Self-paced AWS labs
Work through architecture decisions, practical steps, checkpoints and cleanup in your own AWS account.
Explore AWS lab guides CLOUDADHAR / PRACTICAL AWS LEARNING
Build your skills.
Build on AWS.
Go from knowing AWS services to knowing what to do with them. Build real-world architectures, one hands-on lab at a time.
Free lab guides Your AWS account Learn at your pace
Start with the essentials
Follow our account setup lab Get started with AWS
Set up your learning account and understand the costs before your first lab.
- Official AWS resource
AWS Free Tier
Eligible new customers can receive $100 in credits at sign-up and earn up to $100 more. Check the available services and plan limits before you build.
Explore current offers (opens in a new tab) - Official AWS registration
Create an AWS account
Choose an account plan, complete verification and secure your access. Then set a budget and prepare a dedicated environment for learning.
Open AWS sign-up (opens in a new tab)
The Free plan lasts up to six months or until credits run out. Eligibility and service limits apply; AWS usage may incur charges. Compare compute offers (opens in a new tab) or visit AWS Getting Started (opens in a new tab).
The building blocks
Browse all services Explore AWS by service.
Understand what each service does, then find a practical place to start.
Amazon EC2
Run virtual servers with control over the operating system and instance size.
Amazon S3
Store files, backups and application assets as objects in buckets.
Amazon DynamoDB
Build applications with a managed key-value and document database.
Amazon RDS
Run relational databases with managed backups and maintenance options.
AWS Lambda
Run code in response to events without managing servers.
Amazon VPC
Define networks, subnets and routing for your AWS workloads.
AWS architecture library
Reference designs, resilience patterns, AI guidance and official diagrams.
Curated AWS architecture content covering landing zones, networking, DR, AI, cost control, and production-grade operating models.
01GitHub reference project
Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS
A production-oriented AWS landing zone accelerator that helps teams deploy multi-account governance, baseline security, and infrastructure automation using AWS best practices.
Open resource →02Official AWS documentationAWS Site-to-Site VPN
Official AWS guidance for hybrid connectivity using Site-to-Site VPN, secure tunnel setup, and VPC connectivity patterns for on-premises workloads.
Open resource →03Official AWS documentationAWS Account Billing and Cost Management
Official AWS documentation covering billing, cost allocation, account management, and the controls you need to govern cloud spend effectively.
Open resource →04AWS decision guideHow to Choose Cost Management on AWS
AWS decision guidance to help teams choose the right cost visibility, optimization, and governance patterns for their workloads.
Open resource →05AWS calculatorAWS Pricing Calculator
Calculate cost estimates for architecture options and compare the price of different AWS services and workload patterns before deployment.
Open resource →06Product documentationKiro Documentation
Official developer documentation for modern AI-assisted engineering workflows, agentic tooling, and practical integration patterns.
Open resource →YOUR WAY TO LEARN
Three ways to build your AWS skills
Start with a guided lab, follow a certification path, or explore the next live cohort.
Certification preparation
Map your study topics, practise applied exercises and use official AWS exam guidance to plan your next step.
Find a certification path Open SAA-C03 practiceLive AWS cohorts
See the completed first cohort and follow announcements for the next shared AWS learning journey.
View the cohortsLEARN TOGETHER
Your next AWS learning cohort
Explore what is coming next and look back at the first cohort.
AWS Zero to Hero: Cohort 02
The next AWS cohort is being prepared. Dates, session timings and enrollment details will be announced here.
AWS Zero to Hero: Cohort 01
The live batch is complete. Enroll for access to the complete session recordings and detailed course repository.
- Format
- 10 weeks
- Language
- English
- Exam focus
- SAA-C03
Cohort 01 was delivered by CloudAdhar × TrainWithShubham.
Read learner storiesEnroll for recordings
Recording access is for Cohort 01. View enrollment details on TrainWithShubham.
THE LAB LIBRARY
Pick a problem. Build a solution.
Original, guided projects grounded in practical AWS use cases.
Showing 18 labs
BUILD / 01
Data & analytics
Turn raw orders into an updatable data lake
Query raw CSV data, build an Apache Iceberg table and apply order corrections with SQL.
Open lab guideBUILD / 02
Storage
Recover deleted files with S3 versioning
Build a private document store, reproduce an accidental deletion and restore the original file.
Open lab guideBUILD / 03
Serverless
Build a resilient background order worker
Connect SQS to Lambda, process an order and isolate a failing message in a dead-letter queue.
