AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)
Complete exam preparation from the author of the Packt CLF-C02 Certification Guide — 143 lessons, 32 hands-on labs, and quizzes after every section.
Not just another CLF-C02 course.
Rajesh wrote Packt's AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Certification Guide, with a foreword by Ashish Prajapati of AWS. This course is built on the same material, by the same person, taught the same way.
That matters when you get stuck. The answer in Slack comes from the person who wrote the chapter — not from a support queue, and not from someone repackaging AWS documentation.
Published by Packt · 2nd Edition
View the book on Amazon →
Pass the exam — and understand what you're being tested on
CLF-C02 asks scenario questions, not definitions. Memorising a service list won't get you through it.
Mapped to the exam guide
Fifteen sections covering all four CLF-C02 domains, structured so you always know which objective a lesson serves.
32 labs, not demonstrations
You build in your own account — IAM roles, a custom VPC, load balancers, auto scaling groups, RDS, a Lambda automation.
Quizzes after every section
Twelve knowledge checks with explanations, so weak areas surface while there's still time to fix them.
Networking from first principles
Four lessons on IP addressing, ports and subnetting before you touch a VPC — the gap that trips up most self-taught candidates.
Ask me directly on Slack
Every student joins the IaaS Academy Slack workspace. Stuck the night before your exam? Post it. I answer — not a bot, not a TA.
Free AWS credits, built in
Five early lessons walk you through AWS's own credit-earning tasks, so your lab environment costs less to run.
All four domains, weighted the way AWS weights them
The CLF-C02 exam is 65 questions in 90 minutes, scored 100–1,000 with a pass mark of 700.
Cloud Concepts
Cloud value proposition, the AWS global infrastructure, the Cloud Adoption Framework and the Well-Architected Framework.
Security & Compliance
The shared responsibility model, IAM in depth, encryption and key management, and the AWS security service portfolio.
Cloud Technology & Services
Compute, storage, networking, databases, integration, analytics and machine learning — the largest part of the exam.
Billing, Pricing & Support
Pricing models, cost calculators and cost management tools, plus the AWS support plans and when each applies.
Skills you'll walk away with
The same course on a marketplace is not the same course
Two things you cannot get through a marketplace listing, at any price.
Enrolling at IaaS Academy
- Direct Slack access to me. Ask questions and get answers from the person who wrote the book on this exam.
- Updates land here first. AWS changes constantly. When I re-record, students here get it immediately.
- One price, always. No countdown timers, no waiting for a sale to start.
- A direct line to the next course when you move on to SAA-C03.
Buying through a marketplace
- A public Q&A queue, answered whenever it's answered.
- Updated versions arrive after they've shipped here.
- The platform decides the price and when you see it.
- No relationship with the instructor beyond the video player.
Fifteen sections, 143 lessons, in dependency order
Eight lessons in section 1 are free to preview before you enrol.
1
Introduction to the Course
12 lessons · 1h 21m
How to pass the exam, then straight into the console: create your account, protect it with MFA, and work through five short builds that earn AWS credits — EC2, RDS, Lambda, Bedrock and Budgets. Closes with cloud computing fundamentals and the AWS global infrastructure.
2
Identity and Access Management
10 lessons · 2h 21m
The AWS identity services and when each applies. The root user and why you stop using it. A long look at how IAM policies are actually evaluated, then labs on password policies, users and groups, CLI access, roles and resource-based policies.
3
Amazon S3, Storage Gateway & Snowball
11 lessons · 2h 10m
Storage types compared, then S3 in depth — storage classes and what each costs, versioning, cross-region replication, static website hosting and Transfer Acceleration. Finishes with hybrid and bulk transfer via Storage Gateway and Snowball.
4
Networking and Amazon VPC
20 lessons · 4h 48m
The section most courses skip. Four lessons on IP addressing, ports and subnetting first, so CIDR blocks make sense before you build. Then a custom VPC from nothing, and the connectivity options: peering, Transit Gateway, Site-to-Site and Client VPN, and Direct Connect.
5
AWS Compute Services
19 lessons · 4h 15m
EC2 instance types and the pricing models the exam loves to test. Reaching an instance in a private subnet. EBS, EFS and FSx. Then load balancers, auto scaling, containers with ECS, ECR and EKS, and serverless with Lambda, EventBridge and Elastic Beanstalk.
6
AWS Database Services
6 lessons · 53m
Relational databases on AWS and where RDS fits, with a deployment lab. Then the wider portfolio the exam expects you to distinguish between: Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, ElastiCache and the Database Migration Service.
7
Amazon Route 53
1 lesson · 20m
DNS on AWS: hosted zones, record types and the routing policies, plus how Route 53 supports high availability and failover.
