Cloud DevOps

Engineer
Syllabus

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Cloud DevOps Engineer

BEFORE YOU START

Overview:
Companies are looking for talented DevOps engineers to
remain competitive in this agile world. Enroll now to
operationalize infrastructure at scale and deliver applications
and services at high velocity, an essential skill for advancing
your career. Learn to design and deploy infrastructure as
code, build and monitor CI/CD pipelines for different
deployment strategies, and deploy scalable microservices
using Kubernetes.

Prerequisites Educational Objectives

A w ell - prepared learner h as e x perience w it h :
A graduate of this program will be able to design and
Application Architecture
deploy infrastructure as code on AWS, build and
Basic programming in Python or Javascript
monitor CI/CD pipelines for different deployment
strategies on the AWS platform using GitHub
Linux command line proficiency
Actions, and deploy scalable microservices using
Networking basics
Kubernetes on the AWS platform.

Database basics

Length of Program*: Skill level: School:

4 months
Intermediate
Cloud Computing

Software/Hardware and version requirements:

There are no software and version requirements to complete this Nanodegree program. All coursework and
projects can be completed via Student Workspaces in the Udacity online classroom. Udacity’s basic tech
requirements can be found at https://www.udacity.com/tech/requirements.

*The length of this program is an estimation of total hours the average student may take to complete all required coursework,
including lecture and project time. If you spend about 5-10 hours per week working through the program, you should finish within
the time provided. Actual hours may vary.

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Cloud D evO p s Engineer

Course #1: Cloud Fundamentals

The cloud has become a key enabler for innovation with beneficial features like high

availability, unlimited capacity, and on-demand scalability and elasticity. In this course,

students will learn the fundamentals of cloud computing while being introduced to

computing power, security, storage, networking, messaging, and management services in

the cloud. While learning the fundamentals, students will explore tools and services

offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) through interactive hands-on exercises. By the

end of the course, students will have deployed their first website to AWS.

PROJ ECT # 1

Deploy Static Website on AWS

The cloud is perfect for hosting static websites that only include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files

that require no server-side processing. In this project, students will deploy a static website to

AWS. First, they will create a S3 bucket, configure the bucket for website hosting, and secure it

using IAM policies. Next, they will upload the website files to their bucket and speed up content

delivery using AWS’s content distribution network service, CloudFront. Lastly, they will access

their website in a browser using the unique S3 endpoint.

y
Supportin gL esson Content
Securit

Describe AW S security services and their uses

Create an I AM policy and review the generated J ON

A r

Cloud Computing
ttach a custom policy to a new use

Identify the types of Cloud computing

-
Detail the benefits of using sign on services for enterprise

Detail the benefits of using public, private, and hybrid cloud and application environments

deployment models

Describe the shared responsibility model and identify the N et w or k ing &E lasticit y
responsibility of the user Identify the benefits of networking in the clou d

Create an A uto Scaling G rou p

Servers in the Cloud and Compute Services

Configure and enable a N etwork Load Balance r

Launch and connect to an EC2 Instance via PuTTY or SSH

A utomatically launch A z
ma on EC2 instances in response to
Leverage the EBS dashboard to review a new EBS volume

specified conditions

Launch a virtual server within a secure network

Create and test a Lambda function

M essaging & Containers

Identify the purpose and uses of S N S messaging

Deploy a sample app to Elastic Beanstalk

Send alerts via S N S by creating, subscribing, and publishing

an alert message to a topic

Storage & Content D eliver y

U pload files to a newly created S 3 bucke t
AW M S anagement

Create a cloud based - N Q

oS L Database leveraging Create a Cloud W atch event to notify via an S N S topic when

DynamoD B
an EC2 instance is create d

Create a M Q yS L database using R S

D Create an S 3 bucket with AW S Cloud F ormation

A ccess private S 3 data via a Cloud F

ront distribution Create an S 3 bucket via the CLI

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Cloud D evO p s Engineer

Course #2: Deploy Infrastructure as Code (IAC)

Learn how to provision cloud infrastructure resources using code and industry standard

practices. Learners will gain a thorough understanding of CloudFormation essentials,

including templates, stacks, and intrinsic functions. They will also acquire expertise in

creating networking and web application architectures that conform to real-world best

practices, and represent them visually using infrastructure diagrams. After that, they will

use CloudFormation and bash scripting to implement all the required networking,

compute, load balancing, storage and database resources for their real world design.

PROJ ECT # 2

Deploy a high-availability web app using CloudFormation

In this project, learners will need to apply all the skills they learned throughout the course,

demonstrating their competence in creating infrastructure diagrams, implementing

infrastructure with CloudFormation, and using scripts to facilitate automation. The project will

require the learners to design an infrastructure diagram for the solution, and then utilize

CloudFormation to deploy a dummy server on an EC2 instance, using networking, auto scaling,

load balancer and storage resources. They will also need to build their own bash scripts to

manage their CloudFormation stacks.

Infrastructure Diagrams

Supporting Lesson Content

Assess foundational resources for your infrastructure

deployments in AWS.

Design cloud architecture diagrams to implement business

Getting Started with CloudFormation
requirements following real-world best practices.
Describe Infrastructure as a Code (IAC) as one of the best

practices used in the DevOps model.

Configure the AWS CLI using the AWS Identity and Access
N etwor k ing Infrastructure

Management (IAM) service.

Use the AWS CloudFormation CLI to trigger infrastructure

Explain the fundamentals of CloudFormation.

deployments.

