AWS Essentials: Amazon EC2 & VPC Networking for Beginners

Name: AWS Essentials: Amazon EC2 & VPC Networking for Beginners
Rating: 4.6 (3 reviews)

Learn Amazon EC2 and VPC with load balancing and Auto Scaling. Cloud Practitioner hands-on prep!

Role Play

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Created byEmre Yilmaz | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Solutions Architect, Developer

Last updated 5/2026

English

What you'll learn

Configuring and launching EC2 instances
Creating custom VPCs with public and private subnets
Using Elastic Load Balancers to distribute incoming traffic to multiple EC2 instances
Using EC2 Auto Scaling to scale instance capacity and achieve reliability
Attaching & mounting EBS volumes and EFS file systems on EC2 instances
Granting Internet access to private subnets
Accessing AWS services firectly from VPCs
Creating custom Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) and EC2 launch templates
Understanding instance types and families
Learning about instance pricing models and placement options
Testing your understanding with frequent quizzes
Practicing how to explain concepts in business-like scenarios via AI Role Plays
Building a strong foundation for progressing toward AWS certifications and deeper AWS learning

Course content

6 sections • 80 lectures • 6h 1m total length

Course Introduction2:01
Meet Your Instructor1:14

Section Introduction1:43
Introducing Amazon EC24:51
Creating an EC2 Key Pair (Hands-on)4:07
Hands-on lecture! Learn how to create an EC2 key pair for your EC2 instances, enabling SSH access when needed.
Launching an Amazon EC2 Instance (Hands-on)8:32
Hands-on lecture! Learn to launch your first EC2 instance with detailed explanations on the most critical steps.
Viewing Your EC2 Instance's Details (Hands-on)6:47
Hands-on lecture! Learn to view your EC2 instance details from the EC2 Console.
EC2 Instance Networking6:32
Learn the computer networking concepts related to your EC2 instances.
Connecting to Your EC2 Instance via Instance Connect (Hands-on)8:19
Hands-on lecture! You'll learn how to connect to your EC2 instance from your browser.
Connecting to Your EC2 Instance via SSH (Hands-on)6:22
Hands-on lecture!
The Locked-Out Developer (.pem file deleted)
Terminating Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)4:31
Hands-on lecture!
Creating an IAM Role for Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)7:24
UserData: Initializing Your EC2 Instance at Launch (Hands-on)7:09
Hands-on lecture! Learn to attach an IAM role to your EC2 instance and provide a script in the UserData property to initialize it when launching.
EC2 Instance Basics Quiz
EC2 Instance Storage – Instance Store & EBS Volumes5:47
You'll learn about the Instance Store and Amazon EBS volumes to use as root and additional volumes for your EC2 instances.
EC2 Instance Storage – Additional Options3:52
You'll learn about the remaining EC2 instance storage options as a summary: Amazon EFS, Amazon FSx family, Amazon S3, and Amazon File Cache.
Stopping & Starting Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)6:09
Elastic IP Addresses2:04
Learn about Elastic IPs and their use cases in theory.
Associating an Elastic IP with Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)7:31
Hands-on lecture. You'll learn to allocate an Elastic IP address and associate it with an EC2 instance. You'll disassociate and release it after using.
Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)6:29
You'll learn about Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), their use cases, and lifecycles in theory.
Creating a Custom AMI (Hands-on)6:15
Launching an EC2 Instance from a Custom AMI (Hands-on)4:14
Instance Storage, AMIs, & Elastic IPs Quiz
EC2 Instance Types3:30
EC2 Instance Families – Part 15:40
This lecture will introduce you to the course EC2 instance families: General-purpose, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, and storage-optimized instance types.
EC2 Instance Families – Part 23:50
This lecture will introduce you to the EC2 instance families in the accelerated computing and HPC-optimized categories.
EC2 Instance Pricing Models2:21
EC2 Instance Tenancy2:27
Learn about options on how your EC2 instances are placed on physical host servers: shared tenancy, dedicated instances, and dedicated hosts.
EC2 Capacity Reservations2:43
Instance Families, Pricing, & Placement Quiz
Choosing the Right EC2 Setup

