The AWS Cloud
Foundations course
Eleven modules, 66 hours — from the seven layers of the OSI model all the way to GuardDuty, Inspector and AWS WAF. Every module written up in plain language, with diagrams, commands and a quiz at the end of each one. Free to read, no sign-up.
Who teaches this course
Everything on this site comes out of a classroom, not a textbook. It is the same material we deliver as instructor-led corporate training.
Pushpjeet Cholkar
Corporate Trainer · Database · Cloud · AI
Corporate trainer with 16+ years of experience helping professionals and organisations build real-world skills in Database, Cloud and AI through practical, hands-on learning. Certified Oracle Database consultant, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, and faculty for this AWS Foundation programme at ITM University.
The course deliberately starts a long way from AWS — with networking, IP addressing and Linux — because those three subjects are what make the AWS services make sense rather than merely memorisable. This website is the course project: no servers, no frameworks, no database.
Oracle DBA, SQL and PL/SQL, 8i through 23ai
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate, OCI Foundations
Database, Cloud, AI, Linux and career guidance
Eleven modules
Each module page explains what we learned, why it matters, and ends with a five-question quiz drawn at random from that module's question bank.
🌐Module 01Networking & the OSI Model
How data actually travels: seven layers, cables and radio waves, MAC and IP, hubs, switches, routers and WAN links.
🔢Module 02IP Addressing & Subnetting
Binary, dotted decimal, subnet masks, CIDR, and how to cut one network into many using fixed and variable length masks.
🐧Module 03Linux Fundamentals
The operating system every cloud server runs. Commands, the file tree, pipes and filters, and the permission model.
☁️Module 04Cloud Concepts & AWS Billing
What the cloud actually changes, the six advantages, how AWS charges you, and how to keep a bill under control.
🔒Module 05Global Infrastructure, IAM & Security
Regions, Availability Zones and edge locations; who secures what; and how identity and access management works.
🗺️Module 06Amazon VPC & Networking
Your own private network inside AWS: subnets, route tables, gateways, security groups and network ACLs.
🗄️Module 07DynamoDB, Redshift, CloudFront & Route 53
A NoSQL database, a data warehouse, a content delivery network and DNS — four services, four different jobs.
🏛️Module 08Well-Architected Framework & Trusted Advisor
The six pillars AWS uses to judge an architecture, and the tool that checks your account against them.
📈Module 09CloudWatch & SNS
Monitoring that tells you something is wrong, and notifications that make sure a human finds out.
🛡️Module 10Security Components, GuardDuty, Inspector & WAF
Preventive, detective and responsive controls — and the three services that do the detecting and the blocking.
🎓Module 11Project, Labs & Interview Preparation
Turning eleven modules into something you can show an interviewer — including this very website.
Labs and reference pages
Four pages beyond the syllabus that I found useful while studying.
How the course fits together
Nothing here is isolated. Networking explains VPC; Linux explains EC2; IAM explains everything.
🌐 Module 01 — Networking & the OSI Model
How data actually travels: seven layers, cables and radio waves, MAC and IP, hubs, switches, routers and WAN links.
🔢 Module 02 — IP Addressing & Subnetting
Binary, dotted decimal, subnet masks, CIDR, and how to cut one network into many using fixed and variable length masks.
🐧 Module 03 — Linux Fundamentals
The operating system every cloud server runs. Commands, the file tree, pipes and filters, and the permission model.
☁️ Module 04 — Cloud Concepts & AWS Billing
What the cloud actually changes, the six advantages, how AWS charges you, and how to keep a bill under control.
🔒 Module 05 — Global Infrastructure, IAM & Security
Regions, Availability Zones and edge locations; who secures what; and how identity and access management works.
🗺️ Module 06 — Amazon VPC & Networking
Your own private network inside AWS: subnets, route tables, gateways, security groups and network ACLs.
🗄️ Module 07 — DynamoDB, Redshift, CloudFront & Route 53
A NoSQL database, a data warehouse, a content delivery network and DNS — four services, four different jobs.
🏛️ Module 08 — Well-Architected Framework & Trusted Advisor
The six pillars AWS uses to judge an architecture, and the tool that checks your account against them.
📈 Module 09 — CloudWatch & SNS
Monitoring that tells you something is wrong, and notifications that make sure a human finds out.
🛡️ Module 10 — Security Components, GuardDuty, Inspector & WAF
Preventive, detective and responsive controls — and the three services that do the detecting and the blocking.
🎓 Module 11 — Project, Labs & Interview Preparation
Turning eleven modules into something you can show an interviewer — including this very website.
🧪 Ready to test yourself?
Fifty questions across all eleven modules, forty-five minutes, sixty per cent to pass. You get a score, a per-module breakdown and an explanation for every question.