Contrast the manual vs. automated (script-based) Deploy basic networking AWS resources using

provisioning of cloud resources. CloudFormation (VPC, subnets, gateways, and routing).

Parametrize your CloudFormation stacks using a JSON file.

Ser v ers and Securit y Grou p s Communicate CloudFormation stacks using template outputs.

Create security groups with CloudFormation using the least

privilege principle.

Storage and Data b ases

Centralize server configuration using Launch Templates in
Deploy highly available RDS databases using CloudFormation.

CloudFormation.

Configure secure S3 buckets using CloudFormation.

Deploy highly available servers with AutoScaling Groups in

CloudFormation.
Preview changes to CloudFormation stacks using change sets.

Apply load balancing principles to servers using Automate infrastructure workflows using parameterized

CloudFormation. scripts.

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Cloud D evO p s Engineer

Course #3: Microservices at Scale using

AWS & Kubernetes

In this course you will learn how to set up infrastructure to deploy and manage

microservice applications with Kubernetes. You will first focus on how containers

and microservices have changed how applications are deployed. Students then learn

how Kubernetes is used to tie everything together. The course will have hands-on

exercises to learn how to build applications with Docker, automate the Docker build

process, and use Kubernetes to manage deployments.

PROJ ECT # 3

Operationalizing a Coworking Space Microservice

In this project, students will take an existing application and deploy it with Kubernetes. The

existing application is a set of APIs that enables users to request one-time tokens and

administrators to authorize access to a coworking space. This service follows a

microservice pattern and the APIs are split into distinct services that can be deployed and

managed independently of one another. Students will demonstrate course skills by going

through the end to end process to deploy this application to Kubernetes. This will be

accomplished by building Docker images of the application with AWS CodeBuild, setting up

a Kubernetes cluster, and deploying to the cluster with Docker images and Helm Charts.

Supporting L esson Content

Containers for DevOps on AWS Kubernetes on AWS Fundamentals

Identify the need for and use of Docker

H w o lz
to operationa i e Docker containers w ith container

Use Docker to create images

orchestratio n

Push images to a container repository

Creating and managing a K b

u l
ernetes c uster w ith EKS

Use Docker to create containers

l
Dep oying Docker images w ith K b
u ernetes

Mci roservi c es for DevOps on AWS Operationali z in g Kubernetes

Understand w hy microser v l w
ices are popu ar ith de v l
e opers
Understand ho w to maintain K b u l
ernetes app ications in

H w o to use b l l
ui d too s to e ffi l b l
cient y l l
ui d mu tip e Docker
productio n

images
Use H l l
e m charts to simp ify dep oyments l

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Cloud D evO p s Engineer

Course #4: Building a Continuous

Integration Pipeline

In this course, you will learn how to stretch for Continuous Delivery as your “true

north” while you build CI/CD systems that automate the “stuff” between developers

and the cloud. You’ll gain essential knowledge and put it into practice as you learn

about Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment. You’ll combine your

existing knowledge with new tools like Git Hub Actions to implement and deploy to

variety of environments. You’ll also learn how to keep an eye on your deployments

with proactive monitoring and alerting.

PROJ ECT # 4

Movie Picture Pipelne

In this project, students will design and implement a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions.

Students will demonstrate the skills they learned in this course to execute the deployment

and verification of frontend and backend applications to an existing Kubernees cluster.

S upporting L
esson Content

Introduction to CI/CD Continuous Integration and

Continuous Deplo ym ent

Identify use cases for CI/CD

Design a CI/CD pipeline using a visual mocku

fi
Describe the principles of Continuous Delivery

Articulate the bene ts of CI/CD to stakeholders

E b
na ling Continuous Deli v y
er

w h
it Deplo ym ent Pipelines
Building a Continuous Integration Pipeline

Create/deploy the necessary infrastructure/resources for

building CI/CD pipeline s

Create a variety of YAML Workflows 

Secure a CI/CD pipeline by leveraging secret storage

Design a git branching strategy to support a development

team's workflow

U z -
tili e caching strategies to speed up application build time s
Create a custom GitHub action and deploy it to GitHub

Create alerts to monitor your pipeline s

Marketplace

Automate deploying an application to multiple AW S Design and execute a CI pipeline based on a given set of

accounts requirements

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Data A n a lyst

Course #1 Instructor

Kesha Williams. Instructor

Kesha has over 20 years experience in software development and is a software engineering
manager at Chick-fil-A, routinely leading innovation teams in proving out the use of cloud
services to solve complex business problems. She was recently named an Alexa Champion
by Amazon.

Course #2 Instructor

Carlos Rivas. Instructor

Carlos is a Senior Solutions Architect at Infiniti Consulting where he helps institutions move
traditional data centers to the cloud. He has worked for several large telecommunication
providers managing and configuring network infrastructure, using Java, Groovy, Python,
Perl, and PHP.

Course #3 Instructor

Justin Lee. Data Platform Engineer

Justin Lee designs and builds modern scalable systems and consults for Fortune 500
companies. He currently works in the Silicon Valley as a platform engineer to enable large
volumes of users' data workflows. He has a BS in Computer Science from UCLA and is often
mentoring and teaching developers through Codementor.

Course #4 Instructor

Byron Sommardahl. Chief Technology Officer

Byron is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Acklen Avenue, an agile software
development company. Byron has been developing software since he was 9 years old, and
is a true believer in anything that improves software maintainability, usability, and delivery.

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