Cloud Pro: AWS Storage: Choose, Compare and Launch

What's inside

1. Level 1: The AWS Storage Map on One PageFree
   You put every AWS storage service on one page in seven groups (object, block, file, high-performance file, archive, data transfer, backup), with its current and former names and whether it is still open to new customers.
2. Level 2: Building a Standard Data ProfileFree
   You learn the ten parts of a data profile used throughout the course: size and growth, access type and protocol, performance, read/write pattern, durability and availability, consistency, sharing, retention and immutability, residency and compliance, and cost model.
3. Level 3: Profiling a Real Workload
   You fill in a full data profile for a real workload, using CloudWatch metrics, S3 Storage Lens and OS tools to measure it rather than guess.
4. Level 4: How Amazon S3 Works Under the Hood
   You learn the S3 model that every storage class shares: buckets, keys and prefixes, strong read-after-write consistency, durability versus availability, request-rate scaling, and the parts of an S3 bill.
5. Level 5: S3 Standard: The Default Object Store
   You take S3 Standard through all nine parts, from its fit and limits to a quick start that creates, secures and then deletes a bucket.
6. Level 6: S3 Intelligent-Tiering
   You learn how Intelligent-Tiering moves objects between access tiers by itself, what its monitoring fee costs at different object sizes, and when it pays off.
7. Level 7: S3 Standard-IA
   You cover S3 Standard-Infrequent Access in nine parts, with a focus on the retrieval fee, the minimum storage duration and the minimum billable object size that decide whether it saves money.
8. Level 8: S3 One Zone-IA
   You learn what you give up by keeping data in a single Availability Zone, and when One Zone-IA's lower price is a sound choice.
9. Level 9: S3 Express One Zone
   You cover the high-performance S3 Express One Zone class: directory buckets, session-based authentication, single-digit-millisecond latency and its different pricing model.
10. Level 10: S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
    You learn when archive data that is rarely read but must come back in milliseconds belongs in Glacier Instant Retrieval, and what its retrieval fees and 90-day minimum cost.
11. Level 11: S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
    You cover Glacier Flexible Retrieval: its expedited, standard and bulk retrieval options, the restore workflow, and how it differs from the old vault-based Glacier service.
12. Level 12: S3 Glacier Deep Archive
    You learn when the cheapest S3 class fits long-term retention, and how its restore times of hours and its 180-day minimum shape the design.
13. Level 13: Amazon S3 Tables
    You cover S3 Tables, the table buckets built for Apache Iceberg: how they differ from storing Iceberg files in ordinary buckets, the automatic maintenance they run, and their pricing.
14. Level 14: How Amazon EBS Works
    You learn the EBS model every volume type shares: volumes tied to one AZ, IOPS and throughput limits on both the volume and the instance, snapshots, Elastic Volumes, and the older types gp2 and io1.
15. Level 15: EBS gp3: General Purpose SSD
    You take gp3 through all nine parts, including its baseline performance, IOPS and throughput that you set separately from size, and the migration from gp2.
16. Level 16: EBS io2 Block Express
    You learn when io2 Block Express's provisioned IOPS, sub-millisecond latency, higher durability and Multi-Attach are worth its price.
17. Level 17: EBS st1: Throughput Optimized HDD
    You cover st1 for large sequential workloads: its burst-bucket throughput model, its minimum size, and the fact that it cannot be a boot volume.
18. Level 18: EBS sc1: Cold HDD
    You learn where sc1's lowest block-storage price fits, and why S3 or EFS is often the better place for cold data.
19. Level 19: EC2 Instance Store
    You cover the temporary NVMe storage attached to an instance: very fast and included in the instance price, but lost when the instance stops or fails.
20. Level 20: Amazon EFS
    You take Amazon EFS through all nine parts: shared NFS storage that grows on its own, its storage classes, throughput modes, and Regional versus One Zone file systems.
21. Level 21: Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
    Covers FSx for Windows File Server in the nine-part format: SMB shares joined to Active Directory, Single-AZ and Multi-AZ deployments, SSD and HDD storage, throughput capacity and its cost levers, a quick start and clean-up.
22. Level 22: Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP
