Acquia Cloud Pro study plan

Acquia Cloud Pro · Give each week a clear focus.

8 weeks · About 7 hours per week

Week 1

Acquia Cloud Platform architecture and environments

Diagram the Acquia Cloud request path from DNS through load balancer, Varnish, web node, and database tier without notes
Differentiate dev, stage, and prod environment capabilities and constraints in a written comparison table
Identify which platform services (search, cache, database, file storage) are provisioned per environment versus shared
Explain how code, files, and databases flow between environments and which flows are one-directional

A one-page annotated architecture diagram plus a 1-page environment comparison table covering at least 8 distinguishing attributes

Week 2

Trace a git push through the deployment pipeline and list each automated step in order
Distinguish the artifact, tag, and branch concepts used in Acquia deployment and explain when each is created
Configure a local development environment that mirrors the cloud stack closely enough to reproduce a deployment issue
Map which deployment stages are automatic versus manual and where approval gates exist

A written deployment lifecycle narrative with a step list of at least 10 stages and an annotated note on which are automated

Week 3

Execute a full deployment to a non-production environment and document the resulting artifact and tag identifiers
Compare hotfix, feature branch, and release branch strategies for their effect on deployment cadence
Set up a code workflow that keeps a protected production branch and demonstrates a rollback to a prior artifact
Explain how composer dependencies and build hooks interact during deployment and where failures surface

A working repository demonstrating branch strategy plus a rollback runbook with exact steps and verification checks

Week 4

Classify configuration into code-tracked versus database-tracked categories and justify each classification
Export and diff configuration between two environments to surface drift
Design an environment parity checklist covering modules, variables, users, and cron
Explain the risks of importing production databases into lower environments and the mitigations

A configuration parity checklist with at least 12 items plus a real drift report from two environments showing differences found

Week 5

Explain Varnish caching behavior in Acquia Cloud, including cache tags and purge propagation
Configure and verify page cache and dynamic cache settings appropriate to a logged-in versus anonymous user
Tune a search index configuration and describe how search infrastructure scales independently of web nodes
Identify the top three performance bottlenecks in a sample application using available metrics

A caching and search tuning report documenting before/after measurements for at least two cache-related changes

Week 6

Configure role-based access at the platform level and map roles to least-privilege responsibilities
Implement SSH key management and explain the security implications of shared versus individual keys
Describe how SSL/TLS termination, WAF, and compliance controls apply across environments
Audit an application for common exposure risks including file permissions, secrets in code, and debug settings

A security audit worksheet with at least 10 findings, each rated by severity and paired with a remediation action

Week 7

Interpret platform logs and metrics to distinguish application errors from infrastructure issues
Set up alerting thresholds for availability, error rate, and response time and justify each threshold
Write an incident response runbook covering detection, triage, communication, and rollback
Practice diagnosing a simulated failure using only logs and metrics without direct server access

An incident response runbook plus a postmortem write-up of one simulated incident with a root cause identified

Week 8

Consolidate all prior deliverables into a single reviewable study portfolio
Rehearse explanations of the five weakest concepts identified from prior weeks
Complete a timed practice assessment and categorize every miss by domain
Close remaining knowledge gaps by writing corrected explanations for each missed area

A consolidated portfolio with a gap-closure log listing every missed practice item and its corrected explanation

Week 2: Can explain the full request path and deployment pipeline to another person without referring to notes

Week 4: Has performed at least one real deployment and one real rollback end to end in a non-production environment

Week 6: Can articulate the difference between cache invalidation and cache warming and demonstrate both

Week 8: Scores at or above target on a timed practice assessment with no domain below a defined floor