Introduction

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional Exam (DOP-C01) is intended for individuals who perform a DevOps engineer role.
The exam validates a candidate’s technical expertise in provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on the AWS platform. The exam also validates a candidate’s ability to complete the following tasks:
- Implement and manage continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS
- Implement and automate security controls, governance processes, and compliance validation
- Define and deploy monitoring, metrics, and logging systems on AWS
- Implement systems that are highly available, scalable, and self-healing on the AWS platform
- Design, manage, and maintain tools to automate operational processes

Target candidate description
The target candidate is expected to have 2 or more years of experience provisioning, operating, and managing AWS environments. The target candidate must also have experience developing code in at least one high-level programming language.

Recommended AWS knowledge
The target candidate should have the following knowledge:
- Experience building highly automated infrastructures
- Experience administering operating systems
- An understanding of modern development and operations processes and methodologies

What is considered out of scope for the target candidate? The following is a non-exhaustive list of related job tasks that the target candidate is not expected to be able to perform.
These items are considered out of scope for the exam:
- Advanced networking (advanced routing algorithms, failover techniques)
- Deep-level security recommendations for developers
- Database query and performance optimization
- Full-stack application code development
- Normalization of data schemes For a detailed list of specific tools and technologies that might be covered on the exam, as well as lists of in- scope AWS services.

Content outline
This exam guide includes weightings, test domains, and objectives for the exam. It is not a comprehensive listing of the content on the exam. However, additional context for each of the objectives is available to help guide your preparation for the exam.

Domain 1: SDLC Automation
1.1 Apply concepts required to automate a CI/CD pipeline
- Set up repositories
- Set up build services
- Integrate automated testing (e.g., unit tests, integrity tests)
- Set up deployment products/services
- Orchestrate multiple pipeline stages

1.2 Determine source control strategies and how to implement them
- Determine a workflow for integrating code changes from multiple contributors
- Assess security requirements and recommend code repository access design
- Reconcile running application versions to repository versions (tags)
- Differentiate different source control types

1.3 Apply concepts required to automate and integrate testing
- Run integration tests as part of code merge process
- Run load/stress testing and benchmark applications at scale
- Measure application health based on application exit codes (robust Health Check)
- Automate unit tests to check pass/fail, code coverage o CodePipeline, CodeBuild, etc.
- Integrate tests with pipeline

1.4 Apply concepts required to build and manage artifacts securely
- Distinguish storage options based on artifacts security classification
- Translate application requirements into Operating System and package configuration (build specs)
- Determine the code/environment dependencies and required resources o Example: CodeDeploy AppSpec, CodeBuild buildspec
- Run a code build process

1.5 Determine deployment/delivery strategies (e.g., A/B, Blue/green, Canary, Red/black) and how to implement them using AWS services
- Determine the correct delivery strategy based on business needs
- Critique existing deployment strategies and suggest improvements
- Recommend DNS/routing strategies (e.g., Route 53, ELB, ALB, load balancer) based on business continuity goals
- Verify deployment success/failure and automate rollbacks

Domain 2: Configuration Management and Infrastructure as Code
2.1 Determine deployment services based on deployment needs
- Demonstrate knowledge of process flows of deployment models
- Given a specific deployment model, classify and implement relevant AWS services to meet requirements
o Given the requirement to have DynamoDB choose Cloud Formation instead of OpsWorks o Determine what to do with rolling updates

2.2 Determine application and infrastructure deployment models based on business needs
- Balance different considerations (cost, availability, time to recovery) based on business requirements to choose the best deployment model
- Determine a deployment model given specific AWS services
- Analyze risks associated with deployment models and relevant remedies

2.3 Apply security concepts in the automation of resource provisioning
- Choose the best automation tool given requirements
- Demonstrate knowledge of security best practices for resource provisioning (e.g., encrypting data bags, generating credentials on the fly)
- Review IAM policies and assess if sufficient but least privilege is granted for all lifecycle stages of a deployment (e.g., create, update, promote)
- Review credential management solutions (e.g., EC2 parameter store, third party)
- Build the automation
o CloudFormation template, Chef Recipe, Cookbooks, Code pipeline, etc.

2.4 Determine how to implement lifecycle hooks on a deployment
- Determine appropriate integration techniques to meet project requirements
- Choose the appropriate hook solution (e.g., implement leader node selection after a node failure) in an Auto Scaling group
- Evaluate hook implementation for failure impacts (if a remote call fails, if a dependent service is temporarily unavailable (i.e., Amazon S3), and recommend resiliency improvements
- Evaluate deployment rollout procedures for failure impacts and evaluate rollback/recovery processes

2.5 Apply concepts required to manage systems using AWS configuration management tools and services
- Identify pros and cons of AWS configuration management tools
- Demonstrate knowledge of configuration management components
- Show the ability to run configuration management services end to end with no assistance while adhering to industry best practices

Domain 3: Monitoring and Logging
3.1 Determine how to set up the aggregation, storage, and analysis of logs and metrics
- Implement and configure distributed logs collection and processing (e.g., agents, syslog, flumed, CW agent)
- Aggregate logs (e.g., Amazon S3, CW Logs, intermediate systems (EMR), Kinesis FH – Transformation, ELK/BI)
- Implement custom CW metrics, Log subscription filters
- Manage Log storage lifecycle (e.g., CW to S3, S3 lifecycle, S3 events)

