitoring AWS Health events with Amazon CloudWatch Events, Service Quotas, and Amazon CloudWatch alarms)
1.2 Remediating issues based on monitoring and availability metrics
- Troubleshooting or taking corrective actions based on notifications and alarms (AWS Documentation: Amazon CloudWatch Features, Troubleshooting CloudWatch Events)
- Configuring Amazon EventBridge rules to trigger actions (AWS Documentation: Creating a rule for an AWS service, Creating an EventBridge Rule That Triggers on an AWS API Call Using AWS CloudTrail)
- Using AWS Systems Manager Automation documents to take action based on AWS Config rules (AWS Documentation: AWS Systems Manager Automation, Systems Manager Automation actions reference, Working with runbooks, AWS Config)
Domain 2: Reliability and Business Continuity
2.1 Implementing scalability and elasticity
- Creating and maintaining AWS Auto Scaling plans (AWS Documentation: AWS Auto Scaling, How scaling plans work)
- Implementing caching (AWS Documentation: Caching Overview, Caching strategies)
- Applying Amazon RDS replicas and Amazon Aurora Replicas (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon Aurora Auto Scaling with Aurora replicas, Replication with Amazon Aurora)
- Implementing loosely coupled architectures (AWS Documentation: Building Loosely Coupled, Scalable, C# Applications with Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS, Loosely Coupled Scenarios)
- Differentiating between horizontal scaling and vertical scaling
2.2 Implement high availability and resilient environments
- Configuring Elastic Load Balancer and Amazon Route 53 health checks (AWS Documentation: Configuring Amazon Route 53 to route traffic to an ELB load balancer, Creating Amazon Route 53 health checks, and configuring DNS failover)
- Differentiating between the use of a single Availability Zone and Multi-AZ deployments. For example, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups, Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon FSx, Amazon RDS (AWS Documentation: Regions and Zones, High availability (Multi-AZ) for Amazon RDS, Amazon RDS Multi-AZ Deployments, Elastic Load Balancing, and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling)
- Implementing fault-tolerant workloads. For example, Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Elastic IP addresses (AWS Documentation: Mounting with an IP address, Amazon EFS: How it works)
- Applying Route 53 routing policies (for example, failover, weighted, latency based) (AWS Documentation: Choosing a routing policy)
2.3 Implementing backup and restore strategies
- Automating snapshots and backups based on use cases (for example, RDS snapshots, AWS Backup, RTO and RPO, Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager, retention policy) (AWS Documentation: Working with backups, Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager)
- Restoring databases (for example, point-in-time restore, promote read replica) (AWS Documentation: Working with read replicas)
- Implementing versioning and lifecycle rules (AWS Documentation: Lifecycle configuration elements, Managing your storage lifecycle)
- Configuring Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication (AWS Documentation: Amazon S3 Replication, Configuring replication, Replicating objects)
- Executing disaster recovery procedures (AWS Documentation: Plan for Disaster Recovery (DR))
Domain 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation
3.1 Provisioning and maintaining cloud resources
- Creating and managing AMIs (for example, EC2 Image Builder) (AWS Documentation: EC2 Image Builder, How EC2 Image Builder works)
- Creating, managing, and troubleshooting AWS CloudFormation (AWS Documentation: Troubleshooting AWS CloudFormation)
- Provisioning resources across multiple AWS Regions and accounts. For example, AWS Resource Access Manager, CloudFormation StackSets, IAM cross-account roles (AWS Documentation: Use CloudFormation StackSets to Provision Resources, Multiple-account, multiple-Region AWS CloudFormation, Use AWS CloudFormation StackSets for Multiple Accounts in an AWS Organization)
- Selecting deployment scenarios and services (for example, blue/green, rolling, canary) (AWS Documentation: Blue/Green deployment with CodeDeploy, Working with deployment configurations in CodeDeploy, Set up an API Gateway canary release deployment)
- Identifying and remediating deployment issues (for example, service quotas, subnet sizing, CloudFormation, and AWS OpsWorks errors, permissions) (AWS Documentation: AWS service quotas, AWS OpsWorks, AWS::EC2::Subnet)
3.2 Automating manual or repeatable processes
- Using AWS services (for example, OpsWorks, Systems Manager, CloudFormation) to automate deployment processes (AWS Documentation: AWS OpsWorks, Use AWS CloudFormation to configure a service role for Automation, AWS CodeDeploy)
- Implementing automated patch management (AWS Documentation: AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager, Patch management overview)
- Scheduling automated tasks by using AWS services (for example, EventBridge, AWS Config) (AWS Documentation: EventBridge Event Examples from Supported AWS Services, Build a scheduler as a service, AWS Config)
Domain 4: Security and Compliance
4.1 Implementing and managing security and compliance policies
- Implementing IAM features (for example, password policies, MFA, roles, SAML, federated identity, resource policies, policy conditions) (AWS Documentation: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Creating a Role for SAML 2.0 federation (console), Policies and permissions in IAM, Identity providers and federation, IAM Identities (users, groups, and roles))