8
Application Integration Services
5 lessons · 38m
Decoupling architectures: SQS and its queue types, SNS and the fan-out pattern, and Step Functions for orchestration. A favourite source of scenario questions.
9
Analytics on AWS
6 lessons
Kinesis Data Streams and Data Firehose for streaming, Glue for ETL, Athena for querying S3 directly, QuickSight for visualisation and EMR for big data processing — what each is for, and how to tell them apart under exam conditions.
10
Machine Learning
10 lessons · 29m
The AI and ML services in the exam scope, one short lesson each: Rekognition, Polly, Transcribe, Translate, Textract, Comprehend, Kendra, Lex, Personalize and SageMaker AI. Built for recall — you need to match a service to a use case, fast.
11
Management and Governance
14 lessons · 2h 56m
How you actually run an environment. CloudFormation, CloudWatch dashboards, CloudTrail auditing, Trusted Advisor, Systems Manager Run Command and Session Manager, Secrets Manager, Organizations, Config, and the AWS support plans.
12
Security on AWS
12 lessons · 46m
The shared responsibility model, compliance programs and AWS Artifact, and penetration testing policy. Then the security portfolio the exam tests by scenario: WAF, Shield, Firewall Manager, GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, Detective, ACM, KMS and CloudHSM.
13
Cloud Adoption Framework
9 lessons · 44m
All six CAF perspectives — business, people, governance, platform, security and operations — plus the transformation journey phases. Closes with worked sample exam questions, because CAF is where under-prepared candidates lose marks.
14
The Well-Architected Framework
3 lessons · 33m
The framework and its pillars, the Well-Architected Tool, and worked sample exam questions so you recognise how the pillars appear in question wording.
15
Billing and Pricing
5 lessons · 1h
A three-part walkthrough of the AWS pricing whitepaper, then the cost calculators and the cost management tools — Cost Explorer, Budgets and Cost and Usage Reports.
Built for people starting out
No AWS or IT experience required. The networking you'll need is taught from first principles.
Career changers
Moving into cloud from another field and wanting a recognised credential as the first step.
Students & graduates
Adding an in-demand AWS certification before applying for cloud and IT roles.
Non-technical professionals
Sales, finance and management teams who need to speak credibly about AWS with customers and colleagues.
About your instructor
Rajesh is a senior solutions architect and corporate trainer with over 20 years of experience in core IT infrastructure and cloud computing, specialising in AWS and Microsoft 365. He has delivered training programs for clients across the UK, USA and India, and is the author of Packt's AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Certification Guide and AWS Certified Developer Associate guide.
As the instructor behind IaaS Academy, Rajesh teaches through real-world labs and case studies — and answers student questions personally in the course Slack workspace.
One price. Everything included.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)
Full exam coverage from the author of the CLF-C02 certification guide
Instalment options available at checkout.
- 143 video lessons · 23 hours across 15 sections
- 32 guided labs in your own AWS account
- 12 section quizzes with answer explanations
- Complete coverage of all four CLF-C02 exam domains
- Downloadable resource files
- Slack access to your instructor
- Future updates included, released here first
Secure checkout · Instant access
Before you enrol
Do I need any AWS or IT experience?
None. The course begins by creating an AWS account and explains every concept from the ground up, including the IP addressing and subnetting most courses assume you already know. CLF-C02 is designed as an entry-level certification and this course treats it that way.
Will running the labs cost me money on AWS?
Most labs run inside the AWS Free Tier, and section 1 includes five short builds that earn you AWS credits to offset what isn't. A few resources — NAT gateways in particular — do carry a charge while running, which is why an AWS Budgets lab comes early.
How does the Slack support work?
After enrolling you'll get an invitation to the IaaS Academy Slack workspace. Post your question in the course channel with a screenshot if it helps, and I'll answer it myself — usually within a working day.
Is the exam fee included?
No. CLF-C02 costs $100 and is booked directly with AWS through Pearson VUE, either at a test centre or as an online proctored exam. This course prepares you for it; the exam booking is separate.
Do I need the book as well?
No — the course stands alone and covers the full syllabus. Some students like having the written guide alongside the videos for revision, but it isn't required.
What should I study after this?
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) is the usual next step, and there's a full course for it here. If you'd rather build depth before taking another exam, AWS Technical Essentials adds a full capstone project.
How long do I have access?
Lifetime, including all future updates. AWS changes constantly and this course is maintained — updates are always released here before anywhere else.
Start preparing this week
143 lessons, 32 labs, 12 quizzes, and direct access to the instructor who wrote the book on this exam — for $9.99.
Enrol for $9.99Lifetime access · Updates included · 8 lessons free to preview
As an Amazon Associate, IaaS Academy earns from qualifying purchases.
