In this section, you'll build a strong foundation in Amazon EC2, learning how to select, purchase, configure, and optimize compute resources for different AWS workloads. You'll begin by exploring EC2 instance types and understand how CPU, memory, storage, and networking capabilities help determine the right instance for specific application requirements. As you progress, you'll explore EC2 purchasing options, Savings Plans, and tenancy models to understand how organizations can optimize compute costs and choose appropriate deployment options. You'll also learn about EC2 volumes, encryption, and instance store, gaining an understanding of how different storage options support application performance, durability, and data protection. The section further introduces EC2 Placement Groups and their different configurations, helping you understand how workload placement can influence performance, availability, and network communication. Through guided demonstrations, you'll gain practical experience working with Amazon EC2 and configuring Placement Groups. By the end of this section, you'll have a solid understanding of Amazon EC2 instance types, purchasing options, storage, encryption, instance store, and Placement Groups, enabling you to select and configure appropriate compute resources for AWS workloads.

In this section, you'll build a strong foundation in Amazon EC2 networking and load balancing, learning how EC2 instances communicate within AWS and how traffic can be distributed across application resources. You'll begin by exploring public, private, and Elastic IP addresses, gaining an understanding of how different IP addressing options support connectivity and resource access. As you progress, you'll explore Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs), Elastic Network Adapters (ENAs), and Elastic Fabric Adapters (EFAs), understanding how they support different networking and high-performance computing requirements. You'll also discover Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) and learn how it distributes incoming traffic across multiple targets to improve application availability and scalability. The section further introduces cross-zone load balancing and ELB stickiness, helping you understand how traffic distribution and session persistence can be managed. You'll also explore Application Load Balancing and gain hands-on experience configuring and testing an Application Load Balancer through a guided demonstration. By the end of this section, you'll have a solid understanding of EC2 networking and Elastic Load Balancing, enabling you to configure network connectivity and distribute application traffic efficiently across AWS resources.