AWS Interview Masterclass: Top 200+ Questions (PDF)(2026)

Start with the first question to cover basic cloud and AWS concepts, strengthening your foundation and fundamental knowledge for understanding upcoming complex AWS topics.

Explore cloud computing concepts and AWS fundamentals, including on‑premises versus cloud infrastructure, EC2 and RDS services, and the benefits of using AWS for scalable resources.

Learn the top five advantages of AWS over on-premises servers, including cost savings with pay-as-you-go, auto scaling, high availability, disaster recovery, and advanced security.

Explore the three cloud service models—IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS—with AWS examples, and understand how layers from runtime to networking shift workloads from on premise to cloud.

Understand the AWS shared responsibility model, where your company shares some work with AWS and AWS handles many tasks, and learn how to use and interact with AWS services.

Explore the AWS management console as the web portal to manage AWS services by clicking buttons, and provision domains, servers, and databases while paying only for used services.

Explore the main categories of AWS services and the top 25 essential services that power most applications, including compute, database, storage, and networking, with examples like EC2, Lambda, and RDS.

Explore the difference between public and private cloud in AWS, using EC2 examples to show shared resources versus dedicated instances, and preview hybrid cloud.

Explore hybrid cloud by combining on premise infrastructure with AWS cloud services, and securely connect an on premise database to cloud apps using AWS Direct Connect or VPN.

Practice scenario-based aws interview questions covering cloud models, paas versus iaas, hybrid cloud, os patching, elastic beanstalk and ec2, free tier, and mobile access.

Explore AWS resource management, where every service is a resource, and learn about AWS regions, availability zones, and how to answer resource-related questions.

Clarify how AWS distinguishes services from resources: a service is a tool for computing, storage, or security, while a resource is an instance of that service created in your account.

Organize related AWS resources into resource groups to provide isolated environments for development, testing, and production. Use AWS tags as key-value pairs to manage and group resources efficiently.

Organize resources with environment-based and business unit-based resource groups to keep development, testing, and production isolated, secure, and easy to manage.

Define an AWS account as a separate primary entity that defines billing boundaries, access, isolation, and service quotas, grouping resources, resource groups, and tags under a product or project.

Explore how AWS Organizations acts as the top level container to centrally manage multiple accounts with governance, security, and policy enforcement, including centralized budgets like a $10,000 monthly cap.

Explore how AWS regions and availability zones differ: regions are geographical areas with multiple data centers, while availability zones are physically separate data centers within a region enabling high availability.

Explore scenario-based questions on AWS resource management across multiple accounts, using AWS organizations, service control policies, tag-based IAM policies, and resource tagging for access and cost allocation and recovery.

Explore AWS compute services introduction and learn the purpose of EC2 instances, VM scale sets, autoscaling, and Elastic Beanstalk, with interview-ready explanations and tips.

Discover AWS compute services that provide cloud-based processing power, including EC2, Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, and EC2 auto scaling, for hosting, serverless execution, and automatic scaling of applications.

Explore Amazon EC2 instances, elastic compute cloud, cloud based virtual servers that host apps without buying physical hardware, including front end, back end, and background processes.

Compare horizontal scaling (adding instances with a load balancer and auto scaling) and vertical scaling (increasing a single instance’s resources), with stateless apps favoring horizontal and stateful apps favoring vertical.

Learn how AWS auto scaling groups automatically adjust EC2 instances based on traffic or custom rules, starting with one instance and scaling up or down as demand changes.

Explore EC2 instance types and identify the T family as the popular, low-cost general-purpose option for new users, while noting you don't need to memorize every type.

Explore AWS on-demand, reserved, and spot instances. Learn how pay-as-you-go, long-term reserved capacity, and interruptible spot capacity suit different workloads like batch jobs.

Learn how AWS Elastic Beanstalk simplifies hosting web apps, APIs, and backends by providing a fully managed platform as a service that deploys with a few clicks and handles infrastructure.

Explore the five core advantages of AWS Elastic Beanstalk, including multi-language support, automatic scaling, a fully managed environment, built-in high availability, and secure integration with IAM, VPC, and Certificate Manager.

Compare Amazon EC2 and AWS Elastic Beanstalk: EC2 offers virtual servers with full control, while Elastic Beanstalk provides fully managed hosting for web apps and backends.

Learn how to handle weekend traffic spikes in AWS using auto scaling groups with EC2 to scale out and scale in, or use Elastic Beanstalk with auto scaling.

Explore four common AWS app deployment options: EC2 for full control, Elastic Beanstalk for auto deployment and scaling, and AWS Lambda and AWS ECS with Fargate.