Example Curriculum
- Welcome to the AWS Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 Training Program (7:52)
- DO THIS FIRST - Download the resource files
- Lesson 1-1 How to pass the Cloud Practitioner Exam (7:24)
- Lesson 1-2 LAB - Create Your First AWS Account (9:19)
- Lesson 1-3 LAB - Protect your AWS Account with MFA (4:41)
- Lesson 1-4 LAB - Earn Extra Credits - Launch EC2 Instance (12:47)
- Lesson 1-5 LAB - Earn Extra Credits - Launch RDS Database (5:58)
- Lesson 1-6 LAB - Earn Extra Credits - Deploy WebApp with Lambda (5:54)
- Lesson 1-7 LAB - Earn Extra Credits - Amazon Bedrock (3:05)
- Lesson 1-8 LAB - Earn Extra Credits - AWS Budgets (3:27)
- Lesson 1-9 Introduction to Cloud Computing (5:47)
- Lesson 1-10 Six Advantages of Cloud Computing (3:04)
- Lesson 1-11 The AWS Global Infrastructure (11:17)
- Quiz 1
- Lesson 2-1 AWS Identity Services (34:16)
- Lesson 2-2 AWS Root User (4:30)
- Lesson 2-3 LAB - IAM Password Policies (3:37)
- Lesson 2-4 LAB - IAM Users and Groups (8:53)
- Lesson 2-5 IAM Policies (25:09)
- Lesson 2-6 LAB - IAM Policies (9:23)
- Lesson 2-7 LAB - Access AWS Account using CLI (18:45)
- Lesson 2-8 LAB - Create an IAM Role (19:48)
- Lesson 2-9 LAB - Resource based policies (11:40)
- Lesson 2-10 AWS IAM Security Tools (4:55)
- Quiz 2
- Lesson 3-1 Storage Types on AWS (8:50)
- Lesson 3-2 Introduction to Amazon S3 (12:37)
- Lesson 3-3 Amazon S3 Storage Classes (23:25)
- Lesson 3-4 LAB - Create an Amazon S3 Bucket (12:24)
- Lesson 3-5 LAB - Amazon S3 Versioning (16:04)
- Lesson 3-6 Amazon S3 Replication (12:07)
- Lesson 3-7 LAB - Configure Amazon S3 Replication (18:12)
- Lesson 3-8 LAB - Amazon S3 Static Website Hosting (15:58)
- Lesson 3-9 Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration (S3TA)
- Lesson 3-10 AWS Storage Gateway (8:13)
- Lesson 3-11 AWS Snowball (2:30)
- Quiz 3
- Introduction to Networking - Basics of IP Addressing and Port Numbers Part 1 (18:28)
- Introduction to Networking - Basics of IP Addressing and Port Numbers Part 2 (12:03)
- Lesson 4-3 IP Addressing and Subnetting Part 1 (12:16)
- Lesson 4-4 IP Addressing and Subnetting Part 2 (31:08)
- Lesson 4-5 Introduction to Amazon VPC (12:37)
- Lesson 4-6 Custom VPCs on AWS (29:59)
- Lesson 4-7 LAB - Create a VPC (12:35)
- Lesson 4-8 LAB - Adding Subnets to your VPC (25:26)
- Lesson 4-9 LAB - Create an Internet Gateway (9:10)
- Lesson 4-10 LAB - VPC Route Tables and Internet Access (15:11)
- Lesson 4-11 Introduction to NAT Gateways (22:47)
- Lesson 4-12 LAB - Create a NAT Gateway (6:26)
- Lesson 4-13 AWS NACLs (15:22)
- Lesson 4-14 AWS Security Groups (14:05)
- Lesson 4-15 LAB - Configure Security Groups (9:11)
- Lesson 4-16 Introduction to VPC Peering (8:39)
- Lesson 4-17 AWS Transit Gateway (8:20)
- Lesson 4-18 AWS Site-to-Site VPN (10:54)
- Lesson 4-19 AWS Client VPNs (6:11)
- Lesson 4-20 AWS Direct Connect (6:59)
- Quiz 4
- Lesson 5-1 Introduction to Amazon EC2 (9:16)
- Lesson 5-2 All About EC2 Instance Types (8:24)
- Lesson 5-3 LAB - Launching EC2 Instances (25:23)
- Lesson 5-4 LAB - Connecting to EC2 Instance in Private Subnet (9:20)
- Lesson 5-5 EC2 Pricing Options (25:34)
- Lesson 5-6 AWS Elastic Block Store (6:34)
- Lesson 5-7 Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) (2:06)
- Lesson 5-8 Amazon FSx for Windows File Server (1:49)
- Lesson 5-9 Introduction to Amazon Elastic Load Balancers (27:31)
