Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Associate study plan

Draw from memory the full path of an internet request to an instance in a private subnet: internet gateway, route table, security list, NSG, and subnet, labeling where each control acts.

Build a VCN with one public and two private subnets in different ADs, attach an internet gateway and a NAT gateway, and write the route rules that send only egress traffic through NAT.

Compare security lists and NSGs by writing three rules that must live in an NSG and three that must live in a security list, and explain why each placement is required.

Explain when to choose a service gateway over a NAT gateway for Object Storage traffic, including the routing and IAM policy implications.

Configure a site-to-site VPN and a FastConnect-style private connectivity option conceptually, listing which routing mode (static vs BGP) fits each scenario.

Design a hub-and-spoke topology using a DRG, and describe how to inspect traffic between spokes with a firewall appliance or network security groups.

Configure private DNS within a VCN and resolve an internal hostname from an instance without public DNS.

Troubleshoot a broken path by listing the five most common causes (route table, security list, NSG, gateway, DNS) and the command or console view that confirms each.

Map the tenancy hierarchy: tenancy, compartments, and policies, and write a policy that lets a group manage instances in one compartment only.

Write policies using condition-based access (request.principal.group, target.compartment.name, and tag-based conditions) and test at least two of them.

Configure dynamic groups and instance principals so an instance can read from Object Storage without stored credentials.

Set up MFA and identity federation concepts (IdP, SAML, mapping) and describe how group mapping drives authorization.

Audit the tenancy with the Audit service and identify who created or deleted a resource in the last 24 hours.

Select an instance shape for a given workload (general purpose, flexible, GPU, ARM/Ampere) and justify the choice by OCPU, memory, and network bandwidth.

Launch instances from a custom image and from a platform image, and describe the lifecycle states an instance passes through.

Configure an instance configuration and an autoscaling policy (metric-based and schedule-based), then explain how health checks trigger replacement.

Attach and configure block volumes on an instance, including paravirtualized vs iSCSI attachment and the performance difference.

Explain the shared responsibility boundary for patching at the OS level versus the hypervisor level.

Compare block volume, object storage, and file storage by access pattern, durability, and typical use case, and pick the right one for four given scenarios.

Configure Object Storage buckets with lifecycle policies that move objects to infrequent access and archive tiers, and state the retrieval-time and minimum-storage-duration tradeoffs.

Set up pre-authenticated requests and bucket policies, and explain when each is appropriate.

Create a file system, mount it from two instances, and describe the snapshot and clone workflow.

Back up a block volume and restore it to a new volume, confirming data integrity.

Provision an Autonomous Database (serverless) and connect with a wallet, then run a query from a client.

Describe the difference between Autonomous Transaction Processing and Autonomous Data Warehouse and when each is chosen.

Explain DB system options: VM DB system vs bare metal, RAC, Data Guard, and when each is warranted.

Plan a migration using one of the OCI-native tools (Data Pump, GoldenGate, Zero Downtime Migration) and justify the choice for a given source database.

Configure automatic backups and a restore for the Autonomous Database, and state the retention implications.

Design a multi-AD high-availability architecture for a web application and identify every single point of failure, including the load balancer and database tier.

Design a cross-region disaster recovery strategy with defined RPO and RTO, and map each component to a replication mechanism.

Configure a backup policy for block volumes and object storage, and state the difference between a backup policy and a lifecycle policy.

Set up monitoring alarms and notifications for a key metric, and configure the Logging service for a VCN flow log.

Identify three cost drivers in a sample architecture and propose concrete actions (right-sizing, lifecycle tiering, reserved capacity) with estimated savings.

Review every weak area identified in weeks 1-7 and redo the associated hands-on task without notes.

Complete a timed practice set and categorize every wrong answer by domain to find the pattern, not just the fact.

Recite the policy syntax, routing precedence, and storage tier tradeoffs from memory in under five minutes each.

Explain out loud the end-to-end architecture of a three-tier app on OCI, covering IAM, networking, compute, storage, database, and DR.