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 become a AWS Certified Professional.
Looking for a quick recap for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam? Then, get ready for a quick step by step revision guide for the exam using this cheat sheet. However, AWS is one of the most recognized cloud platforms that has maintained its positions in the cloud world. As a result, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate certification is greatly recommended in today’s job industry. But, on the other hand, this has also leveled up the competition that has increased the difficulty of the exam. So, the best coming way to pass the exam totally relies on the advanced skills and knowledge you have with good study resources.
But, there is no need to worry! we have covered it up all. In this cheat sheet, we will talk about all the essential information with the best available sources to help you in cracking the AWS exam. So, let’s get started with this.
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate: Basic Requirements
The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate certification assesses your technical proficiency in deploying, managing, and operating on the AWS platform. Furthermore, achieving this certification will not only boost your skills and knowledge but also open up enhanced career prospects for you. The certification will help you gain expertise in the concepts of AWS services. Further, on becoming an AWS Certified SysOps Administrator you will be able to showcase your proficiency, and knowledge in managing, deploying, and operating the AWS systems.
Next, there are skills that will be validated throughout the certification. Let’s check them.
Skills Validated by the Certification
- To begin with, you’ll gain the capability to deploy, oversee, and run scalable, highly accessible, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS.
- Secondly, you’ll acquire the knowledge required to effectively manage and regulate the movement of data to and from AWS.
- Select the appropriate AWS service based on compute, data, or security requirements
- Next, to identify appropriate use of AWS operational best practices
- Skills to estimate AWS usage costs and identify operational cost control mechanisms
- Lastly, migrating on-premises workloads to AWS
Coming on the important sections, that you must review is knowledge requirement for the exam.
Knowledge Required for the Exam
- Firstly, minimum of 1 year of hands-on experience with AWS
- Secondly, experience managing/operating systems on AWS
- Then, understanding of the AWS tenets – architecting for the cloud
- Fourthly, hands-on experience with the AWS CLI and SDKs/API tools
- Finally, grasp of network technologies in the context of AWS, along with a comprehensive understanding of security concepts. This knowledge will be supplemented by practical experience in implementing security controls and ensuring compliance with requirements.
Recommended General IT Knowledge
- Firstly, 1–2 years of experience as a systems administrator in a systems operations role
- Secondly, understanding of virtualization technology
- Skills for monitoring and auditing systems experience
- Good knowledge of networking concepts (e.g., DNS, TCP/IP, and firewalls)
- Lastly, ability to translate architectural requirements
Quick Cheat Sheet for AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate
If you have knowledge of AWS and the other fields that are mentioned above, then you are all prepared to achieve your desired goal. However, with the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam, you will not only get to improve knowledge but also may get rewarded lavishly. But, for this it is important to choose the best exam preparation resources to crack this exam. So let’s check the essential exam resources and begin with the preparation.
Understand the exam topics
Understanding and getting familiar with the main objectives of the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate Exam is very important. Knowing the exam objectives will provide you an insight into the exam. Moreover, a thorough analysis of the exam guide will let you align yourself more deeply with the major objectives of the exam. And, you will also be able to review and mark the sections and topics you find difficult. However, the topics that are included in this exam are provided below:
Monitoring and Reporting
1.1 Create and maintain metrics and alarms utilizing AWS monitoring services (AWS Documentation: Create a CloudWatch Alarm Based on a Static Threshold, Using Amazon CloudWatch Alarms)
1.2 Recognize and differentiate performance and availability metrics (AWS Documentation: Viewing Available Metrics, Listing the available CloudWatch metrics, Using Amazon CloudWatch Metrics)
1.3 Perform the steps necessary to remediate based on performance and availability metrics
High Availability
2.1 Implement scalability and elasticity based on the use case (AWS Documentation: Elasticity, Scale Your Web Application)
2.2 Recognize and differentiate highly available and resilient environments on AWS (AWS Documentation: Elastic Beanstalk concepts, AWS Direct Connect Resiliency Recommendations)
Deployment and Provisioning
3.1 Identify and execute the steps required to provision cloud resources (AWS Documentation: Enabling self-service provisioning of AWS resources, Provision Desktops in the Cloud)
