Concepts
When considering options for business support assistance to prepare for the AWS certification exams or to manage AWS services effectively in your business, it is crucial to evaluate your needs and choose the appropriate resources. Below are some options AWS offers that could be of support:
AWS Training and Certification
- Provides courses to help you learn more about AWS services and best practices.
- Offers training targeted at specific roles, including the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials course for beginners.
- AWS Certification validates cloud expertise to help professionals highlight in-demand skills.
AWS Support Plans
- AWS offers various support plans (Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise) that provide different levels of support.
- Depending on your business needs, you can select a plan that offers 24/7 technical support, a designated Technical Account Manager (TAM), and/or support concierge.
AWS Whitepapers and Guides
- Technical documentation and best practices guides are available to help you understand how to implement AWS services effectively.
- Topics include architecture, security, economics, and more to help you build your knowledge base.
AWS Partner Network (APN)
- The APN consists of professional firms that help customers design, architect, build, migrate, and manage their workloads and applications on AWS.
- Consulting Partners can provide professional services to support cloud projects.
AWS Marketplace
- An online store that helps customers find, buy, and immediately start using software and services that run on AWS.
- Offers a variety of business applications and support services from independent software vendors (ISVs).
AWS Forums and Community
- An interactive resource where you can post questions and receive answers from the community, including AWS experts.
- A great way to get peer-to-peer advice and learn from other users’ experiences.
Comparison Table for AWS Support Plans
| Support Plan | Customer Service & Communities | AWS Trusted Advisor | Technical Support | TAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ✓ | ✓ (limited checks) | ||
| Developer | ✓ | ✓ (full access) | Business hours | |
| Business | ✓ | ✓ (full access) | 24/7 | |
| Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ (full access) | 24/7 | Assigned |
As an example, a business new to AWS may start with the Basic Support Plan for initial exploration and as it grows or as needs become more complex, it may upgrade to Business or Enterprise plans to benefit from added guidance and support.
Choosing the Right Option
When selecting business support assistance in context with preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam or managing AWS services, consider the following steps:
- Assess Your Business Needs: Identify your support requirements based on the scale, complexity, and criticality of your AWS usage.
- Evaluate In-House Expertise: Understand the level of AWS knowledge within your team to choose between self-led learning or professional training and support.
- Compare Support Plans: Look at the features, cost, and benefits of the various AWS Support Plans according to your business requirements.
- Leverage Free Resources: Utilize whitepapers, guides, and community forums to augment paid services and enhance your team’s learning curve.
- Consider APN Partners: Decide if partnering with an APN Consulting Partner could streamline your cloud adoption and management process.
- Plan for Continuous Learning: Ensure that your team keeps up with AWS updates and continuously enhances their skills through training and certifications.
In conclusion, AWS offers a comprehensive range of options for business support assistance, whether you’re aiming to ace your AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam or are looking for ongoing support in managing AWS services. Carefully analyze your business requirements, compare the support options available, and choose a mix of resources that will effectively bolster your team’s capabilities and optimize your use of AWS cloud services.
Answer the Questions in Comment Section
True or False: AWS CloudTrail primarily focuses on configuration management and cannot be used for auditing API activity across your AWS infrastructure.
- Answer: False
AWS CloudTrail is a service that enables governance, compliance, operational auditing, and risk auditing of your AWS account by providing a history of AWS API calls for your account.
Which AWS support plan provides a full set of AWS Trusted Advisor checks?
- a) Basic
- b) Developer
- c) Business
- d) Enterprise
Answer: d) Enterprise
The Enterprise support plan provides access to all AWS Trusted Advisor checks. Other plans may offer only a subset of the checks.
True or False: AWS customer support provides the same level of technical support to all users regardless of their support plan.
- Answer: False
AWS customer support levels vary based on the support plan. The Basic plan has limited support, while higher-tier plans like Developer, Business, and Enterprise offer more comprehensive support options.
Multiple select: Which of the following services can help with monitoring AWS resources and applications?
- a) AWS Config
- b) AWS CloudTrail
- c) Amazon CloudFront
- d) Amazon CloudWatch
Answer: a) AWS Config, b) AWS CloudTrail, d) Amazon CloudWatch
AWS Config aids in monitoring resource configurations, AWS CloudTrail monitors API activity, and Amazon CloudWatch provides monitoring for AWS cloud resources and applications. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) service.
Which type of AWS support offers a 15-minute response time for critical system down cases?
- a) Basic
- b) Developer
- c) Business
- d) Enterprise
Answer: d) Enterprise
The Enterprise support plan guarantees a 15-minute response time for critical system down cases, ensuring that companies receive quick support during major incidents.
True or False: AWS Business Support is necessary for establishing a virtual private network (VPN) connection to your VPC.
- Answer: False
Establishing a VPN connection to your VPC does not require AWS Business Support; it is a feature available to all AWS customers regardless of their support plan.
What service would you use to consult with AWS experts about best practices and workload architecture?
- a) AWS Concierge Support
- b) AWS Professional Services
- c) AWS Managed Services
- d) AWS Support (Basic)
Answer: b) AWS Professional Services
AWS Professional Services provides access to AWS experts for consulting on best practices and workload architecture. Concierge Support is part of the Enterprise Support plan, Managed Services provides ongoing management of AWS infrastructure, and Basic support offers customer service for billing and account questions.
True or False: Under the AWS Basic Support plan, you have 24/7 access to customer service and forums.
- Answer: True
The AWS Basic Support plan includes 24/7 access to customer service, documentation, whitepapers, and support forums.
What does AWS Trusted Advisor provide?
- a) Real-time monitoring of your AWS resources
- b) API call history of your AWS account
- c) Recommendations to help you follow AWS best practices
- d) Management of AWS infrastructure
Answer: c) Recommendations to help you follow AWS best practices
AWS Trusted Advisor provides recommendations to help you provision your resources following best practices to increase performance and security while reducing costs.
Which AWS service creates automated snapshots to back up data stored in Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes?
- a) AWS Backup
- b) AWS Shield
- c) AWS WAF
- d) AWS Glacier
Answer: a) AWS Backup
AWS Backup is designed to centralize and automate data backup across AWS services, including creating automated snapshots for Amazon EBS volumes.
True or False: AWS Enterprise Support includes a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM).
- Answer: True
AWS Enterprise Support comes with a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM) who provides guidance and helps optimize performance and reduce costs.
Which support plan should a startup company choose if it needs technical support during local business hours and has minimal operational complexity?
- a) Basic
- b) Developer
- c) Business
- d) Enterprise
Answer: b) Developer
The Developer Support plan is suitable for startups or companies with minimal operational complexity that require business-hour access to Cloud Support Associates via email.
Thank you for the insightful blog post on choosing the appropriate business support options for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner!
Great information! I’m just getting started with AWS and this really helps.
The section on managed services vs. professional services was particularly helpful.
Does anyone have experience with AWS Enterprise Support? Is it worth the cost for a mid-sized business?
Awesome post! Can anyone recommend additional resources for preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam?
How important is it to have business support when taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam?
I think the blog should discuss the cost implications of various support options in more detail.
This blog post was very helpful! Appreciate the effort.