AWS Cloud Quest — Solution Architect Role

Hello Medium Readers, how are you going? I hope you are good as I am. I back today to write about my newest badge achievement in AWS Cloud Quest, in the Solution Architecture Role.

Guys, I need to tell you this role was something totally different from what I have seen in the others roles that I took so far. I was surprised at the beginning with the level of difficult of the DIY (Do It Yourself) phase. The level of these phases are not in the same as the others roles that I did before, Cloud Foundation, Data Analytics, or even Machine Learning.

To conclude the DIY Phase, the Solution Architecture requires more knowledge than is presented in the Practice phase. What I think that is good, because, or you need to go to internet and search for “how to” or you need to have acquired this necessary knowledge before.

As I consider myself a learning guy in AWS and Cloud, but with a Cloud Foundational Certification, most of the time I completed the DIY phases without external access, searching in the ChatGPT the “how to” to finish the assignments.

Another contrast point along with the Machine Learning Role is the quantity of steps to solve the DIY phase is considerably lower, but I thought the difficult level to solve higher in this Role, maybe, and just maybe, because I’m a Data Scientist, with 9 years already of knowledge and some practice of ML.

I haven't decided yet if I will take the other three Roles, which are more related to a Cloud Solution Architecture or an SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) than to my actual position as a Senior Data Scientist. Also, another possibility is to keep using the AWS Skill Builder portal to develop more skills into GenAI.

Besides, during this role I had contact with 6 new services from AWS that I haven’t used before: Cloud Development Kit (CDK), SQS, KMS, Amazon Config, Amazon Backup, and CodeWhisperer. This last one really caught my attention, because it really increases your productivity, but, as I said before, cannot replace you.

Take a look into new Badge :D

AWS Cloud Quest — Solution Architect Badge.

Solution Architect Role — Assignments

In the following sections, I’ll outline the 13 new assignments I undertook, accompanied by images representing the proposed solution architecture for each assignment. Additionally, it’s provided step-by-step guidance on solving each problem, detailing the AWS services utilized to achieve the desired outcomes.

It’s worth noting that the episodes are presented in the order in which I completed them. While some assignments may have dependencies on others, the sequence can be customized based on individual preferences and requirements.

Deploying RESTful APIs

• AWS Services used: Amazon Lambda, API Gateway
• Summary: Create API Gateway API and Lambda function, integrate API Gateway with Lambda using proxy integration.

Deploying RESTful APIs Episode — Solution Architecture.

DNS

• AWS Services used: Amazon Route 53, EC2, VPC
• Summary: Set up Route 53 with a private hosted zone, create A record for the web server.

DNS Episode — Solution Architecture.

Automation with CloudFormation

• AWS Services used: Amazon EC2, S3, CloudFormation
• Summary: Create templates for EC2 instances, security groups, and S3 buckets, deploy resources using CloudFormation.

Automation with CloudFormation Episode — Solution Architecture.

API with Database

• AWS Services used: Amazon Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB
• Summary: Create DynamoDB table for vehicle data, Lambda function to save records, and REST API with API Gateway.

APIs with Database Episode — Solution Architecture.

Backing Up Data

• AWS Services used: Amazon Backup, EC2
• Summary: Create backup plan for Amazon EBS volumes using tags, set up automated backup plan.

Backing Up Data Episode — Solution Architecture.

Resource Monitoring

• AWS Services used: Amazon CloudWatch, EC2
• Summary: Monitor AWS resources with CloudWatch metrics, configure alarms, actions, and dashboard.

Resource Monitoring Episode — Solution Architecture.

Resource Governance

• AWS Services used: Amazon Config, EC2, KMS, S3
• Summary: Implement AWS Config rules for versioning and encryption, enforce tagging policy with custom Config rule.

Resource Governance Episode — Solution Architecture.

Content Delivery Networks

• AWS Services used: Amazon CloudFront, EC2, S3
• Summary: Set up CDN with CloudFront, configure EC2 and S3 as origins for efficient content delivery.

Content Delivery Networks Episode — Solution Architecture.

Decoupling Application

• AWS Services used: SQS, EC2, SNS
• Summary: Create SQS queue, SNS topic, and subscribe queue to topic for asynchronous communication.

Decoupling Application Episode — Solution Architecture.

Analyzing Network Traffic

• AWS Services used: EC2, S3, VPC
• Summary: Set up VPC Flow Logs, analyze traffic, and manage inbound traffic using network access control lists.

Analyzing Network Traffic Episode — Solution Architecture.

Container Services

• AWS Services used: ECR, ECS
• Summary: Deploy applications with ECS, Fargate for container-based deployment.

Container Services Episode — Solution Architecture.

Single-Page App

• AWS Services used: API Gateway, CloudWatch, S3, DynamoDB
• Summary: Publish single-page app with S3, troubleshoot REST API via API Gateway, ensure smooth flow to DynamoDB.

Single-Page App Episode — Solution Architecture.

Cloud Infrastructure with Generative AI

• AWS Services used: Cloud9, EC2, CDK, CodeWhisperer
• Summary: Create AWS resources with CDK and Python, utilize CodeWhisperer for code suggestions, enable autosuggestions, and deploy application resources.

Cloud Infrastructure with GenAI Episode — Solution Architecture.