Since AWS certifications are one of the most popular certifications and talk of the town. Therefore each professional is looking for an AWS Clod Certificate. And to facilitate this AWS offers certifications into four categories namely – Foundational-level, Associate-level, Professional-level, and Specialty-level. AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Exam represents a higher-level assessment, tailored for individuals who have honed their abilities to undertake the responsibilities of a Solutions Architect Professional. This exam serves as a means for professionals to demonstrate and emphasize their candidate’s proficiency and expertise in conceptualizing and constructing distributed systems and applications within the AWS environment.
AWS offers a range of certification programs designed to elevate your skill set and expand your knowledge, paving the way for future job prospects and entrepreneurial endeavors. These certification programs are structured to equip you with a comprehensive understanding of AWS system services, ultimately empowering you to attain professional proficiency in this domain.
AWS Solutions Architect Professional Certification Exam (SAP-C01)
The AWS Solution Architect Professional certification exam is meticulously crafted to evaluate your proficiency in architecting distributed applications on the AWS platform. Tailored for those engaged in the Solutions Architect professional role, this certification validates your adeptness in advanced technical capabilities, encompassing the deployment of fault-tolerant and highly available applications on AWS. Through the AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam, you’ll have the opportunity to further develop your expertise in operating and overseeing systems on the AWS environment. It’s essential to note that a recent iteration of the AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam has been introduced this year, underscoring the importance of staying current in your preparation efforts.
Get the latest updates and Details about AWS Solutions Architect Professional Exam with exam questions and expert guidance.
Exam Overview for AWS Solutions Architect Professional
AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam is designed for those individuals who perform Solutions Architect role with having a good experience in operating and managing AWS system. For this certification it is also recommended to have advanced level experience in designing cloud architecture on AWS.
Course Structure for AWS Solutions Architect Professional
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Course covers seven domains that focus on, such as,
Domain 1: Understanding to Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
1.1 Explain Architect network connectivity strategies.
- AWS global infrastructure
- AWS networking concepts (for example, Amazon VPC, AWS Direct Connect, AWS VPN, transitive routing, AWS container services)
- Hybrid DNS concepts (for example, Amazon Route 53 Resolver, on-premises DNS integration)
- Network segmentation (for example, subnetting, IP addressing, connectivity among VPCs)
- Network traffic monitoring
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to evaluate connectivity options for multiple VPCs
- Learn to evaluate connectivity options for on-premises, co-location, and cloud integration
- Learn to select AWS Regions and Availability Zones based on network and latency requirements
- Learn to troubleshoot traffic flows by using AWS tools
- Learn to utilize service endpoints for service integrations
1.2 Explain security controls
- AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and AWS Single Sign-On
- Route tables, security groups, and network ACLs
- Encryption keys and certificate management (for example, AWS Key Management Service [AWS KMS], AWS Certificate Manager [ACM])
- AWS security, identity, and compliance tools (for example, AWS CloudTrail, AWS Identity and Access Management Access Analyzer, AWS Security Hub, Amazon Inspector)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to evaluate cross-account access management
- Learn to integrate with third-party identity providers
- Learn to deploy encryption strategies for data at rest and data in transit
- Learn to develop a strategy for centralized security event notifications and auditing
1.3 Explain to design reliable and resilient architectures.
- Recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs)
- Disaster recovery strategies (for example, using AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery [CloudEndure Disaster Recovery], pilot light, warm standby, and multi-site)
- Data backup and restoration
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to design disaster recovery solutions based on RTO and RPO requirements
- Learn to implement architectures to automatically recover from failure
- Learn to develop the optimal architecture by considering scale-up and scale-out options
- Learn to design an effective backup and restoration strategy
1.4 Explain Design a multi-account AWS environment.
- AWS Organizations and AWS Control Tower
- Multi-account event notifications
- AWS resource sharing across environments
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to evaluate the most appropriate account structure for organizational requirements