3.2 Identify and remediate deployment issues (AWS Documentation: Detect and remediate issues faster with AWS Systems Manager, Remediating Noncompliant AWS Resources by AWS Config Rules, Automated Response and Remediation with AWS Security Hub)
Storage and Data Management
4.1 Create and manage data retention (AWS Documentation: Building data lakes and implementing data retention policies with Amazon RDS, Changing the Data Retention Period)
4.2 Identify and implement data protection, encryption, and capacity planning needs (AWS Documentation: Overview of Security Processes)
Security and Compliance
5.1 Implement and manage security policies on AWS (AWS Documentation: AWS Cloud Security, Security and Compliance)
5.2 Implement access controls when using AWS (AWS Documentation: Using Tags for Attribute-Based Access Control in AWS, ABAC for AWS)
5.3 Differentiate between the roles and responsibility within the shared responsibility model (AWS Documentation: Shared Responsibility Model)
Networking
6.1 Apply AWS networking features (AWS Documentation: Networking and Content Delivery, Networking Solutions)
6.2 Implement connectivity services of AWS (AWS Documentation: AWS Direct Connect, Networking and Content Delivery)
6.3 Gather and interpret relevant information for network troubleshooting (AWS Documentation: Debugging tool for network connectivity from Amazon VPC)
Automation and Optimization
7.1 Use AWS services and features to manage and assess resource utilization (AWS Documentation: AWS Config, Evaluating Resources with AWS Config Rules)
7.2 Employ cost-optimization strategies for efficient resource utilization (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Management Solutions, Cost Optimization)
7.3 Automate the manual or repeatable process to minimize management overhead (AWS Documentation: AWS Systems Manager Automation)
AWS Learning Path
For AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate Exam, AWS provides learning path to help you in understanding the topics and get a clear pathway to prepare for the exam.
AWS Training Programs
The training programs and online courses will help you in the preparation of the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate Exam. Training programs will make you understand the topics and concepts as well as it will clear all your doubts. The AWS training programs for AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate include:
AWS Technical Essentials
The AWS Technical Essentials introductory course will help you gain an understanding of the AWS products, services, and common solutions. Moreover, you will also gain hands-on expertise on the fundamentals of identifying AWS service. This will make you efficient in making informed decisions about IT solutions based on the requirements of your business.
Systems Operations on AWS
The Systems Operations on AWS course is primarily for training system administrators or the ones in the Development Operations (DevOps) role. This course aims to make you efficient in creating automatable and repeatable deployments of networks and systems on the AWS platform. It covers the specific AWS features and also the tools related to configuration and deployment.
Exam Readiness: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate Course
Amazon Web Service offers Exam Readiness training in both, classroom, and digital training formats for AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate. This will help you get a deeper insight into the objectives and skill requirements of the AWS SysOps Examination. The course is prepared by certified instructors with an aim to guide you with the various AWS tactics. Moreover, the study material is up-to-date with the latest practices.
AWS Whitepapers
The AWS team provides a range of whitepapers aimed at enhancing your technical knowledge. These whitepapers are authored by the AWS team, industry analysts, and other AWS collaborators. Below is a selection of highly recommended AWS whitepapers:
- Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices
- AWS Security Best Practices
- Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes
- AWS Well-Architected Framework
- Development and Test on AWS
- Backup and Recovery Approaches Using AWS
- Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Connectivity Options
- How AWS Pricing Works
Refer AWS Books
AWS provides a list of endorsed books for individuals preparing to take their certification exam. These books are carefully crafted to facilitate a strong understanding of AWS administration. When preparing for the exam, it’s essential to recognize the value of books. They allow you to focus on challenging topics or revisit them at your convenience. Recommended books for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam include:
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator (SOA-C01) Official Study Guide: Associate Exam by Stephen Cole, Gareth, Chris Fitch, Jerry Rhoads, Michael Roth, Blain Sundrud
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate Guide by Packt
Evaluate yourself with Practice Exam
Engaging in a practice test serves as a valuable strategy to assess your study approach and optimize your performance in the actual exam. It helps in pinpointing areas of weakness that require improvement. Furthermore, utilizing these practice tests for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate exam offers insights into the question patterns and contributes to enhancing your ability to answer questions effectively.
