AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional

How Can You Be A AWS Certified Solutions Architect- Professional

The professional exam for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional helps in advancing technical skills and helpful in increasing the experience in designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform. Number of things that you should understand for this exam include design and use dynamically scalable with highly available,reliable applications and  fault tolerant on AWS.Some of the important points has been discussed here:

• Choosing the applicable AWS services to design and use an application which is based on given requirements
• Individual should know about migrating complex and multi-tier applications on AWS
• Use and design an enterprise-wide scalable operations on AWS
• Applying cost control strategies

The exam for AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional exam has been designed for individuals who wants to perform a Solutions Architect role.It enhances an examinee’s ability to:

• Recognising and collecting requirements for defining a solution that will be built on AWS
• Developing systems by introducing new services and features
• Evaluate the trade-off and implications of architectural decisions and choices for implementing applications in AWS
• Candidate should know the designing of an optimal system by meeting project requirements.It even helps in maximizing
• characteristics such as scalability,reliability, security and durability.It even includes cost effectiveness
• It is required to have better knowledge of projects and make suggestions for implementation, use, and provisioning applications on AWS
• Should know about best practice and architectural guidance over the lifecycle of a project

The type of knowledge and skills which is mandatory for AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional includes the majority of the following AWS and general IT knowledge areas:

AWS Knowledge

• The core services includes Computer and Networking,Database,Storage and CDN with Application Services
• Security features that provided by AWS and best practices
• Individual will able to design and applied for Elasticity and scalability
• The network technologies related to AWS networking includes DNS and load balancing, AWS Direct Connect and Amazon
• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
• Knowledge required about storage and archival
• State management
• Knowledge about Database and replication methodologies
• Should know about Self-healing techniques and fault-tolerant services
• Candidate should know about disaster Recovery and fail-over strategies
• There is need to know about Application migration plans to AWS
• Candidate should know about network connectivity options
• User should know the use and management

General IT Knowledge

• Candidate should know about large-scale distributed systems architecture
• There should be endmost consistency
• It is required to have better knowledge about relational and non-relational databases
• Users needs to know about Multi-tier architectures that includes load balancers, caching, web servers, application servers, database and networking
• Individual should know about loose coupling and stateless systems
• It is required to have knowledge about Content Delivery Networks
• Candidate should know about System performance tuning
• Even there is need know about Networking concepts that includes routing tables, access control lists with firewalls, NAT, HTTP, DNS and OSI model
• There is need to have knowledge about RESTful Web Services, XML, JSON
• Better understanding of one or more software development models
• Concept needs to be clear about Information and application security concepts i.e public key encryption and remote access credentials including certificate-based authentication

The training courses and materials which will require for  AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional exam preparation:

• Candidate should know architecting on AWS
• Individual needs to know about Architecting on AWS and their advanced concepts
• It is required to have deep knowledge or training in at least one high-level programming language
• AWS Cloud Computing White Papers:-
  o Complete overview of the Security Processes
  o Knowledge about Storage Options in the Cloud
  o Information about Fault Tolerant Applications in the AWS Cloud overview of Amazon Web Services
  o Better understanding of Compliance Whitepaper
  o Candidate should know about architecting AWS Cloud
• Should know applying hybrid systems with on-premise and AWS components
• Need to know about the utilization of the AWS Architecture Center website

Note: The exam blueprint contains number of things like weighting, test objectives including example content.There are number of example topics and concepts are included to clarify the test objectives. They need not to be construed as a comprehensive listing of all of the content of this examination.

The table below lists the domains measured by this examination and the extent to which they are represented.

What is content description required for AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional exam?

Domain - 1

It involves high Availability and Business Continuity
Explaining ability to architect the appropriate level of availability based on stakeholder requirements
Demonstrating ability to implement DR for systems that is based on RPO and RTO
It involves determining suitable use of multi-Availability Zones vs. multi-Region architectures
Shows the ability to implement self-healing capabilities
Content will also include the following:-

• High Availability vs. Fault Tolerance

Domain - 2
It involves costing
Explains ability to make architectural decisions which will help in minimizing and optimizing infrastructure cost
It involves applying appropriate AWS account and billing set-up options based on scenario
It involves ability to compare and contrast the cost implications of different architectures

Domain - 3
Knowing Management
Involves ability to manage the lifecycle of an application on AWS
Showing ability to apply the right architecture for development, testing, and staging environments
Positioning and selecting the  most suitable AWS deployment mechanism based upon scenario

Domain - 4
Network Design
Design and implement the networking features of AWS
Demonstrating ability to design and apply connectivity features of AWS

Domain - 5
Know about data Storage for a complex large scale deployment
Ensure that architectural trade off decisions involving storage options
Shows ability to make architectural trade off decisions that involves database options
Shows ability to apply the most appropriate data storage architecture
Determining the use of synchronous versus asynchronous replication

Domain - 6
Involves Security
Include Design information security management systems and compliance controls
Involves designing of security controls with the AWS shared responsibility model and global infrastructure
It includes design identification and access management controls
Protection of designed data at Rest controls
Protection of designed data in Flight and Network Perimeter controls

Domain - 7
It includes Scalability and Elasticity
Demonstrating the ability to design a loosely coupled system
Shows ability to implement the most appropriate front-end scaling architecture
Shows ability to apply the most applicable middle-tier scaling architecture
Demonstrating ability to implement the most appropriate data storage scaling architecture
Determining trade-offs between vertical and horizontal scaling

Domain - 8
It includes Cloud Migration and Hybrid Architecture
Planning and executing for applications migrations
It involves ability to design hybrid cloud architectures

What kind of eligibility can be required to pass the exam?

Should be achieved AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
It is required to have 2+ years working experience in designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS.
Candidate should have ability to evaluate cloud application requirements and make architectural recommendations for implementation, deployment, and provisioning applications on AWS.
Candidate should have ability to provide best practices guidance on the architectural design across multiple applications, projects, or the enterprise.

Examination details that is required to know:-

Needed  Prerequisite: status as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
There will be multiple choice and multiple answer questions
Candidate should be provided with one hundred seventy minutes to complete the exam
Exam will be available in English and Japanese
The registration fee for Practice Exam will be USD 40
Registration fee for the exam will be USD 300
It is recommended to go for Advanced Architecting on AWS