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AWS Transition Roadmap from Beginner To advanced

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Fidel Masitsa
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6 min read

Table of contents

If you already have some basic knowledge of AWS and want to deepen your understanding through hands-on practice, here are the fundamental concepts and steps you should focus on to become proficient in AWS:

  1. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Start by understanding how to create and configure VPCs. Learn about subnets, route tables, security groups, and network ACLs. Practice setting up VPC peering and VPN connections.

  2. Compute Services:

    • EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Learn how to launch, configure, and manage EC2 instances. Explore different instance types, storage options, and instance lifecycle management.

    • Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): Understand how to set up load balancers to distribute traffic across multiple EC2 instances for high availability and scalability.

  3. Storage Services:

    • S3 (Simple Storage Service): Practice creating buckets, uploading objects, and setting up permissions. Explore data transfer options and versioning.

    • EBS (Elastic Block Store): Learn how to create and manage block storage volumes for your EC2 instances.

  4. Containerization and Orchestration:

    • Docker: Get familiar with Docker containers and how to create containerized applications.

    • ECS (Elastic Container Service) or EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service): Learn container orchestration services for managing and deploying containers at scale.

  5. Serverless Computing:

    • AWS Lambda: Understand how to create serverless functions, set up triggers, and manage serverless applications.

  6. Deployment and Management:

    • AWS Elastic Beanstalk: Practice deploying and managing web applications easily.

    • AWS CloudFormation: Learn Infrastructure as Code (IaC) by defining and deploying AWS resources using templates.

  7. Security and Identity:

    • IAM (Identity and Access Management): Master user and role management to control access to AWS resources securely.

    • AWS Organizations: Learn to manage multiple AWS accounts through consolidated billing and organization policies.

  8. Networking:

    • Direct Connect and VPN: Practice connecting your on-premises data centre to AWS securely.

    • Route 53: Understand how to manage DNS and routing.

  9. Monitoring and Logging:

    • CloudWatch: Learn how to monitor AWS resources and set up alarms.

    • CloudTrail: Understand how to log and audit AWS API calls.

  10. Automation and DevOps:

    • AWS CLI and SDKs: Become proficient in using the command-line interface and SDKs for automating tasks.

    • CodeCommit, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy: Explore AWS DevOps services for building and deploying applications.

  11. Database Services:

    • RDS (Relational Database Service): Practice setting up and managing relational databases.

    • DynamoDB: Learn about the NoSQL database service and its capabilities.

  12. High Availability and Disaster Recovery:

    • Implement strategies for failover and data backup to ensure system resilience.

  13. Advanced Topics:

    • Dive into advanced topics such as AWS Lambda Layers, VPC Peering, Transit Gateway, Multi-Region Architectures, and more based on your specific needs.

To learn effectively, create practical projects or work on real-world scenarios that involve deploying, managing, and optimizing AWS services. AWS also provides a free tier that allows you to experiment without incurring costs for the first 12 months. Additionally, consider obtaining AWS certifications like AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or AWS Certified SysOps Administrator to validate your skills. These certifications often require hands-on experience with AWS services and can be great learning goals.

Project examples you can Do to dive deeper into DevOps.

Certainly! Here are project ideas for each of the sub-topics mentioned, which will help you improve your AWS skills through hands-on practice:

  1. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC):

    • Project: Create a multi-tier web application architecture within a VPC. Implement public and private subnets, and set up Network ACLs and Security Groups. Host a web server in a private subnet and an application load balancer in a public subnet.

  2. Compute Services (EC2):

    • Project: Deploy a scalable web application using EC2 instances. Implement auto-scaling to handle varying loads, set up an Elastic Load Balancer, and configure a deployment pipeline with AWS CodePipeline.

  3. Storage Services (S3 and EBS):

    • Project: Build a file-sharing application with user-uploaded content stored in an S3 bucket. Use EBS volumes for data storage and backup.

  4. Containerization and Orchestration (Docker, ECS or EKS):

    • Project: Containerize a multi-tier web application using Docker. Deploy it to ECS or EKS for orchestration. Explore auto-scaling and rolling deployments.