- Lesson 5-10 LAB - Deploy an Application Load Balancer (17:52)
- Lesson 5-11 Introduction to EC2 Auto Scaling (21:50)
- Lesson 5-12 LAB - Configure an Auto Scaling Group - Part 1 (5:59)
- Lesson 5-13 LAB - Configure an Auto Scaling Group - Part 2 (29:53)
- Lesson 5-14 - AWS Lightsail (11:57)
- Lesson 5-15 Introduction to Amazon ECS, ECR and EKS (6:14)
- Lesson 5-16 Introduction to AWS Lambda (4:55)
- Lesson 5-17 LAB - Start Stop EC2 Instances with Lambda and EventBridge (25:14)
- Lesson 5-18 AWS Elastic Beanstalk (6:26)
- Lesson 5-19 Additional Compute Services (8:57)
- Quiz 5
- Lesson 6-1 Introduction to Relational Databases on AWS (15:28)
- Lesson 6-2 Overview of Amazon RDS (7:02)
- Lesson 6-3 LAB - Deploy an RDS Instance (9:20)
- Lesson 6-4 Amazon Aurora DynamoDB Redshift and ElastiCache (12:35)
- Lesson 6-5 Database Migration Services DMS (2:30)
- Lesson 6-6 Additional Database Services (6:27)
- Quiz 6
- Lesson 10-1 Introduction to Amazon Rekognition (3:04)
- Lesson 10-2 Introduction to Amazon Polly (1:10)
- Lesson 10-3 Introduction to Amazon Transcribe (4:19)
- Lesson 10-4 Introduction to Amazon Translate (1:30)
- Lesson 10-5 Introduction to Amazon Textract (1:35)
- Lesson 10-6 Introduction to Amazon Comprehend (4:54)
- Lesson 10-7 Introduction to Amazon Kendra (3:06)
- Lesson 10-8 Introduction to Amazon Lex (3:33)
- Lesson 10-9 introduction to Amazon Personlize (2:10)
- Lesson 10-10 Introduction to Amazon SageMaker AI (3:37)
- Lesson 11-1 Introduction to Amazon CloudFormation (19:57)
- Lesson 11-2 Introduction to Amazon CloudWatch (11:28)
- Lesson 11-3 LAB - AWS CloudWatch Dashboard (10:12)
- Lesson 11-4 Amazon CloudTrail (7:45)
- Lesson 11-5 LAB - Amazon CloudTrail Demo (3:03)
- Lesson 11-6 AWS Trusted Advisor (7:25)
- Lesson 11-7 AWS Systems Manager Run Command (22:15)
- Lesson 11-8 AWS Systems Manager Session Manager - Part 1 (24:55)
- Lesson 11-9 AWS Systems Manager Session Manager - Part 2 (28:41)
- Lesson 11-10 Introduction to AWS Secrets Manager (13:21)
- Lesson 11-11 Introduction to AWS Organizations (5:04)
- Lesson 11-12 AWS Global Services and On-Premises Services (8:43)
- Lesson 11-13 Introduction to AWS Config (5:58)
- Lesson 11-14 AWS Support Plans (6:52)
- Quiz 11
- Lesson 12-1 AWS Shared Security Model (4:15)
- Lesson 12-2 Amazon Compliance Programs and AWS Artifact (2:44)
- Lesson 12-3 Vulnerability and Penetration Testing (4:03)
- Lesson 12-4 Introduction to AWS WAF (5:32)
- Lesson 12-5 Introduction to AWS Shield (4:17)
- Lesson 12-6 Introduction to Amazon Firewall Manager (2:47)
- Lesson 12-7 Introduction to Amazon GuardDuty (2:25)
- Lesson 12-8 Introduction to Amazon Inspector (4:24)
- Lesson 12-9 Introduction t Amazon Macie (3:34)
- Lesson 12-10 Amazon Detective (1:48)
- Lesson 12-11 AWS Certificate Manager ACM (4:57)
- Lesson 12-12 AWS KMS and CloudHSM (4:57)
- Quiz 12
- Lesson 13-1 Introduction to AWS CAF (4:41)
- Lesson 13-2 AWS CAF - Business Perspective (5:11)
- Lesson 13-3 AWS CAF - People Perspective (4:42)
- Lesson 13-4 AWS CAF - Governance Perspective (5:44)
- Lesson 13-5 AWS CAF - Platform Perspective (4:19)
- Lesson 13-6 AWS CAF - Security Perspective (5:12)
- Lesson 13-7 AWS CAF - Operations Perspective (4:20)
- Lesson 13-8 AWS CAF - Transformation Journey Phases (3:42)
- Lesson 13-9 AWS CAF - Sample Exam Questions (6:27)