Section Introduction1:34
Storage Types on AWS (Revisited)4:15
Introducing Amazon EBS3:56
Learn about the Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) service with its primary properties.
Amazon EBS Volume Types2:16
EBS Volume Attachments in Theory3:03
Creating & Attaching an Amazon EBS Volume (Hands-on)5:23
Hands-on lecture! Learn to create an additional Amazon EBS volume and attach it to an Amazon Linux EC2 instance to prepare for mounting later.
Mounting an EBS Volume to Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)5:50
Hands-on lecture! Learn how to mount an additional Amazon EBS volume to an Amazon Linux EC2 instance.
Detaching an EBS Volume from Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)3:52
Hands-on lecture! Learn how to detach an additional EBS volume from an Amazon Linux EC2 instance.
Creating Amazon EBS Snapshots (Hands-on)4:38
Hands-on lecture! You will create an EBS snapshot from an EBS volume and create another volume as an example.
EBS Essentials Quiz
Introducing Data Encryption on AWS (Revisited)6:09
This lecture will introduce you to the general encryption concepts on AWS and the crucial AWS services used for data encryption.
This lecture is also covered in the first course of the AWS Essentials series on the cloud, IAM, and S3 foundations.
Amazon EBS Encryption4:18
AMI Encryption2:11
Data & EBS Encryption Quiz
Introducing Amazon EFS2:36
Amazon EFS Storage Types3:33
Amazon EFS vs. Amazon EBS1:40
Creating an EFS File System (Hands-on)3:14
Mounting an EFS File System on Your EC2 Instance (Hands-on)7:09
Unmounting and Deleting Your EFS File System (Hands-on)2:59
EFS Essentials Quiz
Solving the Shared Storage Dilemma

Section Introduction1:28
Introducing Amazon VPC2:54
Learn about the Amazon VPC, CIDR blocks, and subnets.
VPC IP Addresses & CIDR Blocks4:37
Introducing VPC Subnets1:33
Creating Your First Custom VPC (Hands-on)3:55
Creating Private Subnets in Your VPC (Hands-on)5:02
Internet Gateways1:49
Learn about Internet Gateway and Route Table concepts in Amazon VPCs.
VPC Route Tables2:19
Public & Private IP Addresses1:57
Creating Public Subnets in Your VPC (Hands-on)6:44
Hands-on lecture! You will understand how internet gateways and route tables work by adding two public subnets to your VPC.
VPC Basics Quiz
Network Access Control Lists (NACLs)6:52
Learn about VPC network access control lists and how they can help you control inbound and outbound traffic to your subnets.
Security Groups5:02
Learn about VPC security groups and how they work as a network firewall to protect your AWS resources.
Creating a Security Group for Your EC2 Instances (Hands-on)6:26
Hands-on lecture! You will understand security group concepts by creating a new one for your EC2 instances.
Enabling DNS Hostnames in Your VPC (Hands-on)2:03
Launching an EC2 Instance in a Custom VPC (Hands-on)5:11
Hands-on lecture! Understand how VPC networking works by launching an EC2 instance in your custom VPC and installing the Nginx web server at launch.
VPC Firewalls & DNS Quiz
Connecting to Private Instances via an EC2 Instance Connect Endpoint (Hands-on)5:48
NAT Gateways & NAT Instances5:36
You will learn about VPC components providing Internet access to your private resources: NAT gateways and NAT instances.
Securely Accessing OpenAI From Private Subnets (Hands-on)6:40
VPC Endpoints & AWS PrivateLink3:16
Accessing Amazon Bedrock Securely via AWS PrivateLink (Hands-on)9:13
Introducing VPC Flow Logs3:29
Learn about the VPC flow logs that can help you monitor network traffic passing through your subnets and resources.
VPC Private Subnet Connectivity Quiz
Securing AI Data in the VPC

