Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Understand how the cloud works, from service models and regions to compute, storage, networking, access and cost, with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud side by side and labs that need no account.
Beginner · Cloud & DevOps · about 15 hours · 5 modules · certificate on completion
Taught by Carlòs Ramirèz, Mouhamadouù Bâ, AI Learning Companions.
About this course
Cloud computing runs most of the software people use every day, yet its basics are often buried under product names. This course explains the ideas that stay the same whichever provider you use, and names the services of AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud side by side so you can find your way in any of them. You'll learn what makes something a cloud service, the difference between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and serverless, who is responsible for what, how regions and availability zones keep services running, and how compute, storage, databases, networks and identity fit together.
Every lab runs on your own computer, with no cloud account and no charges: you'll create and clean up storage through API calls on an emulator, run a serverless function locally, share a private file with a time-limited link on the Azure Storage emulator, plan a network and test a least-privilege policy, and analyse a month of usage against a budget. Optional steps show the free command-line tools for readers with a free-tier account. The capstone has you design a small deployment for all three providers and prove its core flow works locally.
What you'll learn
- Explain what makes a service cloud computing, and choose between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and serverless
- Describe regions and availability zones, and design for availability across zones
- Compare the main compute, storage, database and networking services of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud
- Apply the shared responsibility model and least-privilege access to a cloud design
- Estimate cloud costs in usage terms and control them with budgets, alerts and tags
Skills you'll gain
Cloud service models, Shared responsibility, Regions and availability zones, Cloud compute and serverless, Cloud storage and databases, Virtual networks, Identity and access management, Cloud cost management
Tools
Python, boto3 and moto, Functions Framework, Azurite, pandas, AWS CLI, Azure CLI, Google Cloud CLI
Before you start
No cloud experience needed. Comfort with a terminal (Linux Command Line Essentials) and reading short Python programs (Python Programming with PyCharm) helps. Install Python 3.10 or later, and Node.js or Docker for one lab. No cloud account or payment card is needed. Containerisation and Orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes and Infrastructure as Code with Terraform make good next steps.
Modules
What cloud computing is
What makes something a cloud service, the deployment models, the service models from IaaS to SaaS and serverless, and who is responsible for what, with examples from AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud side by side.
- Cloud computing defined (12 min)
- Service models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and serverless (12 min)
- The shared responsibility model (11 min)
- Hands-on lab: Cloud as an API: create, use and delete storage on an emulator
Global infrastructure and compute
Regions, availability zones and edge locations and how to choose between them; the compute options from virtual machines to containers and functions; and designing for availability and elasticity, with a serverless function run locally.
- Regions, availability zones and edge locations (12 min)
- Compute options: virtual machines, containers and functions (13 min)
- Designing for availability and elasticity (12 min)
- Hands-on lab: Run a serverless function locally, and do the availability maths
Storage and databases
Object, block and file storage; storage classes, lifecycle rules, redundancy and other ways to protect data; and managed relational, NoSQL and analytics databases, with object storage practised on Azurite, the Azure Storage emulator.
- Object, block and file storage (12 min)
- Storage classes, lifecycle and protecting data (12 min)
- Managed databases (11 min)
- Hands-on lab: Object storage on Azurite: containers, blobs and a shared access signature
Networking, identity and access
Virtual networks, subnets and routing; firewalls, load balancers and DNS; and identity and access management with least privilege, compared across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud and practised with a network plan and a policy check.
- Virtual networks and subnets (12 min)
- Controlling traffic: firewalls, load balancers and DNS (12 min)
- Identity and access management (13 min)
- Hands-on lab: Plan a network and write a least-privilege policy
Cost, budgets and operating well
How cloud pricing works and what drives a bill, how budgets, alerts and tags keep spending under control, and the well-architected frameworks that bring cost, security and reliability together.
- How cloud pricing works (12 min)
- Budgets, tags and keeping costs under control (12 min)
- Operating well: the well-architected frameworks (11 min)
- Hands-on lab: Analyse a month of usage against a budget
Project: Design a small cloud deployment, side by side
A farming co-operative wants a simple web service where members upload photos of their fields and get back a short report, used across one country with a few hundred members. Design it for the cloud and map every part to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud side by side: the service model and compute option for each component, the region and zones, the network with its subnets and firewall rules, the storage and database choices and how data is protected, the identities and least-privilege permissions, and a cost model with a budget and alerts. Then prove the core flow works on your own computer: a function that accepts an upload request, stores the file in object storage on an emulator and returns a time-limited link to it, all without a cloud account.
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