    Takes FSx for NetApp ONTAP through the nine-part lesson: file systems, storage virtual machines (SVMs) and volumes; NFS, SMB and iSCSI/NVMe access from one system; the SSD tier plus the capacity pool; SnapMirror; and how its pricing works.
23. Level 23: Amazon FSx for OpenZFS
    Applies the nine-part format to FSx for OpenZFS: NFS file systems with low latency, ZFS snapshots and clones, compression, deployment types, and how provisioned throughput and SSD capacity drive cost.
24. Level 24: Choosing Block and File: Decision Matrix
    Brings together every EBS volume type, instance store, EFS and the four FSx file systems into one choose-it-when / avoid-it-when matrix, driven by the data profile and listing the alternative to each.
25. Level 25: AWS Storage Gateway
    Covers Storage Gateway in the nine-part format: S3 File Gateway, Volume Gateway (cached and stored) and Tape Gateway, how the local cache works, appliance and VM deployment options, and the status of FSx File Gateway, which closed to new customers on 28 October 2024.
26. Level 26: AWS DataSync
    Teaches DataSync in the nine-part format: agents, locations, tasks, filters and verification for online transfers between on-premises, other clouds and AWS storage, with the per-GB pricing and network limits that matter.
27. Level 27: AWS Transfer Family
    Covers Transfer Family in the nine-part format: managed SFTP, FTPS, FTP and AS2 endpoints in front of S3 or EFS, identity providers, logical directories, and the hourly endpoint charge plus per-GB charges.
28. Level 28: Snow Devices and Offline Transfer
    Records the Snow family's status: Snowball Edge closed to new customers from 7 November 2025, with Snowcone and older models discontinued before that. Then covers what existing customers can still do and which options new customers should use for offline or bandwidth-limited transfers.
29. Level 29: AWS Backup
    Takes AWS Backup through the nine-part format: backup plans, vaults, resource assignment, cross-Region and cross-account copies, Vault Lock for immutability, supported services, and how warm and cold storage pricing works.
30. Level 30: Redundancy and Disaster Recovery
    Compares how each storage service handles redundancy (single-AZ vs multi-AZ vs Regional, replication, snapshots), then maps those to the backup-and-restore, pilot light, warm standby and multi-site DR strategies against RTO and RPO.
31. Level 31: Security, Encryption and Access
    Covers encryption at rest and in transit, the choice between AWS-owned keys, AWS managed keys and customer managed KMS keys, IAM and resource policies, S3 Block Public Access and Object Ownership, VPC endpoints, and network and identity controls for file systems.
32. Level 32: Lifecycle, Tiering and Data Deletion
    Designs data lifecycles across services: S3 Lifecycle rules and Intelligent-Tiering, EFS lifecycle to Infrequent Access and Archive, FSx capacity tiers, EBS snapshot archiving, Object Lock retention, and deletion that is provable.
33. Level 33: Worked Total Cost of Ownership
    Builds a complete monthly cost model for a realistic multi-service workload: capacity, provisioned performance, requests, retrieval, data transfer and egress, backups, and the operations effort, all from dated example prices.
34. Level 34: Fair Storage Benchmarking
    Teaches how to benchmark storage fairly with fio and S3 load tools: warm-up and initialisation, queue depth, block size, instance and network limits, burst credits and the effects of repeated runs, and reporting results that are honest and repeatable.
35. Level 35: Migration and Transfer Planning
    Combines DataSync, Storage Gateway, Transfer Family, the offline transfer options and service-native replication into migration plans with a cutover, validation and rollback for each kind of storage.
36. Level 36: Weighted Selection Scorecard
    Turns the data profile into a weighted scorecard: choosing the criteria and their weights, scoring candidate services with evidence, hard pass/fail gates, and sensitivity analysis on the weights.
37. Level 37: Scoring AWS Against Another Cloud
    Applies the scorecard to equivalent services on another cloud (for example Azure or Google Cloud). It maps the services across, collects dated evidence on limits, prices, durability and features, and keeps the comparison fair and provider-neutral.
38. Level 38: Final Challenge: Decision Workshop Exam
    The final challenge reviews the whole course: profile a realistic multi-part workload, shortlist and score services across object, block, file, transfer and backup, cost and secure the design, and produce a one-page selection record.

Access

The first 2 levels are free with a free account. Every level, the podcast edition and the AI tutor come with All Access at £4.99/month or any Creator plan — see pricing.

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