AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) Study Guide

Introduction

Cloud computing underpins modern IT infrastructure, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) being the most widely used cloud platform worldwide. Obtaining the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) certification is a significant accomplishment for IT professionals, developers, and aspiring cloud architects.

This learning series on cloudprep.africa takes a structured, hands-on approach to mastering core AWS services, architectural best practices, and real-world design scenarios. Whether you're new to AWS or preparing for certification, this guide will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to create secure, scalable, and cost-effective cloud solutions.

Series Outline

1. AWS Fundamentals.

• What exactly is Amazon Web Services (AWS)?
• AWS Global Infrastructure: Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations.
• AWS Shared Responsibility Model.
• Overview of AWS's Well-Architected Framework

    2. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).

• IAM Users, Groups, Roles, and Policies.
• Authentication versus Authorisation
• Best practices for least privilege access and security.
• IAM roles for Amazon Web Services

    3. AWS Networking Basics and Amazon VPC

• Amazon VPC Fundamentals
• Subnets (Public vs Private)
• Route tables, Internet gateways, and NAT gateways.
• Security Groups versus Network ACLs (NACLs)

    4. Computer Services.

• Amazon EC2 Fundamentals
• EC2 instances and pricing models
• Auto-scaling groups
• AWS Lambda (Serverless Computing)
• When to use EC2 or Lambda

    5. Storage Services.

• Amazon S3 and Storage Classes

• Amazon EBS, EFS

• Amazon S3 Glacier.

• Lifecycle policies and data durability.

    6. Databases in AWS

• Amazon RDS (Multi-AZ and Read Replicas)

• Amazon Aurora Basics

• Amazon DynamoDB Fundamentals

• Choosing the Right Database

    7. Monitoring and Management.

• Amazon CloudWatch (Metrics, Logs, Alarms)

• AWS System Manager

• Basic operational best practices.

    8. Infrastructure as Code (IoC)

• AWS CloudFormation Fundamentals

• Benefits of IAC

• Automation best practices.

    9. Networking and Application Integration.

• Amazon Route 53 (DNS and Routing Policies)

• Elastic load balancing (ALB or NLB)

• Amazon API Gateway Basics

• Introduction to SQS and SNS.

    10. Designing Highly Available and Fault-Tolerant Architectures.

• High availability versus fault tolerance.

• Multi-AZ and Multi-Region Design Strategies

• Best practices for load balancing and autoscaling.

• Backup and Disaster Recovery Concepts

    11. Security and Compliance.

• Encryption at Rest and in Transit

• AWS key management service (KMS)

• AWS Secret Manager

• AWS compliance programmes (High-Level Overview)

    12. Cost optimisation.

• AWS Pricing Models:
• On-Demand
• Reserved instances.
• Spot instances
• AWS Pricing Calculator.

Here are some best practices for effectively using Cost Explorer and managing billing.

    13. Introduction to AI and Machine Learning (High Level)

• Amazon SageMaker Overview
• Overview of Common AWS AI/ML Services
• When to Use Managed AI Services

    14. Real-World Architecture Scenarios.

• Designing a Scalable Web Application
• Designing a Secure Backend System
• Exam architecture patterns are common.

    15. Exam Preparation and Final Tips

• Exam Structure and Question Types
• Key services to memorise.
• Time management strategies
• Final Revision Checklist