Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Cloud Fundamentals is a beginner-level course of 5 lessons (about 1 h 15 min), with 15 exercises and 15 quiz questions. Prerequisites: Terminal and Command Line. Exercises run in the browser, with nothing to install.
- Cloud and DevOps
- Beginner
- 5 lessons
- 1 h 15 min
- 15 exercises
- Exercises run in the browser
The course in brief
This course lays the essential foundations before you deploy anything to the cloud. You distinguish the service models and the shared responsibility model, choose regions and zones for a highly available application, apply least privilege to identities, estimate and manage costs, then compare AWS, Azure and Google Cloud concept by concept. The exercises are worked case studies with figures and comprehension questions.
What you will be able to do
- Distinguish IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and serverless and split security responsibilities
- Choose a region and design a multi-zone architecture, calculating its availability
- Apply least privilege with groups, roles and service identities
- Estimate a cloud bill and manage it with tags, budgets and alerts
- Map the services of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud and argue the choice of a provider
Syllabus: 5 lessons
- Define the cloud and its essential characteristics
- Distinguish IaaS, PaaS, SaaS (and serverless) from examples
- Split responsibilities between the provider and the customer depending on the model
Definition of the cloudIaaS, PaaS, SaaSPublic, private, hybrid cloudShared responsibility
- 02
Regions, Zones and Availability
- Explain the notions of region, availability zone and point of presence
- Choose a region based on latency, regulation, services and cost
- Calculate an architecture's availability from the availability of its components
RegionsAvailability zonesHigh availabilitySLA and composite availability
- 03
Identities and Access Permissions
- Explain the notions of identity, authentication, authorization and role
- Apply the principle of least privilege to a concrete case
- Read and write a simple access policy
- Recognize the IAM equivalents at AWS, Azure and Google Cloud
Identity and access management (IAM)Least privilegeMulti-factor authenticationService identities
- 04
Understanding and Controlling Costs
- Identify the main cost items of a cloud architecture
- Compare pricing models: pay-as-you-go, commitment, interruptible capacity
- Estimate a monthly bill and set up budgets, alerts and tags
Billing modelsCommitments and interruptible capacityOutbound data transferCost management (FinOps)
- 05
Comparing AWS, Azure and Google Cloud
- Map the equivalent services of the three providers
- Compare the organization of accounts and resources
- Build a provider selection grid without relying on sales arguments alone
Service equivalencesResource organizationChoosing a providerConsole, CLI and API
Final project
Cloud Architecture Document for an Appointment Booking Application
A fictional small business wants to host its appointment booking application (API, database, files, internal dashboard) in the cloud for customers located in France. Write an architecture document that chooses the service models, the region and the redundancy, defines access permissions, estimates costs with rates taken from an official calculator, and compares two providers with a weighted grid.
Deliverables
- A multi-zone architecture diagram with the chosen services and their model (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
- The composite availability calculation and the corresponding monthly downtime
- A permissions matrix (groups, roles, scopes, service identities)
- A monthly cost estimate detailed by item, with proposed tags and budget
- A weighted decision grid comparing two providers, with an equivalence table
Assessment criteria
- Choices of models and responsibilities are justified
- The region meets the latency and data location constraints
- Availability and cost calculations are accurate and traceable
- Permissions follow least privilege, with no key in the code
- The provider comparison is based on explicit, weighted criteria
Frequently asked questions
Do you need an account with a cloud provider to follow this course?
No. The exercises are worked case studies with figures and questions. A test account lets you go further on some tasks; in that case, create a budget with alerts on day one.
Does the course focus on a single provider?
No. It teaches the common concepts and shows their names at AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, so you can work with any of them.
Does the course give service prices?
No, prices change often and vary by region. The course explains how billing works and uses fictional rates for the calculations; real prices come from the official calculators.
Does this course prepare you for a provider certification?
It covers basic concepts common to providers' entry-level certifications, without being official preparation for any of them.
This course, told for your job
Say what you want to be able to do: “Cloud Fundamentals” takes its place in your path, with examples from your field. The concepts stay those of the course.