AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)
Everything you need to pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam on your first attempt — structured video lessons, 24 real hands-on AWS labs, per-section quizzes, a domain diagnostic, and 3 full-length practice exams in a single course on the TeKanAid Academy platform.
Course Preview
Why This Course is Different
Get everything you need to master platform engineering and advance your career
Certificate of Completion
Earn a certificate while gaining real-world skills that go beyond traditional certification prep
Hands-on Labs
24 practical labs with real-world scenarios in pre-configured cloud environments
Expert-Led
Learn from Sam Gabrail, Former HashiCorp Sr. Solutions Engineer with 18+ years experience
Community Support
Join our community where members help each other and collaborate on learning
What You'll Master
Master the 4 SAA-C03 exam domains (Security, Resilient, Performance, Cost) with weighted coverage
Apply the high-yield decision archetypes the exam tests
Design secure, resilient, high-performing, cost-optimized AWS architectures
Distinguish between commonly confused services (Kinesis DS vs Firehose, Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas, Gateway vs Interface endpoints, ECS vs EKS vs Fargate)
Select the right DR pattern for given RPO/RTO constraints
Implement IAM policies with correct evaluation logic (DENY > ALLOW, permission boundaries, SCPs)
Build hands-on with VPC, EC2, S3, IAM, RDS, DynamoDB, Lambda, containers, and analytics services
Pass the SAA-C03 exam on first attempt
Course Curriculum
SECTION 1 – COURSE INTRODUCTION
Welcome, how to use the course, SAA-C03 exam overview, study plan, and setup
- •Welcome to the Course
- •How to Use This Course
- •SAA-C03 Exam Overview
- •Recommended Study Plan
- •Environment Setup
SECTION 2 – AWS FOUNDATIONS + COURSE DIAGNOSTIC
AWS global infrastructure, regions and AZs, console and CLI, shared responsibility, Well-Architected Framework, and a domain-scored diagnostic
- •AWS Global Infrastructure
- •Regions and Availability Zones
- •AWS Console and CLI
- •AWS Shared Responsibility Model
- •AWS Well-Architected Framework
- •AWS Account and Billing Basics
- •Support Plans and Service Quotas
- •AWS CLI and Console TourLab
- •Course DiagnosticQuiz
SECTION 3 – IAM & SECURITY SERVICES
IAM, STS, Identity Center, Organizations/SCPs, KMS, Secrets Manager, ACM, WAF/Shield, GuardDuty, and security governance overview
- •IAM Fundamentals
- •IAM Policies Deep Dive
- •IAM Policy Evaluation Logic
- •IAM Roles and STS
- •Identity Center, SAML, and Federation
- •AWS Organizations and SCPs
- •KMS Fundamentals
- •KMS Envelope Encryption
- •Secrets Manager vs Parameter Store
- •ACM and Certificates
- •WAF and Shield
- •GuardDuty, Inspector, and Macie
- •Encryption Decision Patterns
- •Cross-Account Access Patterns
- •Security Governance Services Overview
- •IAM Policy Evaluation: DENY vs ALLOW, Boundaries, and Cross-Account RolesLab
- •KMS Envelope Encryption on AWSLab
- •IAM and Security Services QuizQuiz
SECTION 4 – VPC & NETWORKING
VPC, subnets, routing, NAT, SG/NACL, VPC endpoints, peering, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, Direct Connect, VPN
- •VPC Fundamentals
- •Route Tables and Internet Gateways
- •NAT Gateway vs NAT Instance
- •Security Groups vs Network ACLs
- •VPC Flow Logs
- •VPC Peering
- •AWS Transit Gateway
- •VPC Endpoints, Gateway vs Interface
- •AWS PrivateLink Deep Dive
- •AWS Direct Connect
- •Site-to-Site VPN
- •AWS Client VPN
- •Network Decision Patterns
- •VPC DNS and IPv6 Basics
- •Build a VPC from ScratchLab
- •VPC Endpoints and the NAT Cost TrapLab
- •Transit Gateway Hub-and-SpokeLab
- •VPC and Networking QuizQuiz
SECTION 5 – EC2 & CORE COMPUTE
EC2 instance families, pricing models, AMIs, placement groups, ELB (ALB/NLB/GWLB), Auto Scaling
- •EC2 Instance Families
- •AMIs, User Data, and Instance Metadata
- •EC2 Pricing Models
- •Spot Instances Deep Dive
- •EC2 Placement Groups
- •Elastic Load Balancing Overview
- •Application Load Balancer Deep Dive
- •Network Load Balancer Deep Dive
- •Gateway Load Balancer Deep Dive