- Troubleshooting and auditing access issues by using AWS services (for example, CloudTrail, IAM Access Analyzer, IAM policy simulator) (AWS Documentation: Logging IAM and AWS STS API calls with AWS CloudTrail, Using AWS IAM Access Analyzer, AWS security audit guidelines, Logging Access Analyzer API calls with AWS CloudTrail)
- Validating service control policies and permission boundaries (AWS Documentation: Service control policies, Permissions boundaries for IAM entities)
- Reviewing AWS Trusted Advisor security checks (AWS Documentation: AWS Trusted Advisor)
- Validating AWS Region and service selections based on compliance requirements (AWS Documentation: Compliance validation for Amazon EC2, Compliance validation for AWS Identity and Access Management, Regions and Zones)
- Implementing secure multi-account strategies (for example, AWS Control Tower, AWS Organizations) (AWS Documentation: AWS multi-account strategy for your AWS Control Tower landing zone, AWS Control Tower)
4.2 Implementing data and infrastructure protection strategies
- Enforcing a data classification scheme (AWS Documentation: Leveraging AWS Cloud to Support Data Classification, Data Classification)
- Creating, managing, and protecting encryption keys (AWS Documentation: Creating keys)
- Implementing encryption at rest (for example, AWS Key Management Service [AWS KMS]) (AWS Documentation: AWS Key Management Service, AWS Key Management Service concepts)
- Implementing encryption in transit (for example, AWS Certificate Manager, VPN) (AWS Documentation: AWS Certificate Manager, Protecting data using encryption)
- Securely store secrets by using AWS services (for example, AWS Secrets Manager, Systems Manager Parameter Store) (AWS Documentation: AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store, Referencing AWS Secrets Manager secrets from Parameter Store parameters)
- Reviewing reports or findings (for example, AWS Security Hub, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Config, Amazon Inspector) (AWS Documentation: Amazon Inspector, Assessment reports, Amazon GuardDuty)
Domain 5: Networking and Content Delivery
5.1 Implementing networking features and connectivity
- Configuring a VPC (for example, subnets, route tables, network ACLs, security groups, NAT gateway, internet gateway ) (AWS Documentation: VPC with public and private subnets (NAT), NAT gateways, Internet gateways, Network ACLs)
- Configuring private connectivity (for example, Systems Manager Session Manager, VPC endpoints, VPC peering, VPN) (AWS Documentation: Create a Virtual Private Cloud endpoint, AWS Systems Manager Session Manager, AWS PrivateLink and VPC endpoints, VPC peering)
- Checking AWS network protection services (for example, AWS WAF, AWS Shield) (AWS Documentation: How AWS Shield works, What are AWS WAF, AWS Shield, and AWS Firewall Manager?)
5.2 Configuring domains, DNS services, and content delivery
- Configuring Route 53 hosted zones and records (AWS Documentation: Creating a public hosted zone, Creating records by using the Amazon Route 53 console)
- Implementing Route 53 routing policies (for example, geolocation, geoproximity) (AWS Documentation: Choosing a routing policy, Creating and managing traffic policies)
- Customizing DNS (for example, Route 53 Resolver) (AWS Documentation: Getting started with Route 53 Resolver, Resolving DNS queries between VPCs and your network, Configuring Amazon Route 53 as your DNS service)
- Configuring Amazon CloudFront and S3 origin access identity (OAI) (AWS Documentation: Restricting Access to Amazon S3 Content by Using an Origin Access Identity)
- Configuring S3 static website hosting (AWS Documentation: Hosting a static website using Amazon S3, Configuring a static website on Amazon S3)
5.3 Troubleshooting network connectivity issues
- Interpreting VPC configurations (for example, subnets, route tables, network ACLs, security groups) (AWS Documentation: Route tables for your VPC, Internetwork traffic privacy in Amazon VPC, Network ACLs, VPC Flow Logs)
- Collecting and interpreting logs (for example, VPC Flow Logs, Elastic Load Balancer access logs, AWS WAF web ACL logs, CloudFront logs) (AWS Documentation: Logging web ACL traffic information, Configuring and using standard logs (access logs), VPC Flow Logs, Access logs for your Network Load Balancer)
- Identifying and remediating CloudFront caching issues (AWS Documentation: Amazon CloudFront)
- Troubleshoot hybrid and private connectivity issues (AWS Documentation: troubleshoot network performance issues between Amazon EC2 Linux instances in a VPC, Troubleshoot connecting to your instance, Hybrid Connectivity)
Domain 6: Cost and Performance Optimization
6.1 Implement cost optimization strategies
- Implementing cost allocation tags (AWS Documentation: Using Cost Allocation Tags)
- Identify and remediate underutilized or unused resources by using AWS services and tools (for example, Trusted Advisor, AWS Compute Optimizer, Cost Explorer) (AWS Documentation: AWS Trusted Advisor, AWS Tools for Reporting and Cost Optimization, optimize costs using AWS Trusted Advisor)
- Configure AWS Budgets and billing alarms (AWS Documentation: Creating a Billing Alarm to Monitor Your Estimated AWS Charges, Managing your costs with AWS Budgets)
- Assessing resource usage patterns to qualify workloads for EC2 Spot Instances (AWS Documentation: Spot Instances)
