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Oracle Foundation's Associate Certification Lecture Notes

Jul 10, 2024

Lecture Notes: Oracle Foundation's Associate Certification

by Andrew Brown from Exam Pro

Introduction

  • Oracle Foundation's Associate Certification: Entry-level certification for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
  • Goal: Show how to pass the certification in less than a week, especially beneficial for those new to cloud technology.
  • Topics Covered: Setting up an account, launching instances and databases, understanding cloud usage, etc.
  • Feedback and Interaction: Encouraged to provide feedback and share successes.

Comparison: OCI Foundations vs AWS CCP Certification

  • OCI Certification Validity: 1.5 years; AWS is generally 2 years, CCP now 3 years.
  • Cost: OCI is $5 cheaper than CCP. AWS offers 50% off on the next certification after the first one; OCI does not provide such offers yet.
  • Knowledge Transfer: High transfer from AWS CCP and AZ-900 to OCI Foundations due to similar outlines, just different service names and billing.
  • Exam Structure: OCI does not have weighted domains, possibly leading to imbalanced exams. AWS exams have weighted domains.
  • Young Cloud Provider: Fewer services compared to AWS but advantageous for beginners as there is less complexity.
  • Fragmented Documentation: OCI documentation needs improvement; inconsistent or missing info often.
  • Certification Holders: Few Oracle certification holders but having this warrant can be beneficial for jobs requiring Oracle expertise.

Exam Guide Outline

  • Domains: Cloud concepts, OCI infrastructure, core services, security, billing, and pricing.
  • No Domain Weighting: Uncertainty in question distribution across domains.
  • Passing Score: 68%, with 60 questions in total. Questions are a mix of multiple-choice and multiple-answer.
  • Exam Time: 105 minutes, roughly 2 minutes per question.
  • Certification Validity: 18 months, requires recertification after that period.
  • Reason for Short Validity: Expected rapid changes and updates in Oracle platform.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Concepts

Evolution and Types of Computing Services

  • Dedicated Servers: 90s technology, very high maintenance and cost, running single web apps or websites only.
  • Virtualization: Allows multiple web apps or websites on a single server, improving resource utilization.
  • Shared Hosting: Early 2000s, shared cost with multiple businesses, cheaper but potential for resource conflicts.
  • Cloud Computing: Flexible, scalable, secure, cost-effective, allows for quick deployment globally.
  • Cloud Deployment Models: Cloud-native, hybrid architecture, cross-cloud (multi-cloud).
  • Comparative Analysis: AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud; Oracle known for databases, has minimalistic UI compared to others but offers powerful features.

Key Cloud Computing Concepts

  • On-Demand: Pay only for usage, no upfront costs generally; very flexible billing model.
  • Global Reach: Deploy resources globally with ease.
  • Cost Efficiency: Shared cost with other users, optimized infrastructure utilization.
  • Quick to Market: Rapid deployment of services compared to on-premise setups.
  • Elasticity: Scale up or down as needed; especially important for maintaining performance under variable loads.

Technical Terms and High-Level Cloud Architecture

Terminologies and Design Principles

  • High Availability (HA): Ensures no single point of failure, using multiple data centers/availability zones.
  • Scalability: Ability to handle increasing load by adding resources (can be vertical or horizontal scaling).
  • Elasticity: Automatic scaling in or out based on demand, often using services like Auto Scaling.
  • Fault Tolerance: System's capability to continue operation even if some components fail; uses techniques like failover.
  • Disaster Recovery (DR): Methods and services to recover from catastrophic failures; includes regular backups.

Cloud Service Layers and Models

  • IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Provides basic building blocks like computing, networking, and storage. Examples: AWS EC2, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
  • PaaS (Platform as a Service): Focuses on deploying and managing apps without the complexities of underlying hardware. Examples: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Oracle Cloud Platform.
  • SaaS (Software as a Service): Fully managed services delivered over the internet. Examples: Salesforce, Gmail.