Open lab guideBuild a VPC foundation across two Availability Zones
Create four subnets, verify public and private routing, and understand the cost and failure boundaries of optional NAT gateways.
Amazon VPCNAT Gateway
Explore the lab Create and secure your AWS learning account
Complete signup, protect root access with MFA, and configure a billing alert before building your first workload.
AWS Account ManagementAWS IAMAWS Budgets
Explore the lab 
AWS BudgetsDeliver a cloud notification to your inbox
Create an SNS email subscription, confirm ownership, publish a synthetic event, and trace delivery without opening the topic to everyone.
Amazon SNSAWS IAMAWS CloudShell
Explore the lab 
Amazon SNS
AWS CloudShellDeploy to AWS from GitHub without access keys
Restrict GitHub OIDC trust to your repository's main branch and upload a verified artifact into one private S3 prefix.
GitHub ActionsAWS IAMAWS STSAmazon S3
Explore the lab Investigate a failed registration with Lambda logs
Emit structured application logs, simulate a rejected request, and isolate it with CloudWatch Logs Insights.
AWS LambdaAmazon CloudWatchAWS IAM
Explore the lab 
Amazon CloudWatchInvestigate an AWS change with CloudTrail
Create a disposable private bucket, trace its management events, and write an evidence-based change report.
AWS CloudTrailAmazon S3AWS IAM
Explore the lab 
AWS CloudTrailModel event registrations in DynamoDB
Use partition and sort keys to retrieve registrations for one event without scanning the whole table.
Amazon DynamoDBAWS IAM
Explore the lab Query a private PostgreSQL database on Amazon RDS
Create a private database, allow only an EC2 client security group, and verify encrypted SQL access through Session Manager.
Amazon RDSAmazon VPCAmazon EC2AWS Systems ManagerAWS IAM
Explore the lab 
AWS Systems ManagerRoute a CloudWatch alarm into Slack
Publish a synthetic metric, trigger a real alarm transition, and deliver its notification through SNS and Amazon Q Developer in chat applications.
Amazon CloudWatchAmazon SNSAmazon Q Developer in chat applicationsAWS IAM
Explore the lab 
Amazon Q Developer in chat applicationsRun a Linux web server on EC2 without opening SSH
Launch Amazon Linux, connect through Session Manager, serve a test page, and diagnose the difference between application and network failures.
Amazon EC2Amazon VPCAWS Systems ManagerAWS IAMAmazon EBS
Explore the lab Run a scheduled cloud task
Invoke a Lambda function with EventBridge Scheduler and trace the result in CloudWatch.
Amazon EventBridge SchedulerAWS LambdaAmazon CloudWatch
Explore the lab Serve a two-zone web app through an Application Load Balancer
Create two EC2 backends, restrict their HTTP access to the ALB, and observe health-check routing when one web service fails.
Elastic Load BalancingAmazon EC2Amazon VPCAWS Systems Manager
Explore the lab 
Elastic Load BalancingShare a private file for five minutes
Create a time-limited S3 download, compare signed and unsigned access, and verify expiry.
Amazon S3AWS IAM
Explore the lab Test least-privilege IAM policies before deployment
Use policy simulation to distinguish allowed access, implicit deny and explicit deny without creating a public bucket.
AWS IAMAWS CloudShellAmazon S3
Explore the lab Validate an order with your first Lambda function
Deploy a Python function, reject invalid events, inspect CloudWatch logs, and control concurrency and retries.
AWS LambdaAWS IAMAmazon CloudWatch
Explore the lab YOUR NEXT CERTIFICATION, MAPPED
See the whole journey.
Choose your next step.
Explore all 13 AWS certification paths on an interactive architecture map. Find study milestones, applied exercises and official AWS guidance.
Explore the AWS roadmapAWS available now | Azure coming soon | Multicloud planned
Find your certification starting point
Explore the scope, prepare with practical exercises and follow a study plan.
Foundational / CLF-C02
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Build cloud literacy before choosing a technical specialization. Understand AWS value, basic services, security responsibilities and billing.
Explore the learning pathFoundational / AIF-C01
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Understand AI, machine learning and generative AI concepts, then evaluate useful, responsible applications on AWS.
Explore the learning pathAssociate / SAA-C03
AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Connect security, availability, performance and cost decisions into architectures that solve a real workload problem.
Explore the learning pathLEARN THE WAY YOU WILL WORK
Understand the decision.
Then make it work.
Every guide connects the business problem to the architecture, implementation and operational tradeoffs.
You bring an AWS learning account. We provide the guide. AWS usage charges may apply; every lab includes cost notes and cleanup.