Practice scenario based questions on AWS compute options, including auto scaling with EC2, Fargate with ECS and Elastic Beanstalk, cost-saving instance scheduling, and blue-green and rolling deployments.

Master interview readiness for AWS Lambda by elaborating answers with project-related examples and practical knowledge, as you explore the AWS Lambda interview questions chapter.

Explain what AWS Lambda functions are and how they run code in response to events. Demonstrate use cases like compressing S3-uploaded images and sending welcome emails automatically.

Explore why embedding AWS Lambda code in the main application can hurt performance and maintenance, and learn how serverless runs independently to keep the main app lighter and faster.

Learn how AWS lambda enables serverless computing by running code without managing the underlying servers, with pay-per-execution pricing and decoupled, microservice-friendly design.

Explore how AWS Lambda triggers work by examining three core types: API gateway, CloudWatch events, and S3 triggers, plus other options like DynamoDB, stream, SNS, and SQS.

Learn how to write a lambda function by defining the lambda handler class, implementing the request handler interface, and implementing the handle request method, noting language independence from the application.

Explore the cold start problem in AWS Lambda and learn how to reduce startup delay using provisioned concurrency, keeping functions ready to respond instantly after idle periods.

Identify AWS serverless services such as Lambda, Step Functions, and Fargate, and messaging and data services like EventBridge, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, Aurora, and Athena.

EC2 is a full virtual machine you manage, including OS and patches, suitable for long-running or full-control apps; Lambda is a serverless compute service with per-request pricing for short tasks.

Explore how AWS step functions provide a cloud based workflow automation service that connects and automates tasks, using a drag and drop example to send welcome email without backend code.

Compare AWS Step Functions and AWS Lambda to decide when to use each, using Step Functions for simple, predefined tasks like sending welcome emails, and Lambda for custom, complex logic.

Navigate scenario-based AWS lambda questions covering S3 event triggers to SES emails, Step Functions error handling, and scheduling with EventBridge or CloudWatch events in a serverless, pay-per-use context.

Explore AWS storage services and learn when to use each storage type for real-world applications, enhancing interview readiness through concise, practical explanations.

Learn the main types of AWS storage—S3 for unstructured data, EFS for shared file storage, and EBS for block storage—and how to choose between them.

Explain how Amazon S3 stores large unstructured files such as images, videos, and backups, and enables fast URL-based access for web and mobile apps.

Explore S3 storage classes and compare standard and Glacier for active versus archival data. Learn how speed and cost drive storage choices for frequently accessed files and backups.

Explore Amazon EFS as a shared storage mounted like a network drive for EC2 or Beanstalk apps, enabling team access to edit and read logs and reports.

Amazon EBS provides persistent block storage to EC2 instances, keeping data safe even if the EC2 instance is stopped, and contrasts block storage with S3 object storage.

Differentiate block storage from object storage: block storage uses fixed-size blocks (EBS/EFS) and mounts like disks; object storage stores objects with metadata and is accessed via http or URLs (S3).

Discover how the S3 lifecycle policy automatically moves old objects from S3 standard to cheaper storage like Glacier, saving costs and reducing manual effort.

A launch template in EC2 acts as a saved blueprint defining how to launch an instance, including ami id, instance type, and network settings, making creation faster and consistent.

Explore scenario-based AWS storage questions covering S3 for large media and EFS as a shared drive. Learn about EBS, server-side encryption, and S3 Glacier archiving.

Explore AWS database services, identify database types, and learn when to use each in your application to excel in IT interviews.

Amazon RDS is a fully managed cloud-based relational database service that supports MySQL, Oracle, or SQL Server; AWS handles backups, patching, and updates as a PaaS solution.

Compare Amazon RDS and RDS Custom: standard RDS is fully managed with limited OS and DB access, while RDS Custom offers full OS and config control, suitable for legacy migrations.

Learn what Amazon DynamoDB is, a fully managed serverless NoSQL database, and identify when to use it for unstructured or semi-structured data in your project.

Compare RDBMS and NoSQL databases, and see how NoSQL handles structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data with examples like MySQL, Oracle SQL Server, DynamoDB, and MongoDB.

Compare NoSQL and RDBMS by contrasting tables and rows with items and collections. Learn how structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data avoid predefined schemas and rely on flexible schemas.

Compare amazon rds (rdbms) and dynamodb (nosql) to choose rds for high-value, complex transactions and dynamodb for fast, large-volume reads and writes.

