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The Practical AWS Guide

Design, Build, Secure, Automate, and Operate Production-Grade Workloads on Amazon Web Services

This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-07-13
Steve T. Publications
Whether you're launching your first AWS workload or operating systems at enterprise scale, The Practical AWS Guide delivers a hands-on roadmap to designing, building, securing, automating, and running production-grade solutions on Amazon Web Services. From foundational cloud concepts to advanced architectures spanning networking, compute, storage, serverless, AI/ML, DevOps, observability,…

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About the Book

This book takes you from cloud fundamentals through advanced architecture patterns across every major AWS service domain. You will learn how to design secure multi-account environments, build resilient networking with VPC and Transit Gateway, choose the right compute and storage for each workload, implement automated CI/CD pipelines, architect serverless applications, deploy AI/ML solutions with Bedrock and SageMaker, optimize costs with FinOps practices, build production-grade observability, govern at enterprise scale, and troubleshoot real-world problems. Every chapter includes concrete examples, architecture decisions, best practices drawn from AWS documentation and community experience, and actionable recommendations you can apply immediately. Whether you are preparing for an AWS certification or designing your next production workload, this book gives you the practical knowledge to move confidently from concept to deployment.

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Steve T. Publications

Steve T. Publications is a specialized book publishing company dedicated to delivering high-quality technical resources for IT professionals, students, educators, and technology enthusiasts. Our mission is to make complex technology concepts accessible through well-structured, practical, and industry-relevant publications.

We focus on publishing books across a wide range of information technology disciplines, including software development, cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data science, networking, DevOps, databases, and enterprise technologies. Every publication is designed to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application, helping readers build the skills needed to succeed in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape.

At Steve T. Publications, we collaborate with experienced industry experts, educators, and technology professionals to produce accurate, up-to-date, and engaging content. We are committed to maintaining the highest editorial standards while empowering learners and professionals with trusted technical knowledge.

Whether you're beginning your IT journey, preparing for professional certifications, or advancing your expertise in emerging technologies, Steve T. Publications is your trusted source for authoritative and practical technical books.

Contents

Table of Contents

Design, Build, Secure, Automate, and Operate Production-Grade Workloads on Amazon Web Services

Introduction: The Cloud Is Not a Place, It Is a Discipline

Chapter 1: Cloud Foundations — Why AWS, How AWS Works

  1. What Is Cloud Computing? IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Compared
  2. Why AWS Leads the Market
  3. The Global Infrastructure: Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations
  4. The Shared Responsibility Model
  5. Core AWS Concepts: Accounts, APIs, SDKs, and the CLI
  6. The Well-Architected Framework

Chapter 2: Identity and Access Management — Security by Design

  1. IAM Hierarchy: Users, Groups, Roles, and Policies
  2. Policy Language: JSON Documents, Conditions, and Effects
  3. Federation and Workforce Identity: IAM Identity Center
  4. IAM Roles for AWS Services
  5. Least Privilege in Practice
  6. MFA, Password Policies, and Access Key Management
  7. Organizations, SCPs, and Multi-Account Strategy

Chapter 3: Networking and Connectivity — VPC Deep Dive

  1. VPC Architecture: CIDR Blocks, Subnets, and Route Tables
  2. Internet Gateways, NAT Gateways, and Outbound Connectivity
  3. VPC Endpoints: Interface and Gateway Types
  4. Security Groups vs. Network ACLs
  5. Peering, Transit Gateway, VPN, and Direct Connect
  6. Route 53: DNS Management and Routing Policies

Chapter 4: Compute — EC2, Lambda, Containers, and Beyond

  1. EC2 Instance Families and Selection
  2. Purchasing Options: On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, and Savings Plans
  3. Auto Scaling and Capacity Planning
  4. Lambda: Serverless Compute Patterns
  5. Container Orchestration: ECS vs. EKS
  6. Choosing the Right Compute for Your Workload

Chapter 5: Storage — The AWS Storage Hierarchy

  1. Object Storage: S3 Classes and Lifecycle Management
  2. Block Storage: EBS Types and Performance
  3. File Storage: EFS and FSx
  4. Bridging On-Premises and Cloud: Storage Gateway
  5. Security, Encryption, and Access Control

Chapter 6: Databases — Relational, NoSQL, Warehousing, and Caching

  1. RDS and Aurora: Architecture and Selection
  2. DynamoDB: Capacity Modes and Patterns
  3. Redshift: Data Warehousing and Spectrum
  4. ElastiCache: In-Memory Caching
  5. Migration Strategies with DMS and SCT

Chapter 7: DevOps and Automation — CI/CD, IaC, and GitOps

  1. Infrastructure as Code: CloudFormation, CDK, and Terraform
  2. AWS CDK Deep Dive
  3. CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy
  4. Deployment Strategies: Blue/Green, Canary, and Rolling
  5. Testing Infrastructure with Guard and cfn-lint

Chapter 8: Serverless Architecture Patterns

  1. Event-Driven Architecture Principles
  2. API Gateway: REST, HTTP, and WebSocket APIs
  3. Lambda Function Design and Optimization
  4. Step Functions: State Machines and Workflows
  5. The Messaging Backbone: SNS, SQS, and EventBridge
  6. Streaming with Kinesis

Chapter 9: AI, ML, and Generative AI on AWS

  1. SageMaker: Training, Hosting, and Pipelines
  2. Bedrock: Foundation Models and RAG Patterns
  3. Applied AI Services: Rekognition, Transcribe, Translate
  4. Building AI Applications: Architecture Patterns
  5. Cost and Performance Considerations

Chapter 10: Monitoring, Logging, and Observability

  1. CloudWatch: Metrics, Logs, Dashboards, and Alarms
  2. X-Ray: Distributed Tracing with OpenTelemetry
  3. Container Insights for ECS and EKS
  4. Log Management Strategies
  5. Alerting Best Practices and Runbooks

Chapter 11: Cost Optimization and Financial Operations

  1. Pricing Models Explained
  2. Right-Sizing Compute and Storage
  3. Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, and Spot
  4. Storage Tiering and Data Transfer Costs
  5. Tagging, Allocation, and FinOps Practices

Chapter 12: Governance, Compliance, and Multi-Account Strategy

  1. AWS Organizations: Management Accounts and OUs
  2. Control Tower: Landing Zones and Guardrails
  3. AWS Config: Rules and Conformance Packs
  4. Security Hub, GuardDuty, Macie, and Inspector
  5. Compliance Frameworks and Data Residency

Chapter 13: Real-World Deployment Strategies and Case Studies

  1. Three-Tier Web Application Architecture
  2. E-Commerce Platform: High Availability and Scaling
  3. Data Pipeline Architecture
  4. Migration Strategies: Lift-and-Shift to Refactor
  5. Disaster Recovery Patterns

Chapter 14: Troubleshooting and Operational Excellence

  1. Systematic Troubleshooting Methodology
  2. Networking Troubleshooting
  3. Compute Troubleshooting
  4. Storage Troubleshooting
  5. Database Troubleshooting
  6. IAM and Access Debugging

Chapter 15: Certification Paths and Career Growth

  1. AWS Certification Landscape
  2. Solutions Architect Path
  3. DevOps Engineer Path
  4. Specialty Certifications
  5. Building a Lab Environment for Practice
  6. Real-World Experience vs. Certification
  7. Continuing Education and Staying Current

Conclusion: The Cloud Journey Ahead

References

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