- Learn to recommend a strategy for central logging and event notifications
- Learn to develop a multi-account governance model
1.5 Explain to determine cost optimization and visibility strategies.
- AWS cost and usage monitoring tools (for example, AWS Trusted Advisor, AWS Pricing Calculator, AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets)
- AWS purchasing options (for example, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot Instances)
- AWS right-sizing visibility tools (for example, AWS Compute Optimizer, Amazon S3 Storage Lens)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to monitor cost and usage with AWS tools
- Learn to develop an effective tagging strategy that maps costs to business units
- Learn to understand how purchasing options affect cost and performance
Domain 2: Understand to Design for New Solutions
2.1 Explain to design a deployment strategy to meet business requirements
- Infrastructure as code (IaC) (for example, AWS CloudFormation)
- Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD)
- Change management processes
- Configuration management tools (for example, AWS Systems Manager)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to determine an application or upgrade path for new services and features
- Learn to select services to develop deployment strategies and implement appropriate rollback mechanisms
- Learn to adopt managed services as needed to reduce infrastructure provisioning and patching overhead
- Learn to make advanced technologies accessible by delegating complex development and deployment tasks to AWS
2.2 Explain to Design a solution to ensure business continuity.
- AWS global infrastructure
- AWS networking concepts (for example, Route 53, routing methods)
- RTOs and RPOs
- Disaster recovery scenarios (for example, backup and restore, pilot light, warm standby, multi-site)
- Disaster recovery solutions on AWS
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to configure disaster recovery solutions
- Learn to configure data and database replication
- Learn to perform disaster recovery testing
- Learn to architect a backup solution that is automated, is cost-effective, and supports business continuity across multiple Availability Zones and/or AWS Regions
- Learn to design an architecture that provides application and infrastructure availability in the event of a disruption
- Learn to leverage processes and components for centralized monitoring to proactively recover from system failures
2.3 Explain to determine security controls based on requirements.
- IAM
- Route tables, security groups, and network ACLs
- Encryption options for data at rest and data in transit
- AWS service endpoints
- Credential management services
- AWS managed security services (for example, AWS Shield, AWS WAF, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Security Hub)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to specify IAM users and IAM roles that adhere to the principle of least privilege access
- Learn to specify inbound and outbound network flows by using security group rules and network ACL rules
- Learn to develop attack mitigation strategies for large-scale web applications
- Learn to develop encryption strategies for data at rest and data in transit
- Lean to specify service endpoints for service integrations
- Learn to develop strategies for patch management to remain compliant with organizational standards
2.4 Explain to design a strategy to meet reliability requirements.
- AWS global infrastructure
- AWS storage services and replication strategies (for example Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon ElastiCache) Multi-AZ and multi-Region architectures
- Auto scaling policies and events
- Application integration (for example, Amazon Simple Notification Service [Amazon SNS], Amazon Simple Queue Service [Amazon SQS], AWS Step Functions)
- Service quotas and limits
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to design highly available application environments based on business requirements
- Learn to leverage advanced techniques to design for failure and ensure seamless system recoverability
- Learn to implement loosely coupled dependencies
- Learn to operate and maintaining high-availability architectures (for example, application failovers, database failovers)
- Learn to leverage AWS managed services for high availability
- Learn to implement DNS routing policies (for example, Route 53 latency-based routing, geolocation routing, simple routing)
2.5 Explain Design a solution to meet performance objectives.
- Performance monitoring technologies
- Storage options on AWS
- Instance families and use cases
- Purpose-built databases
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to design large-scale application architectures for a variety of access patterns
- Learn to design an elastic architecture based on business objectives
- Learn to apply design patterns to meet performance objectives with caching, buffering, and replicas
- Learn to develop a process methodology for selecting purpose-built services for required tasks
