AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02) - Fact Sheet¶

⚠️ RETIRED September 29, 2025. No longer available for new candidates. Replaced by AWS CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03). Material preserved as historical reference.

Quick Reference¶

Exam Code: SOA-C02 Duration: 180 minutes (3 hours) Questions: 65 questions Passing Score: 720/1000 Cost: $150 USD Validity: 3 years Delivery: Pearson VUE Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Hands-on focus)

Exam Domain Breakdown¶

Key Services by Domain¶

Monitoring, Logging & Remediation (20%)¶

CloudWatch - Metrics: Standard (5-min), detailed (1-min), custom (1-sec high-resolution) - Alarms: Metric-based with SNS, Auto Scaling, EC2 actions - Logs: Aggregation, Insights queries, metric filters, retention - Dashboards: Cross-account, cross-region visualization - Synthetics: Canary monitoring - 📖 CloudWatch Documentation

CloudWatch Agent - Collects system-level metrics (memory, disk, processes) - Collects logs from instances - Configuration via SSM Parameter Store - Unified agent (replaces old CloudWatch Logs and Monitoring agents) - 📖 CloudWatch Agent Guide - Installation and configuration - 📖 Agent Configuration - Configuration file reference - 📖 Metrics Collected - Available metrics

EventBridge - Event-driven automation - AWS service events + custom applications - Schedule-based rules (cron expressions) - Targets: Lambda, Step Functions, SQS, SNS, EC2 actions - 📖 EventBridge Documentation - 📖 Event Patterns - Pattern matching - 📖 Schedule Expressions - Cron and rate expressions - 📖 EventBridge Targets - Available targets

Systems Manager Automation - Runbooks for common operational tasks - AWS-managed automation documents (100+) - Custom automation with YAML/JSON - Approval steps for sensitive operations - Change Calendar for maintenance windows - 📖 SSM Automation - Runbook overview - 📖 Automation Documents - Document reference - 📖 Change Calendar - Maintenance windows

CloudTrail - API auditing for compliance - Management + data events - Insights for anomaly detection - Organization trails - 📖 CloudTrail Documentation - 📖 CloudTrail Events - Event types - 📖 CloudTrail Insights - Anomaly detection

Reliability & Business Continuity (16%)¶

High Availability - Multi-AZ deployments - Elastic Load Balancing (ALB, NLB, GWLB) - Auto Scaling groups with health checks - RDS Multi-AZ automatic failover - Aurora with read replicas - 📖 HA Architecture - Best practices - 📖 RDS Multi-AZ - Database HA - 📖 Aurora Read Replicas - Replication

Disaster Recovery - Backup & Restore: Lowest cost, RTO hours-days - Pilot Light: Core systems running, RTO 10s of minutes - Warm Standby: Scaled-down environment, RTO minutes - Multi-Region Active-Active: Highest cost, RTO seconds - 📖 DR Strategies - Comprehensive guide

AWS Backup - Centralized backup across 35+ services - Backup plans with lifecycle rules - Cross-region and cross-account copies - Backup vault with encryption - 📖 Backup Documentation

Auto Scaling - Dynamic scaling: Target tracking, step, simple - Scheduled scaling - Predictive scaling (ML-based) - Health checks: EC2, ELB - Lifecycle hooks for custom actions - 📖 Auto Scaling Documentation - 📖 Dynamic Scaling Policies - Scaling types - 📖 Lifecycle Hooks - Custom actions - 📖 Predictive Scaling - ML-based scaling

Deployment, Provisioning & Automation (18%)¶

CloudFormation - Infrastructure as Code (JSON/YAML) - Stacks for resource management - StackSets for multi-account/region - Change sets to preview updates - Drift detection - 📖 CloudFormation Documentation - 📖 StackSets - Multi-account deployment - 📖 Change Sets - Preview changes - 📖 Drift Detection - Configuration drift