Section Introduction1:23
Introducing EC2 Launch Templates2:24
Creating an EC2 Launch Template (Hands-on)6:20
Launching EC2 Instances From a Launch Template (Hands-on)3:12
Modifying Your Launch Template (Hands-on)5:24
Launch Templates Quiz
Introducing Elastic Load Balancing5:06
Elastic Load Balancer Types4:55
Creating a Target Group for Your Web Servers (Hands-on)6:23
Creating an Application Load Balancer (Hands-on)8:09
Elastic Load Balancing Quiz
Introducing EC2 Auto Scaling Groups5:17
Creating an Auto Scaling Group with Load Balancing (Hands-on)9:01
Testing Scalability with Your Auto Scaling Group (Hands-on)5:24
Testing Reliability with Your Auto Scaling Group (Hands-on)4:29
EC2 Auto Scaling Quiz
Scaling for the Big Flash Sale

Requirements

Basic familiarity with AWS is helpful.
No prior EC2 or VPC knowledge is required.
Basic knowledge of cloud, AWS, IAM, and S3 – topics covered in the first course of AWS Essentials series
An AWS account – We mostly use free-tier eligible resources.
If you are completely new to AWS, I recommend starting with the first AWS Essentials course, which covers AWS foundations, IAM, and Amazon S3.

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence. AI tools were used only in a few quiz questions, Role Play scenarios, and images. All were reviewed and edited by the instructor.

Build the AWS compute and networking foundation you need before moving into certification, DevOps, architecture, or advanced AWS courses.

Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC are two of the most important services to understand if you want to build a strong foundation in AWS.

In this hands-on AWS Essentials course, you will learn

How EC2 instances work
How networking works inside a VPC
How storage services like Amazon EBS and Amazon EFS work with your EC2 instances
How Elastic Load Balancing and EC2 Auto Scaling help your applications become more reliable and scalable

This course is the second part of my AWS Essentials series. The first course, AWS Essentials: Cloud, AWS IAM, & Amazon S3 for Beginners, covers cloud computing and AWS foundations, AWS IAM, and Amazon S3 essentials. This course continues the learning path by covering compute, networking, storage, load balancing, and scaling concepts essential to understanding AWS.

Both courses are designed around the foundations required for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, but the goal is not only memorization. It is to help you understand AWS step by step through clear explanations, visual learning, and hands-on practice.

You will start with Amazon EC2 basics, launch and connect to EC2 instances, work with key pairs, instance details, IAM roles, User Data, AMIs, Elastic IP addresses, instance types, pricing models, tenancy, and capacity reservations.

Then, you will learn AWS storage concepts with Amazon EBS and Amazon EFS. You will create and attach EBS volumes, mount them on EC2 instances, work with snapshots, understand encryption, and compare EBS with EFS through practical examples.

After that, you will build your networking foundation with Amazon VPC. You will learn CIDR blocks, subnets, route tables, internet gateways, public and private IP addresses, security groups, network ACLs, NAT gateways, VPC endpoints, AWS PrivateLink, and VPC Flow Logs.

Finally, you will learn the essentials of Elastic Load Balancing and EC2 Auto Scaling. You will create launch templates, launch multiple EC2 instances, place them behind an Application Load Balancer, create an Auto Scaling Group, test scalability, and test reliability by observing how AWS replaces failed instances.

By the end of this course, you will have a practical foundation in the AWS services that appear again and again in real-world AWS architectures, certification courses, DevOps workflows, and cloud engineering projects.

Enroll in the course and let's begin!

Who this course is for:

Learners preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam
Learners who completed the first AWS Essentials course and want to continue the series
Beginners who want to understand Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC step by step
Developers, DevOps learners, and cloud beginners who need stronger AWS foundations

AWS Essentials: Amazon EC2 & VPC Networking for Beginners

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction2 lectures • 3min

Amazon EC2 Essentials27 lectures • 2hr 9min

Amazon EBS & EFS Essentials19 lectures • 1hr 9min

Amazon VPC Essentials22 lectures • 1hr 32min

Elastic Load Balancing & EC2 Auto Scaling Essentials14 lectures • 1hr 7min

Conclusion1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: