The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C01) exam is one of the most difficult but also one of the highest paying IT certifications offered by Amazon Web Services. This exam is the AWS Certification that is typically taken after acquiring the SysOps Administrator Associate and Developer Associate certifications.

Validating a candidate's technical expertise in creating, operating, and managing distributed application systems on the AWS platform is the purpose of the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional test. It is geared toward people who hold the position of DevOps Engineer in an organisation. The exam also validates a candidate’s ability to complete the following tasks:

 Implement and manage continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS  Implement and automate security controls, governance processes, and compliance validation  Define and deploy monitoring, metrics, and logging systems on AWS  Implement systems that are highly available, scalable, and self-healing on the AWS platform  Design, manage, and maintain tools to automate operational processes

Hence, in this repository, I've created a study guide with a timeline to help you allocate your exam preparation. A guides you on how to study and what topic you need to focus on for your exam.

Part 1: SDLC Automation

• Automate a CI/CD pipeline by implementing the necessary concepts. Determine the best methods for implementing source control Integrate and automate testing concepts.
• Build and manage artefacts in a secure manner by utilising these concepts.
• Learn how to use AWS Services to implement deployment and delivery strategies (e.g., A/B testing, Blue/Green testing, Canary testing, Red/Black testing)

• AWS CodeCommit

  • Repository Tags

    • Help to identify and organize your AWS resources

  • Identity Policies based on tags

    • Allow and denies action on CodeCommit Repo based on tags associated with CodeCommit repo.
    • Example

  • Integrations

    • AWS Lambda
    • EventBridge
    • CloudTrails
    • CodeBuild
    • AWS KMS
    • etc.

  • Monitoring & Logging

    • Allow Admin captures insight into activities by users
    • Creating a dashboard

  • Notification Rules

    • Get notify whenever there changes on specific action on repo

      • Comments
      • Apporval
      • Pull Request (PR)
      • Branches & tags

  • CodeCommit Policies

    • Managed Policies

      • AWSCodeCommitFullAccess
      • AWSCodeCommitPowerUser
      • AWSCodeCommitReadOnly

    • Data Protection

  • Approval Rule Template

• AWS CodeBuild

  • Concepts

    • Build Project
    • Source
    • Environment
    • S3 and SNS

  • Security

    • AWS IAM Access
    • Artifact Encryption
    • AWS CodeBuild Role

• AWS CodeDeploy

  • AppSpec Hooks

    • ApplicationStop
    • DownloadBundle
    • BeforeInstall
    • Install
    • AfterInstall
    • ApplicationStart
    • ValidateService

  • Deployment Policies

    • AllAtOnce

      • disadv: When update is failed, app not accessible

    • Rolling

      • disadv: When update is failed, not at full capacity.

    • Rolling with additional Batch

      • adv: Full capacity even update is failed

    • Immutable

      • Deploy newer ver. of app in completely new server under auto-scaling group(ASG)

    • Traffic Splitting

    • Blue/Green

      • BLUE

        • Prod receiving LIVE traffic

      • GREEN

        • Parallel env running diff ver of the apps

  • Deployment/Delivery Strategies

    • All-At-Once
    • Rolling Deploy
    • Blue-Green
    • Canary Release

• EB CLI

• EB extension

  • .ebextensions
  • YAML file
  • Allow us to customize all the things that is needed for apps

• Commands

  • Container

    • Ensure that your command is run on only one instance
    • leaders_only: true
    • Purpose: Creation of DB. running DB migration script & etc.
    • Run AFTER the apps & web server is set up & the apps version file is extracted

  • Command

    • Run BEFORE the apps & web server is set up & the apps version file is extracted

• Canary Deployment

  • Is a process where we deploy a few features and shift % of traffic to new feature to perform some analysis to see is the feature successful.

• Versioning

• Alias

• Spliting Traffic

• Lambda@Edge

  • Viewer Request
  • Origin Request
  • Viewer Response
  • Origin Response
  • CloudFront Cache

• fully managed Docker registry that makes it easy for developer to store, manage, & deploy docker images.
• Create ECR repository
• Login to ECR
• Push/Pull ECR docker images

• It is a container orchestration service that support Docker containers and allow you to easily run and scale containerized apps on AWS
• EC2
• Fargate

• Run containerized apps without provisioning, monitor or manage the underlying AWS resource

• Is an open-source automation server which allows us to automate wide variety of things which includes the entire CI/CD pipeline.
• Distributed Builds(worker nodes)
• Jenkins Plugins

• Concepts

  • Repository

    • The place where all code changes are store and versioning.

  • Branches

    • Master Branch
    • Feature branch

  • Commit

    • Push new code updates to the repository

  • Pull Request (PR)

    • Merge Request (MR)
    • PR Validations

• Git Strategy

  • Trunk Based Development(TBD)

    • All works is done on Master branch

    • Pros

      • Very small changes
      • Continuous code merge
      • Increase delivery throuhput

    • Cons

      • Many Tests

  • GitHub Flow

    • All work is done on individual branch

    • Pros

      • Master always releasable
      • Short live branches

    • Cons

      • Master not always up to date
      • Large changes to Master

  • GitFlow

    • Branches

      • Feature merge to develop
      • Release branches
      • Feature and Hotfix branches

    • Pros

      • Master is always releasable
      • Strict Control

    • Cons

      • Master not always up to date
      • Large changes to Master
      • Complicated to enforce

  • Environment Branching

    • Branch per environment

    • Change all to one branch

    • Gradual release to Prod

    • Pros

      • Each of env have it own branch
      • Prod always is releasable

    • Cons

      • Prod not always up to date
      • Large change to Prod
      • Multiple merge per release

• Linting

• Unit-Test

  • Conducted by Developers and test the unit of code(module, component) that they developed.

• Integration Test

  • Test is the approach in which multiple components of apps are combined and tested in a group

• Regression Test

  • To test the new functionality
  • Re-run that apps previously passed, to ensure that new features not re-introduce old defects or create new ones

• Test Driven Development (TDD)

  • Practice of writing tests that matches intended behaviour, before you write the codes.

• Continuous Testing

  • Artifact Test

    • Unit-Test
    • Vul Image Scanning
    • SAST

  • Environment Validation

    • Load Testing
    • Penetration Test
    • IAST/DAST

• Decoupled

• Single Function

• Well-Defined API's

• 12-Factor App

  • Isolation Dependencies
  • Ephemeral(Disposable)
  • Scalability (Concurrency)

• Org Structure

  • Autonomous Teams
  • Own Microservices all the way to Prod

• Product not Project

  • Automation
  • Self-Service
  • Continuous Integration
  • Continuous Delivery

• Smart Endpoints Dump Pipes

  • Communication between services

    • Request/Response
    • Publish/Subcribe

• Decentraliszed Governance

  • Freedom to choose dependency
  • Freedom to choose build tools

• Decentralized Data Management

  • Freedom to choose data tools
  • No Shared data sources

• Design for Failure

  • Disposable (stateless)
  • Latency and timeouts to be expected
  • Able to failover to other region/dc
  • Self-Healing
  • Logs as event-streams

Part 2: Config. Management & IaC

• Identify the most appropriate deployment services based on the actual requirements of the project
• Determine application and infrastructure deployment models based on the needs of your company.
• Automate resource provisioning using security concepts.
• On a deployment, determine how to use lifecycle hooks.
• Use AWS configuration management tools and services to learn about system management concepts.

• Task Def

• Service

• AWS CodePipeline Integration(CD-Deploy)

• Security

  • Host layer

    • Security Group

    • NACL's

    • EC2 Service Role

    • Network Isolation

    • Subtopic 5

      • Inspector
      • 3rd party Sec Tools

  • Container Layer

    • Task Role
    • Port Mappings
    • 3rd party Sec Tools

  • Service Layer

    • AWS IAM
    • CloudTrail

• Codebase
• Dependencies
• Config
• Backing services
• Build, release, run
• Processes
• Port binding
• Concurrency
• Disposability
• Dev/prod parity
• Logs
• Admin processes

• Concepts

  • Serverless
  • Triggers
  • Runtime
  • Deployment Package
  • Concurrency

• Features

  • Version and Alias
  • Concurrency limits
  • Layers-custom runtimes
  • Step Functions
  • Extension

• Quotas

  • Memory - 1024MB
  • Timeout - 900 seconds(!5mins)
  • Deployment Package 500MB Zipped and 250mB Unzipped
  • /tmp strg: 512MB

• Security

  • IAM

    • Execution Role
    • User Access

  • Data

    • Encryption in Trainsit
    • Encryption at Rest
    • Env. Variable SSM/Secret Mgr

• Key-value memory database

• memory cache management

• Deploy and Manage an API

• Multiple stages

• Request throttling

• RESTful, HTTP, and WebSocket API

• Amazon manages the underlying resources

• Use-Cases

  • Serverless API

    • AWS Lambda

  • Direct Public request to private resources

    • AWS ECS, LBs,etc

Part 3: Monitoring & Logging

• Based on the project's actual needs, select the best deployment services.
• Assess your company's requirements to determine the best model for deploying applications and infrastructure.
• Security concepts can be used to automate the provisioning of resources.
• Determine how to use lifecycle hooks during a deployment.
• Learn about system management with the help of AWS tools and services.