- Learn to design a right-sizing strategy
2.6 Explain and determine a cost optimization strategy to meet solution goals and objectives.
- AWS cost and usage monitoring tools (for example, Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, AWS Pricing Calculator)
- Pricing models (for example, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans)
- Storage tiering
- Data transfer costs
- AWS managed service offerings
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to identify opportunities to select and right size infrastructure for cost-effective resources
- Learn to identify appropriate pricing models
- Learn to perform data transfer modeling and selecting services to reduce data transfer costs
- Learn to develop a strategy and implementing controls for expenditure and usage awareness
Domain 3: Understand to Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions
3.1 Explain determine a strategy to improve overall operational excellence
- Alerting and automatic remediation strategies
- Disaster recovery planning
- Monitoring and logging solutions (for example, Amazon CloudWatch)
- CI/CD pipelines and deployment strategies (for example, blue/green, all-at-once, rolling)
- Configuration management tools (for example, Systems Manager)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to determine the most appropriate logging and monitoring strategy
- Learn to evaluate current deployment processes for improvement opportunities
- Learn to prioritize opportunities for automation within a solution stack
- Learn to recommende the appropriate AWS solution to enable configuration management automation
- Learn to engineer failure scenario activities to support and exercise an understanding of recovery actions
3.2 Explain to determine a strategy to improve security.
- Data retention, data sensitivity, and data regulatory requirements
- Automated monitoring and remediation strategies (for example, AWS Config rules)
- Secrets management (for example, Systems Manager, AWS Secrets Manager)
- Principle of least privilege access
- Security-specific AWS solutions
- Patching practices
- Backup practices and methods
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to evaluate a strategy for the secure management of secrets and credentials
- Learn to auditi an environment for least privilege access
- Learn to review implemented solutions to ensure security at every layer
- Learn to review comprehensive traceability of users and services
- Learn to prioritize automated responses to the detection of vulnerabilities
- Learn to design and implementing a patch and update process
- Learn to design and implementing a backup process
- Learn to employ remediation techniques
3.3 Explain determine a strategy to improve performance.
- High-performing systems architectures (for example, auto scaling, instance fleets, and placement groups)
- Global service offerings (for example, AWS Global Accelerator, Amazon CloudFront, and edge computing services)
- Monitoring tool sets and services (for example, CloudWatch)
- Service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to translate business requirements to measurable metrics
- Learn to test potential remediation solutions and making recommendations
- Learn to propose opportunities for the adoption of new technologies and managed services
- Learn to assess solutions and applying right sizing based on requirements
- Learn to identify and examining performance bottlenecks
34 Explain determine a strategy to improve reliability
- AWS global infrastructure
- Data replication methods
- Scaling methodologies (for example, load balancing, auto scaling)
- High availability and resiliency
- Disaster recovery methods and tools
- Service quotas and limits
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to understand application growth and usage trends
- Learn to evaluate existing architecture to determine areas that are not sufficiently reliable
- Learn to remediate single points of failure
- Learn to enable data replication, self-healing, and elastic features and services
3.5 Identify opportunities for cost optimizations.
- Cost-conscious architecture choices (for example, utilizing Spot Instances, scaling policies, and right-sizing resources)
- Price model adoptions (for example, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans)
- Networking and data transfer costs
- Cost management, alerting, and reporting
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to analyze usage reports to identify underutilized and overutilized resources
- Learn to utilize AWS solutions to identify unused resources
- Learn to design billing alarms based on expected usage patterns
- Learn to investigate AWS Cost and Usage Reports at a granular level
- Learn to utilize tagging for cost allocation and reporting
Domain 4: Explain to accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
4.1 Explain to select existing workloads and processes for potential migration.
- Migration assessment and tracking tools (for example, AWS Migration Hub)
- Portfolio assessment
- Asset planning
- Prioritization and migration of workloads (for example, wave planning)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to complete an application migration assessment
- Learn to evaluate applications according to the seven common migration strategies (7Rs)
- Learn to evaluate total cost of ownership (TCO)