- Identify opportunities to use managed services (for example, Amazon RDS, AWS Fargate, EFS) (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon EFS file systems with Amazon ECS, Amazon Elastic Container Service, Amazon ECS on AWS Fargate, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS))
6.2 Implement performance optimization strategies
- Recommend compute resources based on performance metrics (AWS Documentation: List the available CloudWatch metrics for your instances, Metrics analyzed by AWS Compute Optimizer)
- Monitor Amazon EBS metrics and modify the configuration to increase performance efficiency (AWS Documentation: I/O characteristics and monitoring, Amazon CloudWatch metrics for Amazon EBS)
- Implementing S3 performance features (for example, S3 Transfer Acceleration, multipart uploads) (AWS Documentation: Configuring fast, secure file transfers using Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration, Multipart upload overview)
- Monitor RDS metrics and modify the configuration to increase performance efficiency (for example, performance insights, RDS Proxy) (AWS Documentation: Managing connections with Amazon RDS Proxy, Using Performance Insights on Amazon RDS)
- Enabling enhanced EC2 capabilities (for example, enhanced network adapter, instance store, placement groups) (AWS Documentation: Enhanced networking on Linux, Enable enhanced networking with the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) on Windows instances, Placement groups)
Step-to-step Study Guide
Let us begin the discussion for ideal preparation for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam, the following details are some of the critical steps that you should study for producing an ideal plan for your AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate preparation.
Review the Exam Objectives
To prepare effectively, it’s important to stay current with all the exam information. Certification exams change as new technology keeps advancing. So, your first step should be to visit the official AWS website and make sure you’re aligned with the latest updates. If there’s a mismatch, make sure you’re informed about all the new exam details. Take a quick look at the objectives of AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate:
- Monitoring and Reporting (22%)
- High Availability (8%)
- Deployment and Provisioning (14%)
- Storage and Data Management (12%)
- Security and Compliance (18%)
- Networking (14%)
- Automation and Optimization (12%)
AWS Whitepapers
The AWS team provides various whitepapers to help boost your technical understanding. These documents are created by the AWS team itself, as well as analysts and other partners of AWS.
Here is a list of some highly recommended whitepapers by AWS
- First and foremost, Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices
- Subsequently, Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes
- Also, AWS Well-Architected Framework
- Further, Backup and Recovery Approaches Using AWS
- Lastly, How AWS Pricing Works
Books and Guides
As you know, it is very important to read and understand for such an exam like AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate. We at Testprep training strongly recommend that you should find some relevant books and guides. Besides, here are some books and guides which we refer to:
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Certification Kit: Associate SOA-C01 Exam 1st Edition by Brett McLaughlin, Sara Perrott, Ben Piper
- Also, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate All-in-One-Exam Guide (Exam SOA-C01) 1st Edition by Sam Alapati
- Not to mention, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C01) Cert Guide (Certification Guide) 1st Edition by Sequeira Anthony J.
- Further, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Study Guide: Associate (SOA-C01) Exam 2nd Edition, by Sara Perrott, Brett McLaughlin
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Official Study Guide: Associate Exam 1st Edition by Stephen Cole, Gareth Digby, Chris Fitch, Steve Friedberg, Shaun Qualheim, Jerry Rhoads, Michael Roth, Blaine Sundrud.
Join a Study Group
Participating in a group study can be really helpful for candidates. It motivates them to put in more effort. Studying with a group allows them to stay connected with others on the same journey. These group discussions can also be very beneficial for preparing for exams. So, practice, discuss, and work your way to becoming an AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate.
Try Practice Tests
The most crucial step is to take practice tests. These tests help candidates gauge how well they’re prepared. Nowadays, you can find many practice tests online, so you can pick the one that suits you best. AWS also recommends a practice test for certification candidates to help them better understand the exam’s objectives. Using practice tests is a smart way to vary your study approach and ensure you perform your best in the real exam.
In addition, we at Testprep training also provide free practice tests for making your preparation journey easier. Give them a shot!
Tips to Remember
- First of all, gather all the related information about the exam.
- Then, download the exam outline.
- Also, attempt all the essential steps of the above-mentioned study guide.
- Further, don’t forget to try the practice test.
- Moreover, have faith in the hard work you’re doing.
Testprep training wishes you all the very best for your exam!
A great career is just a certification away. So, practice and validate your skills to become an AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate!
Start preparing for the new version: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02) Now!