- •EC2 Auto Scaling Fundamentals
- •EC2 Storage Options Overview
- •EC2 & Compute Decision Patterns
- •ALB, Auto Scaling Group & Launch TemplateLab
- •Auto Scaling on SQS Queue DepthLab
- •EC2 and Core Compute QuizQuiz
SECTION 6 – CONTAINERS & MANAGED COMPUTE
ECR, ECS, EKS, Fargate, AWS Batch, Elastic Beanstalk, container-vs-VM-vs-serverless decision framework
- •Containers vs VMs vs Serverless
- •Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
- •ECS Fundamentals: Clusters, Tasks, and Services
- •ECS Task Networking and IAM
- •ECS Service Auto Scaling
- •EKS Fundamentals
- •AWS Fargate: Serverless Containers
- •AWS Batch for Container Workloads
- •Elastic Beanstalk and Lightsail
- •Container Platform Selection Decision Archetype
- •ECS Fargate Service Deployment and Launch Type SelectionLab
- •EKS with Fargate ProfileLab
- •Containers and Managed Compute QuizQuiz
SECTION 7 – S3 & STORAGE SERVICES
S3 (classes, lifecycle, versioning, replication, encryption), EBS, EFS, FSx, Storage Gateway, DataSync, Snow family, Transfer Family
- •S3 Fundamentals
- •S3 Storage Classes
- •S3 Lifecycle and Versioning
- •S3 Replication
- •S3 Encryption
- •S3 Access Control
- •S3 Performance and Features
- •EBS Volume Types
- •EFS Deep Dive
- •The FSx Family
- •Storage Gateway
- •DataSync, Snow Family, and Transfer Family
- •Storage Decision Patterns
- •Static Website with S3 and CloudFront Pattern
- •S3 Lifecycle, Versioning, and ReplicationLab
- •EBS vs EFS - Block Storage vs File Storage on AWSLab
- •CloudFront Static Site with Origin Access ControlLab
- •S3 and Storage QuizQuiz
SECTION 8 – DATABASES
RDS (incl. Proxy, Multi-AZ, Read Replicas), Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, MemoryDB, specialty DBs
- •RDS Fundamentals
- •RDS Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas
- •RDS Backups, Snapshots, and the Backups-vs-Replication Decision
- •RDS Proxy
- •Aurora Fundamentals
- •Aurora Global Database and Aurora Serverless
- •DynamoDB Fundamentals
- •DynamoDB Indexes and Queries
- •DynamoDB Advanced Features
- •ElastiCache and MemoryDB
- •Specialty Databases: Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream, QLDB
- •Database Service Quotas and Throttling
- •Database Decision Patterns
- •RDS Multi-AZ FailoverLab
- •DynamoDB Streams to Lambda — Event-Driven Data PipelineLab
- •Databases QuizQuiz
SECTION 9 – SERVERLESS & APPLICATION INTEGRATION
Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, SQS, SNS, EventBridge, AppSync, AppFlow, MQ
- •Lambda Fundamentals
- •Lambda Concurrency and Scaling
- •Lambda in a VPC, Event Sources, and Layers
- •API Gateway Fundamentals
- •API Gateway Authentication, Throttling, and Caching
- •AWS Step Functions
- •SQS Deep Dive
- •SNS Deep Dive
- •Amazon EventBridge
- •AppSync, AppFlow, and Amazon MQ
- •Integration Decision Patterns
- •Serverless REST API with Cognito AuthenticationLab
- •SNS Fanout to SQS and Lambda — Pub/Sub Message RoutingLab
- •Serverless and Integration QuizQuiz
SECTION 10 – DATA & ANALYTICS
Kinesis (deep), MSK, Glue, Athena, Lake Formation, Redshift, OpenSearch, DMS, EMR, QuickSight, data lake patterns
- •Kinesis Data Streams
- •Kinesis Data Firehose
- •Kinesis Data Analytics
- •AWS Glue and Crawlers
- •Amazon Athena
- •AWS Lake Formation
- •Amazon Redshift Overview
- •DMS and Migration Tools
- •OpenSearch, EMR, QuickSight, and MSK
- •Analytics Decision Patterns
- •Athena & Glue: Query a Data LakeLab
- •Kinesis Data Streams and Firehose to S3 — Ingestion vs Stream ProcessingLab
- •Data & Analytics QuizQuiz
SECTION 11 – EDGE, DNS & CONTENT DELIVERY
Route 53 routing policies, CloudFront with OAC, Global Accelerator
- •Route 53 Fundamentals
- •Route 53 Routing Policies
- •Route 53 Health Checks
- •CloudFront Fundamentals
- •CloudFront Security and OAC
- •CloudFront Functions vs Lambda@Edge
- •AWS Global Accelerator
- •Edge and DNS Decision Patterns
- •Route 53 Failover Routing Between ALBsLab
- •Edge, DNS & Content Delivery QuizQuiz
SECTION 12 – RESILIENCE, DR & BACKUP STRATEGIES
DR patterns (backup-restore/pilot light/warm standby/active-active), RPO/RTO, multi-Region strategies, AWS Backup, immutable infrastructure, service quotas
