Alibaba SysOps Administrator study plan
Alibaba SysOps Administrator · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
ECS and compute operations
Provision ECS instances via console and CLI across multiple instance families and compare their specs
Configure and modify instance metadata, user data, and custom images
Create and attach system and data disks, then resize and re-initialize them
Explain the instance lifecycle states and how stopping, starting, and releasing affect billing
Your checkpoint
A one-page cheat sheet mapping ECS instance families, disk types, and billing modes to use cases, plus a working CLI script that launches an instance and attaches a data disk
ECS and compute operations & Storage and data management (OSS, NAS, disks, snapshots, backup)
Automate ECS snapshots and create custom images from snapshots
Configure auto snapshot policies and verify retention behavior
Mount and benchmark an OSS bucket from an ECS instance using ossutil
Set up an NAS file system and mount it across two ECS instances
Your checkpoint
A repeatable backup runbook that snapshots a data disk, creates a custom image, and restores both to a new instance, validated end to end
Networking (VPC, SLB, DNS, connectivity)
Design a VPC with multiple vSwitches across zones and assign CIDR blocks without overlap
Configure route tables and NAT Gateway for outbound internet access from private instances
Deploy an SLB with health checks and verify traffic distribution across backend servers
Configure private DNS resolution and test record propagation with dig
Your checkpoint
A network diagram plus working lab where private instances reach the internet through NAT Gateway and are served by an SLB with passing health checks
Security, identity and access management (RAM, security groups, certificates) & Storage and data management (OSS, NAS, disks, snapshots, backup)
Create RAM users, groups, and custom policies using least-privilege scoping
Configure security group rules and test allowed and denied traffic paths
Enable OSS bucket versioning and lifecycle rules for cost and retention control
Upload and bind an SSL certificate to an SLB listener
Your checkpoint
A security baseline document listing RAM policies, security group rules, and OSS lifecycle rules, each applied in the lab and verified with a test that should succeed and one that should fail
Monitoring, alerting and logging (CloudMonitor, Log Service)
Configure CloudMonitor agent metrics and create alarm rules with notification contacts
Build a Log Service project, logstore, and machine group, then collect ECS logs
Write a Log Service query and save it as a dashboard panel
Create an event-triggered alert based on a log query
Your checkpoint
A monitoring dashboard plus two working alarms (one metric-based, one log-based) that fire in a test scenario and notify the configured contact
Automation and infrastructure as code (ROS, Cloud Assistant, APIs, CLI)
Write a ROS template that provisions a VPC, ECS instance, and security group
Deploy and update the stack, then roll back to a previous version
Run Cloud Assistant commands across multiple instances by tag
Automate a routine task using Alibaba Cloud CLI and a scheduled trigger
Your checkpoint
A version-controlled ROS template that deploys a reproducible two-tier environment, plus a CLI script that runs a Cloud Assistant command across tagged instances
High availability, scaling and disaster recovery
Configure an Auto Scaling group with scaling rules tied to CloudMonitor metrics
Deploy an SLB with backend instances across multiple zones and test failover
Implement a cross-region backup of an OSS bucket and verify restore
Document an RTO and RPO for a sample workload and map it to implemented controls
Your checkpoint
A disaster recovery plan document with measured failover and restore times from a live drill, plus the scaling group configuration that handled a simulated load spike
Troubleshooting and operational best practices & ECS and compute operations & Networking (VPC, SLB, DNS, connectivity)
Diagnose a broken instance-to-instance connectivity scenario using security groups, route tables, and logs
Troubleshoot a failed instance start by inspecting system logs and Cloud Assistant output
Review the full domain checklist and close gaps in the two lowest-scoring areas
Complete two timed practice sets and review every missed item
Your checkpoint
A troubleshooting playbook of at least six symptom-to-root-cause entries, each validated in the lab, plus a scored practice exam log with remediation notes
Milestones
Week 2: Can launch, snapshot, image, and restore an ECS instance from the CLI without consulting notes
Week 4: Can design and deploy a VPC with NAT, SLB, and least-privilege RAM from scratch in under 90 minutes
Week 6: Can deploy a multi-resource environment from a ROS template and roll it back cleanly
Week 7: Can demonstrate an Auto Scaling failover and a cross-region restore with measured times
Week 8: Scores 80% or higher on two timed practice sets with all missed items remediated