Systems Manager - Session Manager: Secure shell without SSH keys - Run Command: Execute at scale - Patch Manager: Automated patching with maintenance windows - Parameter Store: Configuration management - State Manager: Enforce desired configuration - Inventory: Collect metadata from instances - 📖 Systems Manager Documentation - 📖 Session Manager - Secure shell access - 📖 Run Command - Remote execution - 📖 Patch Manager - OS patching - 📖 Parameter Store - Configuration data - 📖 State Manager - Desired state - 📖 Inventory - Instance metadata

Elastic Beanstalk - PaaS for applications - Deployment options: All-at-once, rolling, rolling with batch, immutable, blue/green - Configuration with .ebextensions - 📖 Elastic Beanstalk Documentation - 📖 Deployment Policies - Deployment strategies - 📖 .ebextensions - Configuration files

OpsWorks - Chef and Puppet managed configuration - Stacks, layers, instances - Lifecycle events with recipes - 📖 AWS OpsWorks - Configuration management - 📖 OpsWorks Stacks - Stack configuration

Security & Compliance (16%)¶

IAM - Users, groups, roles, policies - Least privilege principle - MFA enforcement - Access Analyzer for permission analysis - 📖 IAM Best Practices - 📖 IAM Policies - Policy syntax - 📖 IAM Roles - Role delegation - 📖 Access Analyzer - Permission analysis

Encryption - KMS for key management - EBS encryption (default per region) - S3 encryption (SSE-S3, SSE-KMS, SSE-C) - RDS/Aurora encryption at rest - In-transit via TLS/SSL - 📖 AWS KMS - Key management - 📖 EBS Encryption - Volume encryption - 📖 S3 Encryption - Encryption options

Patch Management - Systems Manager Patch Manager - Patch baselines (OS-specific) - Maintenance windows for scheduling - Patch compliance reporting - 📖 Patch Manager Guide - Patching workflow - 📖 Patch Baselines - Baseline rules - 📖 Maintenance Windows - Scheduling

AWS Config - Resource configuration tracking - Compliance rules (managed + custom) - Remediation actions - 📖 Config Documentation - 📖 Config Rules - Compliance evaluation - 📖 Remediation Actions - Automated fixes

Networking & Content Delivery (18%)¶

VPC - Subnets (public/private) - Route tables - Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway - Security Groups (stateful) - NACLs (stateless) - VPC Flow Logs - 📖 VPC Documentation - 📖 VPC Subnets - Subnet configuration - 📖 Security Groups - Instance firewall - 📖 Network ACLs - Subnet firewall - 📖 VPC Flow Logs - Traffic logging

Route 53 - DNS service - Routing policies: Simple, weighted, latency, failover, geolocation, geoproximity, multivalue - Health checks with failover - 📖 Route 53 Documentation - 📖 Routing Policies - Policy types - 📖 Health Checks - Failover configuration

CloudFront - Global CDN - Origin: S3, ALB, custom HTTP - Edge caching with TTL - Signed URLs/cookies for private content - 📖 CloudFront Documentation - 📖 Cache Behavior - Caching configuration - 📖 Signed URLs - Private content

Elastic Load Balancing - ALB: Layer 7, HTTP/HTTPS, host/path routing - NLB: Layer 4, TCP/UDP, ultra-low latency, static IPs - Health checks - Target groups - Cross-zone load balancing - 📖 ELB Documentation - 📖 ALB Guide - Application Load Balancer - 📖 NLB Guide - Network Load Balancer - 📖 Health Checks - Target health

Cost & Performance Optimization (12%)¶

Cost Management - Cost Explorer: Analyze spending - Budgets: Set alerts - Savings Plans: Up to 72% savings - Reserved Instances: 1 or 3 year - Spot Instances: Up to 90% savings - 📖 Cost Management Documentation - 📖 Cost Explorer - Cost analysis - 📖 AWS Budgets - Budget alerts - 📖 Savings Plans - Flexible pricing

Rightsizing - Compute Optimizer recommendations - CloudWatch metrics analysis - AWS Trusted Advisor checks - 📖 Compute Optimizer Documentation - 📖 Trusted Advisor - Best practice checks - 📖 Rightsizing Guide - Instance resizing