4.2 Explain to determine the optimal migration approach for existing workloads.
- Data migration options and tools (for example, AWS DataSync, AWS Transfer Family, AWS Snow Family, S3 Transfer Acceleration)
- Application migration tools (for example, AWS Application Discovery Service, AWS Application Migration Service [CloudEndure Migration], AWS Server Migration Service [AWS SMS])
- AWS networking services and DNS (for example, Direct Connect, AWS Site-to-Site VPN, Route 53)
- Identity services (for example, AWS SSO, AWS Directory Service)
- Database migration tools (for example, AWS Database Migration Service [AWS DMS], AWS Schema Conversion Tool [AWS SCT])
- Governance tools (for example, AWS Control Tower, Organizations)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to select the appropriate database transfer mechanism
- Learn to select the appropriate application transfer mechanism
- Learn to select the appropriate data transfer service and migration strategy
- Learn to apply the appropriate security methods to migration tools
- Learn to select the appropriate governance model
4.3 Explain to determine a new architecture for existing workloads.
- Compute services (for example, Amazon EC2, AWS Elastic Beanstalk)
- Containers (for example, Amazon Elastic Container Service [Amazon ECS], Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service [Amazon EKS], AWS Fargate, Amazon Elastic Container Registry [Amazon ECR])
- AWS storage services (for example, Amazon Elastic Block Store [Amazon EBS], Amazon Elastic File System [Amazon EFS], Amazon FSx, Amazon S3, Volume Gateway)
- Databases (for example, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon OpenSearch Service [Amazon Elasticsearch Service], Amazon RDS, self-managed databases on Amazon EC2)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to select the appropriate compute platform
- Learn to select the appropriate container hosting platform
- Learn to select the appropriate storage service
- Learn to select the appropriate database platform
4.4 Explain to determine opportunities for modernization and enhancements.
- Serverless compute offerings (for example, AWS Lambda)
- Containers (for example, Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, AWS Fargate)
- AWS storage services (for example, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS)
- Purpose-built databases (for example, DynamoDB, Amazon Aurora Serverless, ElastiCache)
- Integration service (for example, Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, Amazon EventBridge [Amazon CloudWatch Events], Step Functions)
Skills Evaluated
- Learn to identify opportunities to decouple application components
- Learn to identify opportunities for serverless solutions
- Learn to select the appropriate service for containers
- Learn to identify opportunities for purpose-built databases
- Learn to select the appropriate application integration service
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Prerequisites
For AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam,
- AWS Solutions Architect Professional requires 2 or more years of experience in operating and managing AWS as a professional Solution Architect.
- AWS Solutions Architect Professional also required to have technical skills and advanced knowledge in designing distributed application and system on AWS platform.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Exam Format
AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification Exam has MCQ type of questions. This is exam comes with two questions types,
- Multiple choice questions, in this you only have select one correct option out of four options.
- Multiple responsive questions, in this there can be multiple correct answers from the options given.
Exam Scoring Methodology
- In AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification you need to select one or more best suitable answers depends on the type of questions.
- No negative marking is there in the exam.
- There can also be some portion in the exam which hasn’t assigned any score or no score will be given on that part.
Exam Result
- The scoring for the exam is scaled within the range of 100 to 1000 points.
- On a percentage basis, achieving a score between 70% to 75% is the target.
- It’s important to note that passing each individual section is not mandatory; the emphasis is on obtaining the overall passing score.
- The weightage of each section within the exam can vary, with differing numbers of questions assigned to each segment.
- The AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam operates on a pass or fail structure. Your exam results will be communicated to you via email within five business days following the exam.
- The scoring mechanism for the exam adheres to the minimum standards set by AWS professionals in accordance with established guidelines and best practices.
Exam Re-take Policy
If you want to give your certification exam again then you have to wait for 14 days before retaking the exam. You can give the exam as many times until you have passed the certification. Also you have to pay the full fee for each attempt you take.
Exam Objective
Individuals giving this exam are validated using the following abilities,
- Implementing the strategies for cost controlling.
- Deploying and designing fault tolerant, scalable and highly available application on AWS.
- Selecting most appropriate AWS services for designing and deploying application based on requirement.
Exam Registration Process
- First you need to register and sign in toaws.training.
- After that just click on Certification on the top.
- Then click on AWS Certification account, Schedule new exam.
- Check for the exam you want to take and click schedule at Pearson VUI button or PSI.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Preparations
You can prepare for AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam using free resources available both online and offline. This will help you in understanding the topics better and with an expert assistance always there to solve your queries.
Learning Resource 1 – Reference Books
There are reference books which are available for AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam and some of them are,
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional: The Definitive Study Guide by Zeal Vora
- Serverless Architectures on AWS by Peter
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional Complete Study Guide: 100+ Exam Practice Questions by IP Specialist
Learning Resource 3 – Exam Course Providers
You can search for the exam resources which are available online for getting Solution Architect Professional training material and its structure.And there are many websites available which provide online training for the exam with a full assistance to the course such as – Udemy, Pluralsight and Simplilearn
Learning Resource 4 – Exam Q&A
Many websites provide good information and topic details related to the certification such as – Answers.com, Quora and Stackoverflow.
Learning Resource 5 – Exam Practice sets
For exam, practice sets of questions can be used for better preparation. Websites which provides Practice test, analyze your skills and knowledge on the AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification. You can check for practice sets on Amazon but they don’t cover full topics.
At Testprep Training you can have access to practice sets of questions on AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam in two ways,
- Free practice questions for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Practice Test
- Paid practice questions for AWS Solutions Architect professional exam with detailed analysis.
Learning 6 – AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Training
There are many free training that is provided by AWS for Solutions Architect Professional exam athttps://aws.amazon.com/training/. These trainings required registration and are available at zero cost. AWS also gives access to variousLearning librariesto get to know more about the AWS services. It also includes AWS APN partner which helps you to accelerate your business on AWS.
“Get updated AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional tutorial by experts with the latest information about AWS Service”
Architect Learning Path in AWS
AWS has designed architect learning path for Solution Architect, Solution Design Engineer and anyone who wants to learn designing systems and applications using AWS.
Get tricks and tips by experts to pass AWS Solution Architect Professional Exam with Free Practice Test.”
Preparing for AWS Solution Architect Professional Exam
In your preparation for this certification exam, it’s crucial to establish a structured study schedule and prioritize gaining practical experience. Achieving success in this certification will unlock new opportunities and broaden your potential for a more promising future. To assist you in your journey to passing the certification exam, we’ve outlined several key points:
Creating Blueprint for the exam
Crafting an exam blueprint is a pivotal step in creating a comprehensive and effective assessment. This blueprint serves as a strategic roadmap, outlining the content, structure, and objectives of the exam.
Understanding the AWS Concepts
You need to validate your skills and knowledge to understand the concepts instead of cramming it. This is very important to understand the concepts and increase your experience in that. Get hands on experience in AWS based services and applications to get better knowledge on the topics.
Search for Online AWS Certification programs
Numerous online platforms offer certification courses and training programs tailored to help individuals succeed in the AWS certification exams. For those who are budget-conscious, several websites provide complimentary practice question sets, making exam preparation more accessible. Some platforms even grant the option of a trial period prior to committing to the full training package. Additionally, if you prefer self-guided learning, you have the option to purchase AWS reference books specifically designed to aid in your exam studies.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Engaging in daily practice can significantly enhance your comprehension of the concepts. This consistent practice routine is instrumental in identifying both your strengths and areas requiring improvement. Once you’ve finished studying a particular topic, revisiting it for a thorough review and self-assessment proves beneficial. It’s wise to create a structured study plan that allocates time for both learning and practicing questions. By following this approach, you’ll be able to efficiently cover all the required topics while also dedicating ample time to sharpen your skills through practice sessions.
Appear for the exam
After completing the syllabus, take as many mock tests and practice them till the day of the exam. Revise, visualize and give the exam.
