Cloud and DevOps Course

Lesson 1 • Cloud Computing Paradigm Overview

Defines cloud computing, its evolution from traditional IT, and key characteristics. Establishes vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Core Cloud Infrastructure Components

Introduces virtual machines, storage types, networking primitives, and managed services. Provides the building blocks for hands-on labs in later chapters.

Lesson 3 • Cloud Service Models Explained

Covers IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS with real-world use cases. Connects service model choice to cost, control, and operational responsibility.

Lesson 4 • Cloud Economics and Pricing Models

Explains pay-as-you-go, reserved, and spot pricing alongside total cost of ownership analysis. Enables cost-aware architectural decisions.

Lesson 1 • Secure Remote Access and SSH

Explains SSH key-pair authentication, tunnelling, and secure file transfer. Establishes secure access patterns used in all subsequent hands-on labs.

Lesson 2 • Firewalls and Network Security Groups

Introduces firewall rules, security groups, and network access control lists in cloud environments. Prepares learners to enforce least-privilege network policies.

Lesson 3 • Networking Fundamentals for Cloud

Teaches IP addressing, subnetting, DNS, and routing concepts essential for cloud network design. Connects theory to virtual network configuration tasks.

Lesson 1 • Branching and Merging Strategies

Teaches branch creation, merging, rebasing, and conflict resolution. Connects branching strategy to team collaboration and release management.

Lesson 2 • Remote Repositories and Collaboration

Explains push, pull, fetch, and pull request workflows on hosted platforms. Prepares learners for team-based development practices.

Lesson 3 • Git Workflows for DevOps Teams

Compares GitFlow, trunk-based development, and feature flag strategies. Aligns version control practices with CI/CD pipeline requirements.

Lesson 1 • Container Registries and Image Distribution

Covers pushing and pulling images from public and private registries. Prepares learners for image management in CI/CD pipelines.

Lesson 2 • Building Docker Images

Covers Dockerfile syntax, layer caching, multi-stage builds, and image optimisation. Directly enables creation of production-ready application images.

Lesson 3 • Running and Managing Containers

Teaches container run options, volume mounts, environment variables, and resource limits. Connects runtime configuration to application reliability.

Lesson 4 • Docker Compose for Multi-Container Apps

Introduces Docker Compose file syntax for defining multi-service applications. Enables local development environments that mirror production topology.

Lesson 1 • Kubernetes Architecture and Core Objects

Explains control plane components, worker nodes, and fundamental API objects. Builds the mental model needed to operate any Kubernetes cluster.

Lesson 2 • Kubernetes Networking and Ingress

Teaches ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer services, and Ingress controllers. Enables external traffic routing and service-to-service communication.

Lesson 3 • Deploying Applications on Kubernetes

Covers writing manifests, applying configurations, and managing rollouts. Connects declarative configuration to reliable application delivery.

Lesson 4 • Scaling and Resource Management

Covers Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, resource requests and limits, and cluster autoscaling. Ensures cost-efficient and resilient workload operation.

Lesson 1 • Remote State and Team Collaboration

Explains remote backends, state locking, and workspace isolation for team workflows. Prevents state conflicts in multi-engineer environments.

Lesson 2 • Terraform in CI/CD Pipelines

Integrates Terraform plan and apply steps into automated pipelines with policy checks. Enables safe, auditable infrastructure changes at delivery speed.

Lesson 3 • Terraform Fundamentals and Workflow

Introduces HCL syntax, providers, resources, and the init-plan-apply workflow. Establishes the declarative mindset central to infrastructure as code.

Lesson 4 • Terraform Modules and Reusability

Teaches module creation, composition, and versioning for reusable infrastructure patterns. Connects modular design to team-scale infrastructure management.

Lesson 1 • Building Automated Test Stages

Covers unit, integration, and end-to-end test automation within pipelines. Ensures quality gates prevent defective code from reaching production.

Lesson 2 • Pipeline Security and Compliance Gates

Integrates static analysis, dependency scanning, and compliance checks into pipelines. Shifts security left to catch vulnerabilities before deployment.

Lesson 3 • Deployment Strategies and Release Patterns

Explains blue-green, canary, and rolling deployment strategies with rollback procedures. Enables zero-downtime releases with controlled blast radius.

Lesson 4 • CI/CD Principles and Pipeline Anatomy

Defines continuous integration, delivery, and deployment with pipeline stage concepts. Frames the value of automation in reducing lead time and defect rates.

Lesson 1 • Observability Pillars: Metrics, Logs, and Traces

Introduces the three pillars of observability and their complementary roles. Establishes the foundation for building a complete monitoring strategy.

Lesson 2 • Metrics Collection and Dashboarding

Covers time-series metrics collection, alerting rules, and dashboard design. Enables real-time visibility into system health and performance.

Lesson 3 • SRE Principles and Incident Management

Covers SLIs, SLOs, error budgets, and structured incident response processes. Aligns reliability engineering with business availability requirements.

Lesson 4 • Distributed Tracing and APM

Explains trace propagation, span analysis, and application performance monitoring. Enables end-to-end latency diagnosis across microservices.