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AWS SysOps Administrator Associate Study Guide

Domain-by-domain study guide for AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02). Covers all 6 exam objectives with topic checklists, quick notes, and practice links.

Download PDF Notes

Exam Overview

Key facts before you start studying

Duration

130 min

Questions

Exam Code

SOA-C02

Domains

About this exam

Citation-ready facts for AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02)

AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02) is a AWS certification exam with about 65 questions over 130 minutes, typically requiring a scaled score of 720 to pass. Official domain weights on CertStud: Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%); Reliability and Business Continuity (16%); Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%); Security and Compliance (16%); Networking and Content Delivery (18%); Cost and Performance Optimization (12%).

Use this study guide with free practice questions, the week-by-week study plan, and detailed notes. Confirm current objectives and scoring on the official AWS exam page before booking.

Quick Navigation

Jump to a specific exam domain

1. Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%)
2. Reliability and Business Continuity (16%)
3. Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%)
4. Security and Compliance (16%)
5. Networking and Content Delivery (18%)
6. Cost and Performance Optimization (12%)

Domain 1

20%

Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation

Implement monitoring, alerting, and automated remediation for AWS workloads

Topics to Master

CloudWatch metrics, dashboards, and alarms
CloudWatch Logs and Logs Insights queries
EventBridge rules and automated responses
AWS Config rules and automatic remediation
Systems Manager OpsCenter and Explorer
CloudWatch Contributor Insights
AWS Health and Personal Health Dashboard
Anomaly detection and composite alarms
Log metric filters and custom metrics
Cross-account and cross-region monitoring

Domain 2

16%

Reliability and Business Continuity

Design and implement reliable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems

Topics to Master

Auto Scaling groups: launch templates and policies
EC2 health checks and instance recovery
RDS Multi-AZ and automated backups
RDS read replicas and cross-region replication
DynamoDB backup, restore, and point-in-time recovery
S3 versioning, replication, and lifecycle policies
EFS and EBS snapshots and backup strategies
Elastic Load Balancing health checks and failover
Route 53 health checks and failover routing
AWS Backup for centralized backup management

Domain 3

18%

Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation

Automate resource provisioning, deployment, and configuration management

Topics to Master

CloudFormation templates, stacks, and StackSets
CloudFormation change sets and rollback triggers
Systems Manager (SSM) Automation runbooks
SSM Run Command and State Manager
SSM Patch Manager and maintenance windows
EC2 Image Builder for AMI creation
Elastic Beanstalk deployment policies
OpsWorks Stacks and Chef/Puppet automation
Service Catalog for product governance
AWS CDK and Infrastructure as Code best practices

Domain 4

16%

Security and Compliance

Implement security controls, identity management, and compliance monitoring

Topics to Master

IAM users, roles, groups, and permission boundaries
IAM policy evaluation and access analysis
CloudTrail log file validation and monitoring
AWS Organizations and Service Control Policies
Secrets Manager rotation and Parameter Store
GuardDuty threat detection and findings
Security Hub aggregation and compliance checks
AWS WAF, Shield, and Firewall Manager
KMS key management and encryption at rest
Inspector vulnerability assessments and findings

Domain 5

18%

Networking and Content Delivery

Configure and troubleshoot networking, DNS, and content delivery

Topics to Master

VPC design: subnets, route tables, and gateways
Security groups and NACLs troubleshooting
VPC Flow Logs analysis and network diagnostics
VPC Peering, Transit Gateway, and PrivateLink
VPN connections and Direct Connect setup
Route 53 routing policies and health checks
CloudFront distributions and cache behaviors
NAT Gateway and Internet Gateway configurations
Elastic Load Balancer types and configurations
Reachability Analyzer for network path analysis

Domain 6

12%

Cost and Performance Optimization

Optimize AWS costs and performance for operational workloads

Topics to Master

Cost Explorer and Cost and Usage Reports
AWS Budgets and budget alerts
Trusted Advisor recommendations and categories
Reserved Instances and Savings Plans strategies
Spot Instances and interruption handling
EC2 right-sizing and instance type selection
S3 storage classes and Intelligent-Tiering
EBS volume types and performance optimization
RDS instance sizing and storage optimization
Cost Allocation Tags and billing organization

Continue Your Prep

Free CertStud resources for SOA-C02

Study Notes Exam Study Plan Start Practice Test

Back to AWS SysOps Administrator Associate

AWS SysOps Administrator Associate Study Guide

Domain-by-domain study guide for AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02). Covers all 6 exam objectives with topic checklists, quick notes, and practice links.