Compare Amazon Aurora with Amazon RDS, noting Aurora’s MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility and 3–5x higher performance; use Aurora for MySQL or PostgreSQL, otherwise choose RDS for broader database support.

Capture and review time-ordered changes in DynamoDB tables by enabling DynamoDB Streams, which record insert, update, and delete events for up to 24 hours.

Engage with scenario-based questions on AWS database services, including RDS, DynamoDB, and Redshift. Discover when to use each service, and how to query DynamoDB with PartiQL.

Explore how users send requests to your application, how to network multiple servers for speed, and how VPC, load balancer, and elastic IP address fit in real AWS apps.

Define a virtual private cloud (VPC) as a private AWS network that keeps EC2 and databases secure from the internet, with a default region VPC and customizable options.

Assign a public or elastic IP to an EC2 instance in a VPC public subnet to enable internet access, while noting VPCs are private by default.

Explain private versus public IPs in an AWS VPC, where private IPs stay internal and not internet accessible, and public IPs enable selective public reach for front-end resources.

Explain how elastic IP addresses differ from public IP addresses in AWS, highlighting that elastic IPs are permanent while public IPs are temporary and lost on stop or restart.

Learn how AWS elastic load balancer distributes traffic across EC2 instances to ensure high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance, and identify the four types: network, application, classic, and gateway.

Explain how the AWS application load balancer routes traffic based on rules, such as URL paths and HTTP vs HTTPS, to specific EC2 instances.

Use network load balancer when you want to balance incoming traffic regardless of request type; use application load balancer for http/https rules and path-based routing.

Explore the classic load balancer (CLB) as AWS's older generation, now replaced by NLB and ALB, with limited features for legacy systems.

Explore how gateway load balancer centralizes traffic inspection by routing external requests from partner vpcs to a single centralized firewall before reaching your apps.

Explore scenario-based AWS networking questions, covering VPC isolation, VPC peering or transit gateway, public subnets with internet gateway, ALB routing, and on-prem connectivity via VPN or Direct Connect.

Build confidence in interviews by mastering AWS networking questions and concepts. Learn when and why to use AWS networking features, including AWS Traffic Manager and subnets.

Route 53 is a DNS-based traffic routing service that directs requests to the AWS region by location or latency. It uses load balancers and redirects if a region is down.

Describe subnets as smaller logical segments of a VPC used to segment frontend, backend, API, and database resources, enabling organization and security with traffic controls via security groups.

Discover how AWS security groups act as virtual firewalls, controlling inbound and outbound traffic to EC2 instances in a VPC by applying rules that filter HTTP and HTTPS requests.

Distinguish AWS application load balancer from security group: ALB operates at layer 7, routing by URL path; security groups filter traffic at layer 3/4 by IP, ports, and protocols.

Explain Amazon CloudFront as a CDN that caches content on global edge servers to reduce latency and improve performance, enabling global scaling for images, videos, and CSS.

Compare Route 53 with AWS Global Accelerator to learn how real-time health checks and private AWS network routing improve app performance by directing traffic to the healthiest back end.

AWS Global Accelerator uses a global edge network with real-time health checks and edge caching. Route 53 relies on DNS routing; accelerator offers fast failover, URL routing, and security.

Practice scenario-based AWS networking questions on routing to the nearest region using latency-based routing with Route 53 and CloudFront edge caching with SSL for fast failover and global accelerator.

Explore identity, security, and access in AWS, focusing on secure user access, preventing unauthorized access, and concepts like IAM authentication, multi-factor authentication, and secret managers.

Learn how AWS IAM verifies user identities and controls access to AWS services and resources using an HR and payroll example. Explore authentication versus authorization and preventing unauthorized access.

Authentication verifies a user's identity using credentials, while authorization grants access to resources based on the authenticated user's rights; authentication always precedes authorization.

Learn how AWS multi-factor authentication adds a second verification step, using an OTP from SMS or an authenticator app, after password login. Enable MFA in AWS IAM to secure resources.

Store and retrieve secrets securely with AWS Secrets Manager, using a central place to manage database credentials and API keys, while authenticating via IAM to prevent hard-coded connections.

Explain how an IAM role provides a temporary identity for apps or services (like EC2 or Lambda) to access S3 without hard-coded credentials, unlike an IAM user.

Amazon API gateway acts as a fully managed gatekeeper to publish, secure, monitor, and manage APIs, with IAM-based authentication, rate limiting, CloudWatch logging, and a developer portal.

Explore scenario-based questions on identity, security and access in AWS, covering IAM vs on-prem AD, S3 read-only access, identity center, MFA, secrets manager, roles vs users, and API gateway security.