• CloudWatch Logs

  • Integrated with AWS services such Lambda, CodeBuild, etc
  • Use CloudWatch Agent for EC2
  • Log Groups
  • Log Streams

• CloudWatch Events (EventBridge)

  • What it is?

    • Integrated with AWS services such AWS CodePipeline & AWS CloudTrail
    • Also known as EventBridge
    • Support Custom Events
    • Help automate actions in AWS

• CloudWatch Metrics

  • Integrated with AWS services such Lambda, EC2,etc
  • Use Agent for custom metrics
  • CloudWatch Dashboard

• CloudWatch Alarms

  • utilise metrics and events
  • Can use limits, statistical analysis ,anomaly detection

• Video Stream

• Data Stream

  • Stream of data can be ingested at low latency

  • Short term retention of data

  • Manual scaling ans setup

  • Benefit

    • Customisable consumers

• Data Firehose

  • Real-time streaming of data into AWS S3, AWS RedShift, ElasticSearch or Splunk
  • No retention of data
  • Automate Scaling and setup

• Data Analytics

• Data Warehouse

• Centralize Logs

  • Apps Logs
  • Network Logs
  • Infra logs

• Columnar data store

• Business Intelligence data tool
• Visualisation, analysis, & reporting on metrics by querying AWS RedShift
• Correlating multiples logs

• Managed ELK Stack

• Centralise logs, reporting, alerting, metrics, and analytics

• Automated backup, upgrades, scaling, and maintenance

• Terms

  • Cluster(Domain)
  • Indice/Index
  • Types
  • Document with properties

• API events in AWS can be recorded and logged. Uses AWS S3 as destination

• Security

  • AWS S3 key by default encryption key
  • KMS

• Features

  • Data Events
  • CW Log integration
  • Account centralization
  • CloudTrail Insights

• What is it?

  • Track config of AWS resources over time
  • Gives insight into policy compliance
  • Reactive response, not Proactive

• Terms

  • Resources

    • Each item in AWS

  • Config Item

    • Config at specific time

      • Basic config., specific config. , releationship, AWS CloudTrail ID's , Metadata

  • Config Rules

  • Conformance Packs

    • Package of Rules + Remediation actions

  • Evaluation

    • Determines one rule against one resource ( changes determined by evolutions)

  • Aggregator

    • Used to centralize dashboard

• Features

  • multiple account and region
  • Integration with ServiceNow and Jira Service Desk

• What it is?

  • Included in Support Plan (Developer)
  • Scan and Alert for best practices
  • Weekly scan and email, but manually scan more frequently

• Features

  • Security Checks

    • Security Groups
    • Public Snapshots
    • AWS S3 Buckets

  • Cost Optimisation

  • Fault-Tolerance

  • Performance

  • Service Limits

• Purpose

  • Distributed tracing system
  • Helps analyze and troubleshoot bugs
  • Understand performance
  • End-to-end view of requests
  • Component map of apps

• Components

  • AWS X-Ray SDK/API: Implemented in the code
  • AWS X-Ray Daemon: Implemeneted at the server layer proxying request from code to AWS X-Ray

• Service to monitor?

  • API Gateway
  • App Mesh
  • AppSync
  • EventBridge
  • SNS
  • SQS
  • S3
  • EC2
  • ECS
  • Beanstalk
  • Lambda

• Integration

  • AWS Config
  • CloudTrail
  • CloudWatch
  • EventBridge
  • Load Balancing

• Organization
• Cost Allocation
• Automation
• Ops Support
• Control Access
• Security Risk Management

• Implement/Update Tag over the regions
• Create Resource Group and Tag Group

Part 4: Policies & Standard Automation

• Logging, metrics, monitoring, testing, and security standards can be enforced by applying the necessary concepts.
• Determine how to cut costs by automating processes.
• Utilize the concepts necessary to put governance strategies into action

• OpsCenter

  • Centralizzed dashboard to troubleshoot issue
  • Aggresgates data from AWS Config, AWS CloudTrail, AWS CloudWatch

• Inventory

  • Collects Information about AWS EC2 instances and software installed on them
  • Collect information on network, config., files, server roles, etc.

