The 5 Domains, Tips and Tricks and FAQ of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Exam

 There are five domains in the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam:

·         Domain 1: Organizational Complexity Design

·         Domain 2: Create New Solutions

·         Domain 3: Migration Preparation

·         Domain 4: Cost Management

·         Domain 5: Ongoing Improvement of Existing Solutions

 

As an architectural exam, AWS puts a premium on your ability to select the best solutions for various situations involving performant, dependable, available, and secure solutions. Expect problems with multiple accounts and different region structures in this test. You'll also need to identify ways to decrease complexity, optimize current infrastructures for higher availability or lower costs, and migrate on-premises systems to the cloud.

 

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Exam Topics and Tips

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam covers a wide range of topics. Knowing how AWS services interact to build solution architectures is one of the most crucial abilities for this test. Passing this test requires knowledge of the variables that impact design decisions while employing multiple service solution architectures. Practical experience is so crucial for this test.

Now, let's go through the topics that are likely to show up in your test in greater depth. These aren't particular subjects from my test:

Compute: When to utilize an NLB vs. an ALB, e.g., when allowing IP addresses is required.

·         Which compute pricing models should be used in a particular scenario?

·         We are scaling for performance with Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, and Amazon ECS.

·         Auto Scaling deployment choices include instances, containers, and serverless.

·         Application refactoring to microservices or serverless architectures.

Storage: Select the optimal storage architecture for the specified needs, such as object, block, file, and HPC use cases.

·         Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, AWS Storage Gateway, and Amazon FSx are all examples of Amazon services.

·         Distinct storage choices, tiers, classes, and volume types have different performance characteristics.

Database: Relational vs. non-relational databases – Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Aurora

Migration & Transfer: How to Plan Migrations Using the Application Discovery Service

·         We are migrating from Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, and physical servers on-premises.

·         I am making use of the Migration Hub.

·         AWS SMS, DMS, SCT, and DataSync are being used to migrate.

·         When you need to convert schemas, such as Oracle to DynamoDB, using SCT.

Analytics: Understand how to analyze data from various sources, such as S3 data lakes or Kinesis Data Streams.

·         Athena, Redshift, EMR, Elasticsearch, Kinesis, QuickSight, and AWS Glue are a few examples.

·         Identity, security, and compliance:

·         Understand your IAM policies well.

·         How to allow cross-account access using roles and an external ID.

·         AWS Directory Service is a service provided by Amazon Web Services.

·         Use cases for Secrets Manager

·         AWS Single Sign-on and Cognito have known use cases.

 

Application Integration: Understand when to use which services, such as SQS, SNS, SWF, and Step Functions.

·         Amazon MQ use cases include transferring existing applications utilizing these protocols.

·         Amazon EventBridge is a service that allows you to coordinate message flows across services.

·         Scaling possibilities using ASG and SQS.

·         Cost-cutting measures include using AWS Organizations for consolidated billing.

·         Tags for cost allocation

·         The IoT is also known as the Internet of Things. The most crucial deployment choices and use cases.

 

FAQ

Can I pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional test if I don't have any practical experience?

Yes, this is very feasible, and many of my students have done it although AWS recommends two or more years of experience for applicants, and while you may quickly get by with less, it is strongly advised to have as much hands-on experience as possible. So, make sure you enroll in a hands-on training session!

Is there anything the student needs to know before taking the exam?

There are no longer any requirements. If you don't have much industry experience dealing with AWS services, I would recommend starting with the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate. My best advice is to start AWS training with all AWS associate-level certificates course since the information obtained will be precious.