3.2 Apply concepts required to automate monitoring and event management of an environment
- Parse logs (e.g., Amazon S3 data events/event logs/ELB/ALB/CF access logs) and correlate with other alarms/events (e.g., CW events to AWS Lambda) and take appropriate action
- Use CloudTrail/VPC flow logs for detective control (e.g., CT, CW log filters, Athena, NACL or WAF rules) and take dependent actions (AWS step) based on error handling logic (state machine)
- Configure and implement Patch/inventory/state management using ESM (SSM), Inspector, CodeDeploy, OpsWorks, and CW agents o EC2 retirement/maintenance
- Handle scaling/failover events (e.g., ASG, DB HA, route table/DNS update, Application Config, Auto Recovery, PH dashboard, TA)
- Determine how to automate the creation of monitoring

3.3 Apply concepts required to audit, log, and monitor operating systems, infrastructures, and applications
- Monitor end to end service metrics (DDB/S3) using available AWS tools (X-ray with EB and Lambda)
- Verify environment/OS state through auditing (Inspector), Config rules, CloudTrail (process and action), and AWS APIs
- Enable, configure, and analyze custom metrics (e.g., Application metrics, memory, KCL/KPL) and take action
- Ensure container monitoring (e.g., task state, placement, logging, port mapping, LB)
- Distinguish between services that enable service level or OS level monitoring o Example: AWS services that use OS agents (e.g., Inspector, SSM)

3.4 Determine how to implement tagging and other metadata strategies
- Segregate authority based on tagging (lifecycle stages – dev/prod) with Condition context keys
- Utilize Amazon S3 system/user-defined metadata for classification and automation
- Design and implement tag-based deployment groups with CodeDeploy
- Best practice for cost allocation/optimization with tagging

Domain 4: Policies and Standards Automation
4.1 Apply concepts required to enforce standards for logging, metrics, monitoring, testing, and security
- Detect, report, and respond to governance and security violations
- Apply logging standards across application, operating system, and infrastructure
- Apply context specific application health and performance monitoring
- Outline standards for delivery models for logs and metrics (e.g., JSON, XML, Data Normalization)

4.2 Determine how to optimize cost through automation
- Prioritize automation effort to reduce labor costs
- Implement right sizing of workload based on metrics
- Assess ways to improve time to market through automating process orchestration and repeatable tasks
- Diagnose outliers to determine use case fit o Example: Configuration drift
- Measure and automate cost optimization through events
o Example: Trusted Advisor 4.3 Apply concepts required to implement governance strategies

- Generalize governance standards across CI/CD pipeline
- Outline and measure the real-time status of compliance with governance strategies
- Report on compliance with governance strategies
- Deploy governance policies related to self-service capabilities
o Example: Service Catalog, CFN Nag Domain 5: Incident and Event Response

5.1 Troubleshoot issues and determine how to restore operations
- Given an issue, evaluate how to narrow down the unhealthy components as quickly as possible
- Given an increase in load, determine what steps to take to mitigate the impact
- Determine the causes and impacts of a failure
o Example: Deployment, operations
- Determine the best way to restore operations after a failure occurs
- Investigate and correlate logged events with application components
o Example: application source code

5.2 Determine how to automate event management and alerting
- Set up automated restores from backup in the event of a catastrophic failure
- Set up methods to deliver alerts and notifications that are appropriate for different types of events
- Assess the quality/actionability of alerts
- Configure metrics appropriate to an application’s SLAs
- Proactively update limits

5.3 Apply concepts required to implement automated healing
- Set up the correct scaling strategy to enable auto-healing when a failure occurs (e.g., with Auto Scaling policies)
- Use the correct rollback strategy to avoid impact from failed deployments
- Configure Route 53 to ensure cross-Region failover
- Detect and respond to maintenance or Spot termination events

5.4 Apply concepts required to set up event-driven automated actions
- Configure Lambda functions or CloudWatch actions to implement automated actions
- Set up CloudWatch event rules and/or Config rules and targets
- Use AWS Systems Manager or Step Functions to coordinate components (e.g., Lambda, use maintenance windows)
- Configure a build/roll-out process to automatically respond to critical software updates

Domain 6: High Availability, Fault Tolerance, and Disaster Recovery
6.1 Determine appropriate use of multi-AZ versus multi-Region architectures
- Determine deployment strategy based on HA/DR requirements
- Determine data replication strategy based on cost and durability requirements
- Determine infrastructure, platform, and services based on HA/DR requirements
- Design for HA/FT/DR based on service availability (i.e., global/regional/single AZ)

6.2 Determine how to implement high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance
- Design deployment strategy to support HA/FT/scalability
- Assess statefulness of application infrastructure components
- Use load balancing to distribute traffic across multiple AZ/ASGs/instance types (spot/M4 vs C4) /targets
- Use appropriate caching solutions to improve availability and performance

6.3 Determine the right services based on business needs (e.g., RTO/RPO, cost)
- Determine cost-effective storage solution for your application
o Example: tiered, archival, EBS type, hot/cold
- Choose a database platform and configuration to meet business requirements
- Choose a cost-effective compute platform based on business requirements o Example: Spot
- Choose a deployment service/model based on business requirements
o Example: Code Deploy, Blue/Green deployment
- Determine when to use managed service vs. self-managed infrastructure (Docker on EC2 vs. ECS)

6.4 Determine how to design and automate disaster recovery strategies
- Automate failure detection
- Automate components/environment recovery
- Choose appropriate deployment strategy for environment recovery
- Design automation to support failover in hybrid environment

6.5 Evaluate a deployment for points of failure
- Determine appropriate deployment-specific health checks
- Implement failure detection during deployment
- Implement failure event handling/response
- Ensure that resources/components/processes exist to react to failures during deployment
- Look for exit codes on each event of the deployment
- Map errors to different points of deployment

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