  5. Serverless Computing (AWS Lambda):

    • Project: Create a serverless API using AWS Lambda and API Gateway. Build a chatbot or a data processing pipeline triggered by S3 uploads.

  6. Deployment and Management (Elastic Beanstalk and CloudFormation):

    • Project: Deploy a full-stack web application using Elastic Beanstalk and manage the infrastructure as code using CloudFormation templates.

  7. Security and Identity (IAM):

    • Project: Implement IAM roles and policies for a multi-member development team, ensuring least privilege access to AWS resources.

  8. Networking (Direct Connect, VPN, Route 53):

    • Project: Establish a secure site-to-site VPN connection between your on-premises network and AWS. Set up a custom domain using Route 53.

  9. Monitoring and Logging (CloudWatch and CloudTrail):

    • Project: Configure CloudWatch alarms for critical metrics in your infrastructure. Create custom CloudWatch Dashboards. Set up CloudTrail for auditing and monitoring AWS API calls.

  10. Automation and DevOps (AWS CLI, CodeCommit, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy):

    • Project: Create a CI/CD pipeline using CodeCommit for version control, CodeBuild for building your application, and CodeDeploy for automated deployments.

  11. Database Services (RDS and DynamoDB):

    • Project: Deploy a highly available database using Amazon RDS with automated backups and read replicas. Build a serverless application using DynamoDB as the backend database.

High Availability and Disaster Recovery:

  • Project: Implement a disaster recovery plan for a critical application using AWS services like AWS Backup, Cross-Region Replication, and Route 53 Failover Routing.

How best you can learn in order of the urgency needed

  1. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC):

    • VPC is crucial because it forms the foundation for your AWS network architecture. Understanding networking in AWS is fundamental to securely and efficiently host your applications.

  2. Compute Services (EC2):

    • EC2 instances are where your applications run. Mastering EC2 is essential for deploying and managing your workloads in AWS.

  3. Storage Services (S3 and EBS):

    • Storage is critical for data persistence and backup. Learning S3 and EBS ensures you can manage your application data effectively.

  4. Security and Identity (IAM):

    • IAM is essential for maintaining the security of your AWS environment. It's crucial to understand IAM roles, policies, and permissions.

  5. Monitoring and Logging (CloudWatch and CloudTrail):

    • Monitoring and logging provide visibility into your AWS resources and help you troubleshoot issues. Understanding CloudWatch and CloudTrail is vital for maintaining a healthy AWS infrastructure.

  6. Deployment and Management (Elastic Beanstalk and CloudFormation):

    • Knowing how to deploy and manage your applications and infrastructure using Elastic Beanstalk and CloudFormation is essential for efficient resource management.

  7. Networking (Direct Connect, VPN, Route 53):

    • Networking features like Direct Connect, VPNs, and Route 53 are important when you need to connect your on-premises environment to AWS or manage domain routing.

  8. Automation and DevOps (AWS CLI, CodeCommit, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy):

    • Automation and DevOps tools allow you to streamline your development and deployment processes. This knowledge becomes increasingly important as your projects and teams grow.

  9. Containerization and Orchestration (Docker, ECS or EKS):

    • Containerization and orchestration help you manage applications at scale. It's important as your projects become more complex and require efficient resource utilization.

  10. Serverless Computing (AWS Lambda):

    • Serverless computing with AWS Lambda is valuable when building event-driven and scalable applications. It's especially relevant when you want to optimize costs and minimize infrastructure management.

  11. Database Services (RDS and DynamoDB):

    • Databases are critical components of many applications. Understanding RDS and DynamoDB is important for data management and scalability.

  12. High Availability and Disaster Recovery:

    • High availability and disaster recovery strategies are specialized but important for ensuring your applications are resilient and available in the face of failures.

Remember that the order of importance can vary depending on your specific projects and requirements. It's a good idea to start with the foundational topics and gradually move toward more specialized areas based on your needs and career goals.