- •The Four DR Patterns
- •RPO vs RTO
- •Multi-Region Strategies
- •AWS Backup Fundamentals
- •Backup vs Replication
- •Immutable Infrastructure and Deployment Strategies
- •Circuit Breakers, Retries, and Idempotency
- •Service Quotas in Standby Designs
- •DR Strategy Workshop: RPO/RTO Decision FrameworkLab
- •AWS Backup Cross-Account and Cross-RegionLab
- •Resilience, DR & Backup Strategies QuizQuiz
SECTION 13 – MONITORING, LOGGING, GOVERNANCE & AUTOMATION
CloudWatch, CloudTrail, X-Ray, Config, CloudFormation, Systems Manager, Well-Architected Tool, Health Dashboard
- •CloudWatch Metrics and Alarms
- •CloudWatch Logs and Insights
- •CloudTrail
- •X-Ray and Observability
- •AWS Config
- •CloudFormation
- •Systems Manager
- •Well-Architected Tool
- •Health Dashboard and Trusted Advisor
- •Governance Decision Patterns
- •Monitoring, Governance & Automation QuizQuiz
SECTION 14 – COST OPTIMIZATION
Pricing models, Cost Explorer, Budgets, CUR, Savings Plans, Spot strategies, VPC endpoint cost tricks, tagging
- •AWS Pricing Fundamentals
- •Cost Explorer, Budgets, and Cost & Usage Reports
- •Savings Plans Deep Dive
- •Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, and Dedicated Hosts
- •Network and Storage Cost Tricks
- •Cost Optimization Decision Patterns
- •Cost Explorer and VPC Endpoint SavingsLab
- •Cost Optimization QuizQuiz
SECTION 15 – DOMAIN REVIEW & DECISION PATTERNS
Capstone section re-mapping everything to the 4 exam domains, drilling decision archetypes, trap-topic inoculation, and the Domain Readiness Check
- •Domain 1 Review: Design Secure Architectures (30%)
- •Domain 2 Review: Design Resilient Architectures (26%)
- •Domain 3 Review: Design High-Performing Architectures (24%)
- •Domain 4 Review: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%)
- •Decision Archetype Rapid Fire
- •Trap Topics Inoculation
- •Exam Keyword Decoding
- •Capstone: Multi-Tier Architecture Design ScenarioLab
- •Domain Readiness CheckQuiz
SECTION 16 – EXAM PREPARATION
Test-day strategy, keyword decoding, 3 full-length practice exams, course wrap-up
- •SAA-C03 Exam Logistics and Scoring
- •Test-Day Strategy and Time Management
- •How to Use the Practice Exams
- •Final Review Checklist: 25 Decision Archetypes and 12 Trap Topics
- •Exam-Day Confidence Builder
- •Course Wrap-Up and Next Steps
- •SAA-C03 Practice Exam 1Quiz
- •SAA-C03 Practice Exam 2Quiz
- •SAA-C03 Practice Exam 3Quiz
- •Course Wrap-UpQuiz
Course Features
Hands-on Labs
Lots of hands-on labs to learn by doing
Join our Community
Community support to ask questions and collaborate
Test Your Knowledge
Quizzes to help you grasp the material well
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Hi there, I'm Sam
I'm a husband and father of two wonderful boys. I'm also very passionate 🔥 about all things technology. From when I was 10, I had a dream to become a computer 💻 engineer one day. Here I am today living the dream!
Thanks for visiting TeKanAid Academy. My goal is to teach you all things DevOps. Below are some of the things I've done over the years. I'm confident that I can help you achieve your dreams too.
- 18+ years of experience in various Information Technology fields from Telecommunications, Computer Networks, Digital Transformation, DevOps, Cybersecurity, and IoT
- President of TeKanAid Solutions Inc. building online content in the DevOps space
- Previous – Sr. Solutions Engineer at HashiCorp
View my Certifications
Terraform: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
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HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
Vault: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
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HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (002)
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Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Terraform.
Issued by HashiCorp
HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate (002)
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Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Vault.
Issued by HashiCorp
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