Cloud Operations Basics

What you will be able to do

• You will be able to explain the cloud shared responsibility model and describe where a support associate's duties start and stop.
• You will be able to navigate a cloud provider's web console and run safe, read-only commands from the command line to inspect a service.
• You will be able to read core metrics, logs, and dashboards and tell the difference between normal and unhealthy behavior.
• You will be able to acknowledge and triage an alert, judge its severity, and avoid the alert fatigue that hides real problems.
• You will be able to apply everyday security hygiene, including multi-factor authentication, least privilege, and safe handling of keys and secrets.
• You will be able to verify that backups exist and are usable, and explain recovery targets like RPO and RTO in plain terms.
• You will be able to run a repeatable first-line triage and write a clear escalation handoff that a senior engineer can act on right away.

What is inside

4 modules, 8 lessons. Each module ends in a graded quiz and most carry an assignment.

1. 01

   Getting Your Bearings in Cloud Operations

   Before you can support a cloud environment, you need to know how it fits together and where your role sits inside it. This module maps the shared responsibility model, the way accounts, regions, and services are organized, and the ticket-driven support workflow you will work in every day. Then it gets you hands-on with the two tools you will use constantly: the web console and the command line, including when to reach for each and how to use both safely.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

2. 02

   Monitoring, Metrics, and Alerts

   Most of a Cloud Support Associate's day is spent watching for trouble and catching it early. This module teaches you to read metrics, logs, and dashboards well enough to tell healthy from unhealthy at a glance, then how alerts fire, how to acknowledge and rank them by severity, and how to keep alert fatigue from burying the signal that matters. You finish by triaging a realistic overnight alert queue.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment

3. 03

   Keeping the Environment Safe and Recoverable

   Two quiet habits separate a reliable support associate from a risky one: solid security hygiene and dependable backups. This module teaches the daily security moves that prevent most incidents, from multi-factor authentication to least privilege and safe handling of keys and secrets. It then shows how backups and recovery actually work, including the 3-2-1 rule, the RPO and RTO targets that shape every recovery plan, and how to prove a backup is usable with a restore drill before you ever need it.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

4. 04

   Triage, Troubleshooting, and Escalation

   When something breaks, a calm and repeatable process is the difference between a five-minute fix and a long outage. This module gives you a first-line triage method, the safe troubleshooting steps you can take on your own, and the runbooks that guide them. Then it teaches exactly when and how to escalate, and how to write a handoff so clear the next person can act on it right away.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment