AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Hands-On Lab Suite
These AWS Cloud Practitioner labs map sixteen laser-focused console exercises directly to the CLF-C02 exam domains. First, build account security and billing guardrails. Then, work through identity, networking, storage and serverless services. Overall, every lab finishes in under 30 minutes and the whole suite costs under $0.50, because each build stays inside the free tier. However, run Lab 01 first, since the billing guardrails protect everything after it.
us-east-1
EXAM WEIGHT MATRIX 1000 TOTAL SCORE
# clf-c02 lab suite labs 16 mapped to 4 domains run_cost < $0.50 total guardrail zero-spend budget + billing alarm aws labs --suite=clf-c02 --status=ready
Sixteen AWS Cloud Practitioner Labs Registry
Moreover, the registry below lists every AWS Cloud Practitioner lab with its domain mapping, exam task, runtime and cost badge. Therefore, start with Lab 01, because the account guardrails protect every later exercise. In addition, each card links to a matching step-by-step guide on the site. As a result, you never lose your place between the suite index and the walkthrough. However, if a matching guide is still in production, the card opens the AWS Cloud hub instead. Meanwhile, the cost badges stay honest, so you can pick a strictly $0.00 path through the suite. In short, the registry doubles as your study plan.
Account Hardening and Billing Guardrails
First, this AWS Cloud Practitioner lab locks the root user with MFA, then creates an admin IAM user, and finally adds a zero-spend budget with billing alarms.
Global Infrastructure Console Exploration
Meanwhile, this lab explores Regions and Availability Zones, then compares regional versus global services while running latency checks.
AWS Well-Architected Tool Review
Evaluate a sample workload against the six Well-Architected pillars, then generate a High-Risk Issue report.
IAM Users, Groups and Least-Privilege
Craft custom JSON policies, then compare AWS-managed versus customer-managed policies, and validate rights in the Policy Simulator.
IAM Roles and EC2 Instance Profile Access
Attach an instance profile role to EC2 without hardcoding keys, then access S3 securely through Systems Manager.
VPC Defense: Security Groups vs NACLs
Compare stateful security groups against stateless NACLs, then prove port-blocking precedence with live tests.
Security Suite: CloudTrail, Config and Artifact
Inspect CloudTrail management events, then review AWS Config compliance history, and finally retrieve SOC reports from Artifact.
EC2 Lifecycle, Pricing and Metadata API
Afterwards, provision a t4g.micro instance, then inspect IMDSv2, and compare pricing models as the AWS Cloud Practitioner labs prescribe.
S3 Storage Tiers, Versioning and Hosting
Configure lifecycle rules between S3 and Glacier, then enable versioning, and finally host a static dashboard.
Storage Shootout: EBS vs EFS vs S3
Contrast block, file and object storage, then mount EFS concurrently while gp3 volumes serve the EC2 nodes.
Elastic Load Balancing and Auto Scaling
Deploy an Application Load Balancer, then configure path-based target groups, and finally simulate instance failure recovery.
Serverless: Lambda, DynamoDB and API GW
Next, this serverless AWS Cloud Practitioner lab triggers Python Lambda through API Gateway, then writes events to DynamoDB.
Amazon RDS Relational Database Lifecycle
Spin up a db.t4g.micro PostgreSQL instance, then examine snapshot parameters, and finally configure Multi-AZ standby.
Telemetry: CloudWatch Metrics and SNS
Build custom dashboards, then set CPU threshold alarms, and finally subscribe an email address to SNS alerts.
Cost Explorer and AWS Organizations
Lastly, simulate consolidated billing across OUs, then configure cost allocation tags, and generate Pricing Calculator quotes.
AI and ML Tour: Bedrock, Rekognition and Polly
Explore generative models in Bedrock, then tag objects with Rekognition, and finally convert text with Polly.
Conceptual AWS Cloud Practitioner Labs Topics
However, CLF-C02 also tests three frameworks that have no console buttons. Therefore, memorize the matrices below, because the exam loves their boundary cases. For instance, RDS patching trips more candidates than any other shared-responsibility question. Therefore, read the trap notes twice, then test yourself with the workbook questions. In addition, the conceptual cards mirror the exact wording the exam uses.
Shared Responsibility
Hardware, hypervisors, facilities, data centers and edge regions.
Data, IAM credentials, EC2 OS patching, security groups and encryption.
Exam trap: RDS OS patching belongs to AWS, while EC2 OS patching belongs to you.
AWS CAF (6 Perspectives)
Business, People and Governance perspectives.
Platform, Security and Operations perspectives.
In short, CAF identifies organizational gaps, then builds the transformation roadmap.
The 7 Rs of Migration
- 1. Rehost: lift and shift.
- 2. Replatform: lift, tinker, shift.
- 3. Refactor: cloud-native rewrite.
- 4. Repurchase: drop-in SaaS.
- 5. Retain: keep on-prem.
- 6. Retire: decommission.
- 7. Relocate: VMware Cloud on AWS.
After the AWS Cloud Practitioner Labs: Solutions Architect
Meanwhile, once these AWS Cloud Practitioner labs feel routine, the Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) roadmap is the next milestone, because its exam assumes everything covered here. As a result, finishing this suite halves the SAA prep time.
AWS Cloud Practitioner Labs Questions
What are the AWS Cloud Practitioner labs?
They are sixteen console exercises mapped to the four CLF-C02 exam domains, and each one ends with a verification checkpoint. Additionally, most cost exactly $0.00. Therefore, cost never blocks practice.
Do the AWS Cloud Practitioner labs cost money?
However unlikely it sounds, no: fourteen labs are $0.00, while the remaining four stay under $0.05 with clean teardowns. In other words, the total run cost stays below $0.50. Moreover, the teardown checklist in each lab guarantees the zero-leak promise.
How long do the labs take?
Each lab finishes in 15 to 30 minutes, so the full suite fits inside two evenings. For example, Domain 2 takes roughly two hours across its five labs. However, split it across two evenings, because retention beats cramming.
Which AWS services do the labs cover?
IAM, EC2, S3, EBS, EFS, Lambda, DynamoDB, RDS, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config, Budgets and Organizations. Therefore, every CLF-C02 service family appears at least once. In addition, the AI and ML tour in Lab 16 covers the newest exam objectives.
Do I need an AWS account first?
Yes, so begin with the free account guide, then run Lab 01 immediately, because it installs the billing guardrails that protect every later exercise. After that, the remaining labs follow in any order.
External resources for the AWS Cloud Practitioner labs
Finally, pair these AWS Cloud Practitioner labs with the official exam guide and free-tier rules below. In other words, the labs teach the doing, while the docs define the scoring. Besides, the exam guide lists every task statement these labs map against. For instance, Task 4.3 alone covers the budget guardrail built in Lab 01.