Cloud Deployment Models

  • Cloud-native: Everything built on the cloud.
  • Hybrid: Combination of on-premise and cloud services.
  • Cross-cloud (Multi-cloud): Utilizing multiple cloud providers for redundancy or specialized services.

OCI Global Infrastructure

Regions, Availability Domains, and Fault Domains

  • Regions: Geographically distinct locations, ~21 OCI regions with plans for more. Types include commercial, government, and Azure-connected regions.
  • Availability Domains (ADs): Data centers within a region, typically isolated to ensure redundancy while close enough for low latency.
  • Fault Domains (FDs): Logical grouping within a data center to minimize the risk of failure; isolates failure to logical segments within AD.
  • Examples: Multiple ADs in regions like North America (Phoenix, Ashburn), limited in other regions.

Core Services

Computing Services

  • Virtual Machines (VMs): Most flexible and cost-effective for general workloads.
  • Container Engines: Docker as a Service, great for microservices architecture.
  • OCI Functions: Serverless compute, cost-effective for running short-duration code execution.
  • Dedicated Virtual Hosts: Single-tenant servers running multiple VMs for added security and performance.
  • Bare Metal: Dedicated servers with no hypervisor layer, ideal for high-performance workloads.

Storage Services

  • Block Volume: Local virtual hard drive, attached to VMs for persistent storage.
  • File Storage: Shareable file system, typically used with NFS.
  • Object Storage: Scalable storage for unstructured data, highly available, and typically for large data sets.
  • Archive Storage: Long-term storage for infrequently accessed data, lower cost.
  • Comparative Overview: Block vs File vs Object Storage: Various usage scenarios and cost considerations.

Networking Services

  • VNICS: Virtual NIC to enable VMs to connect to networks.
  • Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway, Service Gateway: Different gateways for connecting to internet securely or to other services.
  • VCN Peering: Enables networks to communicate as if they are on the same network.
  • Security Lists and Network Security Groups (NSG): Virtual firewalls to control traffic ingress/egress.

Database Services

  • Hierarchical Services: Autonomous, VM, Bare Metal, Exadata DB systems.
  • Specific Services: Oracle RAC, Autonomous (shared and dedicated), Oracle Nosql, MySQL DB Systems.
  • Demo Types: OLT and OLAP for different workloads; license models.
  • Management: Data Safe for monitoring sensitive data.

Security and Compliance

Shared Security Model

  • OCI Responsibility: Managed services, global infrastructure, data center security.
  • Customer Responsibility: Configuration, virtual infrastructure, customer data security.
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Secures accounts via second device (phone or YubiKey).

IAM (Identity and Access Management)

  • Users, Groups, and Policies: Creating users, assigning them to groups, and managing permissions through policies.
  • Dynamic Groups: Based on rules to manage policies at scale.

Data Encryption and Storage Security

  • Encryption: At rest and in transit; bring your own key (BYOK) model.
  • Tools: Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), Data Safe for monitoring, Database Vault for restricting access.

Compliance Programs

  • Examples: NIST, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR; essential for enterprise and government contracts.

Billing and Pricing

Pricing Models

  • Pay-as-you-go (PAYG): No upfront cost, bill based on usage.
  • Monthly Flex: Commit to monthly spending for discounts.
  • Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Savings by using existing Oracle licenses.
  • Region Consistency: Prices remain consistent across different regions.

Specifics and Tools

  • Cost Explorer/Analyzer: Visualize and manage ongoing costs.
  • Data Transfer Costs: Free ingress, charged egress; free between ADs and within regions, charged between regions.
  • Budgets and Tags: To manage costs and resource utilization.

Training and Certification Path

  • Hands-on Practice: Setting up a VCN, launching instances, attaching block volumes.
  • Using Object Storage: Uploading, managing lifecycle policies, replication, and retention rules.
  • Using and Managing Databases: Autonomous databases, SQL Developer, security configurations.
  • Audit and Compliance: Setting up audits, understanding compliance needs.
  • Exam Preparation and Booking: Using Pearson VUE for scheduling exams, ensuring system readiness for proctored exams.

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