Download PDF Notes

Exam Overview

Key facts before you start studying

Duration

130 min

Questions

Exam Code

SOA-C02

Domains

About this exam

Citation-ready facts for AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02)

Use this study guide with free practice questions, the week-by-week study plan, and detailed notes. Confirm current objectives and scoring on the official AWS exam page before booking.

Quick Navigation

Jump to a specific exam domain

1. Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%)
2. Reliability and Business Continuity (16%)
3. Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%)
4. Security and Compliance (16%)
5. Networking and Content Delivery (18%)
6. Cost and Performance Optimization (12%)

Domain 1

20%

Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation

Implement monitoring, alerting, and automated remediation for AWS workloads

Topics to Master

CloudWatch metrics, dashboards, and alarms
CloudWatch Logs and Logs Insights queries
EventBridge rules and automated responses
AWS Config rules and automatic remediation
Systems Manager OpsCenter and Explorer
CloudWatch Contributor Insights
AWS Health and Personal Health Dashboard
Anomaly detection and composite alarms
Log metric filters and custom metrics
Cross-account and cross-region monitoring

Domain 2

16%

Reliability and Business Continuity

Design and implement reliable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems

Topics to Master

Auto Scaling groups: launch templates and policies
EC2 health checks and instance recovery
RDS Multi-AZ and automated backups
RDS read replicas and cross-region replication
DynamoDB backup, restore, and point-in-time recovery
S3 versioning, replication, and lifecycle policies
EFS and EBS snapshots and backup strategies
Elastic Load Balancing health checks and failover
Route 53 health checks and failover routing
AWS Backup for centralized backup management

Domain 3

18%

Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation

Automate resource provisioning, deployment, and configuration management

Topics to Master

CloudFormation templates, stacks, and StackSets
CloudFormation change sets and rollback triggers
Systems Manager (SSM) Automation runbooks
SSM Run Command and State Manager
SSM Patch Manager and maintenance windows
EC2 Image Builder for AMI creation
Elastic Beanstalk deployment policies
OpsWorks Stacks and Chef/Puppet automation
Service Catalog for product governance
AWS CDK and Infrastructure as Code best practices

Domain 4

16%

Security and Compliance

Implement security controls, identity management, and compliance monitoring

Topics to Master

IAM users, roles, groups, and permission boundaries
IAM policy evaluation and access analysis
CloudTrail log file validation and monitoring
AWS Organizations and Service Control Policies
Secrets Manager rotation and Parameter Store
GuardDuty threat detection and findings
Security Hub aggregation and compliance checks
AWS WAF, Shield, and Firewall Manager
KMS key management and encryption at rest
Inspector vulnerability assessments and findings

Domain 5

18%

Networking and Content Delivery

Configure and troubleshoot networking, DNS, and content delivery

Topics to Master

VPC design: subnets, route tables, and gateways
Security groups and NACLs troubleshooting
VPC Flow Logs analysis and network diagnostics
VPC Peering, Transit Gateway, and PrivateLink
VPN connections and Direct Connect setup
Route 53 routing policies and health checks
CloudFront distributions and cache behaviors
NAT Gateway and Internet Gateway configurations
Elastic Load Balancer types and configurations
Reachability Analyzer for network path analysis

Domain 6

12%

Cost and Performance Optimization

Optimize AWS costs and performance for operational workloads

Topics to Master

Cost Explorer and Cost and Usage Reports
AWS Budgets and budget alerts
Trusted Advisor recommendations and categories
Reserved Instances and Savings Plans strategies
Spot Instances and interruption handling
EC2 right-sizing and instance type selection
S3 storage classes and Intelligent-Tiering
EBS volume types and performance optimization
RDS instance sizing and storage optimization
Cost Allocation Tags and billing organization

Continue Your Prep

Free CertStud resources for SOA-C02

Study Notes Exam Study Plan Start Practice Test