S3 Optimization - Storage classes: Standard, IA, One Zone-IA, Glacier, Deep Archive - Intelligent-Tiering for automatic optimization - Lifecycle policies - Request metrics for optimization - 📖 S3 Storage Classes - Class comparison - 📖 S3 Lifecycle - Lifecycle rules - 📖 S3 Intelligent-Tiering - Automatic optimization

Performance Monitoring - CloudWatch metrics for bottlenecks - X-Ray for distributed tracing - VPC Flow Logs for network analysis - EBS IOPS and throughput optimization - 📖 X-Ray - Application tracing - 📖 EBS Performance - Volume types and performance

Common SysOps Tasks¶

Instance Management¶

• Launch instances with user data
• Configure CloudWatch Agent for detailed monitoring
• Implement auto-recovery for instance failures
• Schedule instance start/stop with Lambda + EventBridge
• Apply patches with Systems Manager

Backup Strategy¶

• Automated EBS snapshots with lifecycle policies
• S3 versioning and lifecycle rules
• RDS automated backups and manual snapshots
• AWS Backup for centralized management
• Cross-region backup copies for DR

Security Hardening¶

• Enable EBS encryption by default
• Enforce S3 encryption with bucket policies
• Implement least privilege IAM policies
• Enable MFA for privileged users
• Regular security audits with Config and Security Hub

Network Troubleshooting¶

• VPC Flow Logs to analyze traffic
• Reachability Analyzer for path testing
• Security Group and NACL rule verification
• Route table configuration check
• DNS resolution with Route 53 query logging

Monitoring & Alerting¶

• CloudWatch alarms for critical metrics
• SNS notifications for alerts
• EventBridge rules for automated responses
• CloudWatch Logs Insights for log analysis
• Custom metrics for application monitoring

Exam Tips¶

Hands-On Focus¶

• SOA-C02 includes lab-based questions
• Must demonstrate actual AWS console/CLI skills
• Practice in real AWS environment essential

Common Scenarios¶

• Troubleshoot failing Auto Scaling groups
• Restore from backups after data loss
• Optimize costs for EC2 and storage
• Configure CloudWatch alarms and dashboards
• Implement automated patching
• Resolve network connectivity issues
• Set up cross-region DR

Question Keywords¶

• "Automate" → Systems Manager, EventBridge, Lambda
• "Monitor" → CloudWatch, X-Ray, VPC Flow Logs
• "Cost-effective" → Savings Plans, Spot, rightsizing, S3 lifecycle
• "High availability" → Multi-AZ, Auto Scaling, ELB
• "Secure" → Encryption, IAM roles, least privilege
• "Troubleshoot" → CloudWatch Logs, VPC Flow Logs, CloudTrail

Essential Documentation¶

Core Resources¶

• 📖 SysOps Administrator Learning Path
• 📖 AWS Systems Manager User Guide
• 📖 Monitoring Best Practices
• 📖 Well-Architected Operational Excellence Pillar

Hands-On Labs¶

• 🧪 AWS Systems Manager Workshops
• 🧪 Operational Excellence Labs

Final Checklist¶

Knowledge¶

• Configure CloudWatch monitoring and alarms
• Implement Auto Scaling with health checks
• Design backup and DR strategies
• Troubleshoot networking issues
• Optimize costs using various AWS tools
• Automate operations with Systems Manager
• Implement security best practices
• Deploy with CloudFormation

Skills¶

• AWS Console proficiency
• AWS CLI experience
• Systems administration experience
• Networking fundamentals
• Scripting (Python, Bash, PowerShell)

Preparation¶

• 1+ year AWS SysOps experience
• Hands-on with all core services
• Practiced lab scenarios
• Completed practice exams (80%+)

Pro Tip: SOA-C02 is the most hands-on AWS Associate exam. You MUST have practical experience - you'll need to perform tasks in a live AWS environment during the exam. Focus on automation, monitoring, and troubleshooting!

Good luck! 🚀