Introduction

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is designed for individuals who want to design systems that are highly available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable.

This article introduces the certification and lays the foundation for understanding the AWS Cloud, its services, and why cloud architecture matters today.

What is the AWS Cloud?

At its core, the AWS Cloud is a collection of on-demand computing resources and services — such as compute, storage, databases, and networking — delivered over the internet.

☁️ Cloud Advantages

Pay-as-you-go pricing model
Scalability on-demand
Global reach with 32+ regions
High availability via multi-AZ setups
Managed infrastructure and automation tools

AWS provides over 200 services across categories like compute, storage, AI/ML, networking, security, DevOps, and analytics.

Image: AWS Global Infrastructure - Regions and Availability Zones

Why This Certification Matters

Becoming a certified Solutions Architect means you can:

Build scalable, reliable cloud-native applications
Understand trade-offs in design decisions (e.g., S3 vs EBS vs EFS)
Use security best practices (e.g., IAM roles, KMS, VPC isolation)
Manage cost with the right pricing models

Exam Structure

Section	Weight
Design Secure Architectures	30%
Design Resilient Architectures	26%
Design High-Performing Architectures	24%
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures	20%

Core AWS Services by Category

Below is a quick map of the key services covered on the exam:

Image: Map of AWS Core Services Categorized (Compute, Storage, Network, Security, Monitoring)

🧠 Compute

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
Lambda (serverless)
Elastic Beanstalk
Auto Scaling

📦 Storage

S3 (Simple Storage Service)
EBS (Elastic Block Store)
EFS (Elastic File System)
Glacier (for archival)

🌐 Networking

VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
NAT Gateway
Load Balancers (ALB/NLB)
Route 53 (DNS)

🔐 Security

IAM (Users, Roles, Policies)
KMS (Key Management Service)
AWS WAF & Shield
Cognito (user auth)

🧭 Monitoring & Logs

CloudWatch
CloudTrail
AWS Config
X-Ray

Sample Use Case: 3-Tier Web App on AWS

Here’s a simplified view of how you might build a 3-tier web app architecture using AWS services:

Image: A typical 3-tier architecture using Load Balancer, EC2 instances, RDS database, and public/private subnets

What's Next?

This is the first article in a series that will walk you through everything needed to pass the AWS SAA-C03 exam and become a well-rounded cloud architect.

Next Article → Designing Secure Architectures with IAM, VPC, and Encryption

Questions? Drop a comment below or reach out on GitHub.