Cloud Pro: AWS Networking: Choose, Compare and Launch

What's inside

1. Level 1: Every AWS Networking Service on One PageFree
   Learn the full set of AWS networking services, sorted by the job each one does (virtual networks, connectivity between networks, hybrid links, load balancing and delivery, DNS, private access, network security, monitoring), with current and former names and which ones are retiring or closed to new customers, such as App Mesh.
2. Level 2: The Standard Connectivity ProfileFree
   Build the reusable connectivity profile that every later service choice is scored against. It covers users, sites and regions, north-south and east-west traffic, protocols, latency and bandwidth, availability, hybrid links, segmentation and zero trust, internet exposure and DDoS, compliance and data paths, team skills, and the cost model.
3. Level 3: Amazon VPC: Subnets, Route Tables and Gateways
   Learn how a VPC is built from CIDR blocks, subnets spread across Availability Zones, route tables and internet or egress-only gateways, and which VPC quotas limit a design.
4. Level 4: Security Groups vs Network ACLs
   Learn the difference between stateful security groups and stateless network ACLs, how they work together, and the rule limits and pitfalls that cause most VPC connectivity faults.
5. Level 5: VPC Peering: Direct Links Between Two VPCs
   Learn what VPC peering is, why it is non-transitive and needs non-overlapping CIDRs, how its data transfer is charged, and when a handful of peering links beats a hub.
6. Level 6: Transit Gateway: The Regional Hub
   Learn how Transit Gateway connects VPCs, VPNs and Direct Connect through attachments and route tables, how per-attachment-hour and per-GB processing charges add up, and how to segment traffic with multiple route tables.
7. Level 7: Cloud WAN: Policy-Driven Global Networks
   Learn how AWS Cloud WAN uses a core network policy, segments and edge locations to run a multi-region network, and how it compares with peered Transit Gateways in cost, control and operating effort.
8. Level 8: PrivateLink and VPC Endpoints
   Learn how gateway endpoints, interface endpoints and endpoint services give private, one-way access to AWS services and to third-party or in-house services without exposing whole networks, and what the hourly and per-GB charges are.
9. Level 9: VPC Lattice: Service-to-Service Networking
   Learn how VPC Lattice service networks, services, target groups and auth policies connect applications across VPCs and accounts at the application layer, and where it fits next to PrivateLink, Transit Gateway and the retiring App Mesh.
10. Level 10: Route 53: Public DNS, Routing Policies and Health Checks
    Learn how Route 53 hosted zones, alias records, routing policies (weighted, latency, failover, geolocation, geoproximity) and health checks steer users, and what queries and health checks cost.
11. Level 11: Route 53 Resolver: Hybrid and Private DNS
    Learn how private hosted zones, Resolver inbound and outbound endpoints, forwarding rules and DNS Firewall give consistent name resolution across VPCs, accounts and on-premises networks.
12. Level 12: Application Load Balancer: Layer 7 Routing
    Learn how the ALB handles HTTP, HTTPS, gRPC and WebSockets with listener rules, target groups, TLS termination and authentication, and how Load Balancer Capacity Units (LCUs) drive its cost.
13. Level 13: Network Load Balancer: Layer 4 Performance
    Learn how the NLB handles TCP, UDP and TLS with static IPs, source IP preservation and very low latency, and how its NLCU pricing and cross-zone behaviour affect cost and availability.
14. Level 14: Gateway Load Balancer and Legacy Classic LB
    Learn how the Gateway Load Balancer uses GENEVE and GWLB endpoints to insert third-party firewalls and appliances transparently into traffic paths, and why the previous-generation Classic Load Balancer should not be used in new designs.
15. Level 15: CloudFront: Edge Delivery and Origin Protection
    Learn how CloudFront distributions, cache behaviours, origin access control and VPC origins cut latency and egress cost while shielding origins, and how its pricing options compare.
16. Level 16: Global Accelerator: Anycast Static Entry Points
    Learn how Global Accelerator puts anycast static IPs and the AWS backbone in front of ALB, NLB or EC2 endpoints for fast regional failover, and when it beats CloudFront or Route 53.