- 01
Understand the scenario
Learn where the architecture fits and when to choose each service.
- 02
Build and verify
Follow concrete steps, run examples and compare your results to checkpoints.
- 03
Clean up and reflect
Remove the resources and document what you built, tested and learned.
Build with better questions
Framework overview (opens in a new tab)AWS Well-Architected six pillars
Use these principles to review the architecture behind every project.
Operational Excellence — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Run and monitor workloads, respond to events, and improve your operating procedures through practice.
Try it: write a recovery runbook and test an alarm.
Read the pillar guideSecurity — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Control access, protect information, and prepare to detect and respond to security events.
Try it: replace broad permissions with a scoped IAM role.
Read the pillar guideReliability — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Design for dependable operation and verify how your application recovers when a component fails.
Try it: stop one web service and observe target health.
Read the pillar guidePerformance Efficiency — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Choose resources that fit the workload, measure performance, and adapt as demand changes.
Try it: compare latency before and after a resource change.
Read the pillar guideCost Optimization — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Understand where money goes and match resource capacity to the outcomes your application needs.
Try it: find unused resources and estimate their monthly cost.
Read the pillar guideSustainability — official AWS pillar guide (opens in a new tab)
Reduce unnecessary resource consumption and improve utilization across your cloud workload.
Try it: remove idle capacity and review data retention.
Read the pillar guide
Each pillar opens its own official AWS guide in a new tab. References reviewed 23 September 2026.
THE PROGRAM · CLOUDADHAR × TRAINWITHSHUBHAM
Learn the service. Build the architecture.
Follow the Cohort 01 program from account security and networking through compute, storage, databases and serverless. Practical projects and a capstone bring the services together, with scenario questions to support SAA-C03 preparation.
Understand the concept
Learn what an AWS service does and when to use it.
Draw the architecture
Connect the services and discuss security, resilience and cost.
Build a practical lab
Configure, test and troubleshoot the design in AWS.
Work through scenarios
Explain your choices and practise SAA-C03 questions.
YOUR INSTRUCTORS
Meet the people behind the program
Lead AWS instructor
Gangadhar Ure
Cloud architect · Founder, CloudAdhar
Gangadhar leads the AWS classes, connecting core concepts with architecture decisions and practical work in the cloud.
Projects & career mentorship
Shubham Londhe
DevOps & Cloud educator · TrainWithShubham
Shubham guides the portfolio projects and capstone, helping learners build and explain their work, with resume, LinkedIn and career mentorship.
FROM THE ORIGINAL COURSE PAGE
Success stories
Three learner perspectives featured on the original Cohort 01 course page.
Where to look after SAA-C03
Explore cloud opportunities on job boards and employer career pages. Compare each role’s skills, experience and location requirements with your own projects and background.
Links are for independent job exploration; they do not represent placement partnerships or guaranteed opportunities.
FROM COHORT 01
Learner feedback
9 learner stories shared with permission. Excerpts from the feedback form, with names abbreviated.
The biggest difference for me was the hands-on learning. I got to build, troubleshoot, make mistakes, and figure things out instead of just learning the theory.
The hands-on practice throughout the course was one of the best parts for me. I learned not just the concepts but also how to actually implement them in real-world projects.
The concepts were explained very clearly with practical examples, which made it easy to understand.
I genuinely enjoyed learning from you, especially because you made even the difficult concepts feel simple and easy to understand.
Excellent experience! Learned a lot about AWS Services
He also gave us a platform to practice mock exams along with the labs we completed.
This AWS sessions were real practical based.Really very good experience
Your dedication, teaching style, and constant motivation made it easier to stay consistent and keep pushing forward.
I really appreciate the trainer as he explained AWS services with the use case of real world project.
ABOUT THE EDUCATOR
Hi, I’m Gangadhar Ure.
Cloud architect, educator and founder of CloudAdhar.
I created CloudAdhar to help you turn cloud concepts into practical skills. Here, the focus is AWS: understand the service, build the architecture, test your work and explain the decisions behind it.
Whether you are a college student building a project or an engineer developing cloud skills, start with a lab and build from there. For guided AWS training or mentorship, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Connect for AWS trainingCONNECT WITH GANGADHAR
Let’s talk about your next step.
Contact me for career guidance, interview preparation, learning more about cloud and DevOps, or planning a learning roadmap.
Start a conversation
Tell me what you want to learn next.
Ask about an upcoming AWS batch, interview practice, or a learning roadmap. Share a little context so I can understand what you need.