• Parameter Store & Documents

  • Storing config. data
  • Plain text or encrypted
  • scripts
  • Can have logic so single script can handle multiple scenarios(Windows/Linux)

• Automation & Run Command

  • Automate the roll out of playbooks
  • Roll back automatically if erros
  • Automates common tasks
  • No Need to login to the server at all

• Session Manager

  • Login to system to run CLI commands
  • Removes the need to SSH Keys
  • No Need for the ports to be oponed
  • Access is controlled by IAM

• Patch Manager

  • Automates patching on server software

• State Manager

  • Remotely manage config of server (Firewall config., server settings, etc)

• Distributor

  • Centralized place to retrieve packages and apps that you may want to automatically install/update

• Encrypted Credential manager
• App's retrieval of password
• Automated password rotation

• Network Reachability

• Host-based security scan

  • CVE's
  • CIS Benchmark
  • Security best-practice

• Templatized resources that end-users can deploy

• Enforces standards

• User restrictions

• Distribution

• Use-cases

  • Product: Collection of resources
  • Portfolio : Collection of Products
  • UC1: tool that you want to allow users to deploy
  • UC2: allowing users to deploy their apps

Part 5: Incident & Event Response
### What To Learn? - Determine the source of the problem and the best course of action for resolving it - Decide on a way to automate alerting and event management - Implement the concepts necessary for automated healing to take place. - Integrate key event-driven automation concepts into your work

• Process

  • Find the issue
  • Find the thing that are working
  • Look for the things you can change
  • Implementation details

• Tools

  • Monitoring

    • CloudWatch agent/logs

  • Alerting

    • Events
    • Alerts

  • Remediation

    • AWS Lambda
    • AWS System Manager

  • Prevention

    • AWS IAM
    • AWS CloudFormation

• Application Load Balancer (ALB)

  • Layer 7 LB
  • Port 80/443
  • HTTP, HTTPS, gRPC
  • SSL/HTTPS termination
  • Integration with AWS Cognito and OpenID Connect
  • Can route to AWS Lambda

• Network Load Balancer (NLB)

  • Layer 4 LB
  • Port: ALL
  • SSL/HTTPS termination

• Gateway Load Balancer

  • Layer 3 Gateway + Layer 4 LB
  • Made for in-line network analysis appliances

• Classic Load Balancer

  • Layer 4/7 L:B
  • Protocols: TCP, SSL/TLS, HTTP, HTTPS
  • SSL/HTTPS termination
  • Primary for AWS EC2 classic Instance

• Only support AWS EC2

• Can perform Step and Scheduled scaling

• Creates and configure Auto-Scaling-Group

• Support multiple-Purchase model

• Support Multiple AZs

• Support Multi-instance sizes in a single apps

• Security

  • AWS IAM

    • Service Roles
    • User Roles

  • KMS encryption for Volumes

• Cost Optimization

  • On-Demand, Reserved, Spot Instances - Combined
  • Multiple instance types

• Support AWS EC2, ECS, DynamoDB, Aurora
• Only scales based on target tracking scaling policies
• Creates and manages CloudWatch alarms and triggering scaling
• Predictive scaling for EC2
• Automatically scan for scalable services

Part 6: High Availability (HA), Fault-Tolerance, & Disaster Recovery (DR)

• Determine whether multi-AZ or multi-region architectures are appropriate for your application.
• Learn how to implement high availability, scaling, and fault tolerance
• Use business requirements (e.g., RTO/RPO, cost) to select the best services.
• Learn how to create and implement disaster recovery plans that are automated.
• Determine what areas of a deployment may be at risk.

• Global Services

  • AWS S3
  • AWS IAM
  • AWS Route53
  • AWS CloudFront

• Regional Services

  • S3 Data
  • AutoScaling
  • DynamocDB
  • Load Balancing
  • VPC

• Load Balancer
• EC2 Auto-Scaling
• AWS Auto-Scaling
• CloudWatch
• CloudFront
• Elasticache

• Route53
• S3
• CloudWatch
• EC2 Auto-Scaling
• AWS Auto-Scaling

• RTO & RPO

  • RTO:Recovery Time Objective

    • The max acceptable delay between the interruption of service and restoration of service

  • RPO: Recovery Point Objective

    • is the maximum acceptable amount of time since the last data recovery point.

• RDS

  • Automated backups
  • DB Snapshits
  • Multi-AZ
  • Read Replica

• EC2 & EBS

• DynamoDB

  • Snapshits and Point-in0-time recovery
  • Global Table(Cross-region replication)

• Route53

  • Health Check for endpoints
  • Active-Active and Passive routing
  • Round-robin
  • Weighted Routing

• S3

  • Durability/Availability
  • Cross-Region Replication (CRR)
  • Archieve Access Tier are moved to the Frequent Access tier in 3-5 hours
  • Deep Archive tiear are moved to Frequent Access tier within 12 hours
  • Glacier Retrieval

• Strategies

  • AWS Lambda: Snapshot schedule, Cross region copy)
  • AWS System Manager
  • AWS Backup

STUDY: Course & Exam Preparation

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional 2022

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional Practice Exams

• aws-devops-certification-training

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional Practice Tests

INFO: DOP-C01 Exam Breakdown

• SDLC Automation (22%)

• Config. Management & IaC (19%)

• Monitoring & Logging (15%)

• Policies & Standard Automation (10%)

• Incident & Event Response (18%)