17. Level 17: NAT Gateways and Internet Egress Options
    Learn how NAT gateways give private subnets outbound internet access, why their per-GB processing charge often drives the bill, and how they compare with egress-only gateways, VPC endpoints and centralised egress.
18. Level 18: Site-to-Site VPN: Encrypted Hybrid Tunnels
    Learn how Site-to-Site VPN connects on-premises sites to a virtual private gateway or Transit Gateway over redundant IPsec tunnels with BGP or static routing, and the throughput and pricing limits to plan around.
19. Level 19: Client VPN: Remote User Access
    Learn how AWS Client VPN gives remote users OpenVPN-based access with certificate, Active Directory or SAML authentication, authorisation rules and split tunnelling, and how per-association-hour and per-connection-hour charges add up.
20. Level 20: Direct Connect: Dedicated Private Links
    Learn how Direct Connect dedicated and hosted connections, virtual interfaces (private, public, transit) and Direct Connect gateways give consistent private bandwidth to AWS, and how port-hours and reduced egress rates shape cost.
21. Level 21: AWS Network Firewall: Inspection in the Data Path
    Learn to choose, size, cost and deploy AWS Network Firewall as a managed stateful inspection layer for north-south and east-west traffic. It covers its dated limits, pricing by endpoint-hour and GB processed, and the routing patterns that put it in the data path.
22. Level 22: Shield and AWS WAF: DDoS and Layer 7 Protection
    Learn when the built-in Shield Standard is enough, when Shield Advanced's subscription pays off, and how to build AWS WAF web ACLs on CloudFront, ALB and API Gateway, including how to retire any leftover WAF Classic setup.
23. Level 23: Verified Access and the Zero-Trust Choice
    Learn how AWS Verified Access gives VPN-less, identity- and device-aware access to private applications. Compare it with Client VPN and other zero-trust options on fit, limits, hourly and per-connection cost, and operational burden.
24. Level 24: IP Address Planning and IPAM
    Learn to plan non-overlapping IPv4 and IPv6 address space across accounts, regions and on-premises sites, and to enforce the plan with Amazon VPC IPAM, before overlaps lock you out of peering, Transit Gateway and hybrid routing.
25. Level 25: Topologies: Hub-and-Spoke, Mesh and Beyond
    Learn to compare full-mesh peering, Transit Gateway hub-and-spoke, centralised inspection and egress VPCs, shared VPCs, Cloud WAN segments and Lattice service networks as whole topologies. Weigh them on segmentation, blast radius, latency, cost and team skills.
26. Level 26: Modelling Data Transfer and Egress Costs
    Learn to trace the data path of a workload and price every hop: cross-AZ, inter-region, internet egress, NAT and Transit Gateway processing, PrivateLink, load balancer capacity units, CloudFront and Direct Connect. Then pull the levers that cut the bill.
27. Level 27: Troubleshooting and Network Observability
    Learn a repeatable method for diagnosing AWS connectivity, latency and DNS problems using VPC Flow Logs, Reachability Analyzer, Network Access Analyzer, Transit Gateway and Cloud WAN telemetry, Route 53 Resolver query logs and CloudWatch Network Monitoring tools.
28. Level 28: Migrating an On-Premises Network Design
    Learn to translate an existing data-centre network into an AWS design: map VLANs, firewalls, load balancers, DNS and WAN links to AWS services, sequence the cut-over and plan coexistence and rollback.
29. Level 29: Building the Weighted Selection Scorecard
    Learn to turn the connectivity profile from Level 2 into a weighted, criteria-based scorecard that scores candidate AWS networking services and designs consistently and defensibly.
30. Level 30: Scoring AWS Against Another Cloud
    Learn to compare the AWS networking choices with their equivalents in another major cloud, such as Azure or Google Cloud, using the same scorecard and dated, cited evidence on features, limits, pricing and regional availability.
31. Level 31: Final Challenge: Decision Workshop Exam
    Bring the whole course together in a decision workshop: profile a realistic multi-region hybrid workload, pick and justify services across every category, score the options, cost the data paths 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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