Oracle Cloud AR study plan

Map every OCI security primitive (IAM policies, security lists, NSGs, VCN flow logs, Vault, Cloud Guard, Security Zones) into a one-page reference table with the exact scope and enforcement point of each

Decompose a three-tier web architecture into subnets, route tables, gateways, and security-list/NSG rules, then justify each allow rule in writing

Configure an OCI Vault master encryption key and describe key rotation and key-version lifecycle in your own notes

Draft a written threat model for a public-facing workload covering lateral movement, data exfiltration, and credential compromise

Design a resilience pattern that combines fault domains, availability domains, and regional vs. cross-region placement, and state the failure each layer absorbs

Compare backup, replication, and standby strategies for block volume, object storage, and file storage, and pick one per workload tier with a stated RPO and RTO

Define Cloud Guard detector recipes and Security Zone policies that would block a deliberately misconfigured public bucket or open SSH rule

Write the IAM policy statements required to isolate a security-operations compartment so auditors can read logs but not mutate resources

Select compute shapes (flexible VM, bare metal, GPU, Arm-based Ampere) for three contrasting workloads and justify each choice on CPU/memory ratio, licensing, and scaling behavior

Size and place block volumes (VPUs, performance tiers) and object storage tiers for a media-processing pipeline, documenting the throughput math

Design a VCN with public and private subnets, NAT gateway, service gateway, internet gateway, and a transit path to on-premises via FastConnect or Site-to-Site VPN

Configure a load balancer and a network load balancer in front of the same application tier and explain which health-check and stickiness settings differ and why

Model a compartment hierarchy for a multi-team organization and translate it into IAM policy statements at tenancy, compartment, and resource level

Differentiate dynamic groups, identity domains, federation with an external IdP, and instance principals, and assign the correct mechanism to four access scenarios

Design a tagging taxonomy with defined keys, values, and enforcement via defined tags and tag defaults, and explain how tags feed cost and policy decisions

Specify the audit and logging baseline (Audit, Service Connector Hub, Logging) that proves who changed what in each compartment

Build a cost model that maps compartments and tags to budgets, and configure budget alerts with forecast-based thresholds

Compare Autonomous Database, Base Database, and Exadata shapes for two workloads, covering scaling, patching, and licensing implications

Design a database HA and backup plan using Data Guard, automatic backups, and point-in-time recovery with stated retention

Define the observability stack (metrics, alarms, notifications, APM, Logging Analytics) for one critical service and name the alarm thresholds

Identify idle and over-provisioned resources using cost analysis and usage reports, and propose rightsizing actions with expected savings

Explain how committed-use discounts and flexible shapes change the cost curve, and calculate a break-even point for a sample workload

Correlate a simulated failure across metrics, logs, and traces to isolate root cause, and document the query or filter used at each step

Draft runbook steps for responding to a database failover and a storage latency alarm

Assemble an end-to-end reference architecture that satisfies security, resilience, networking, identity, database, and cost requirements in one coherent design

Stress-test the design against three failure scenarios and three compliance constraints, and record the design changes each forces

Write the decision log explaining every major trade-off, including rejected alternatives

Time-box a full-length practice set and tag each miss back to its domain

Re-drill every weak objective identified in week 7 until each is explained aloud without notes

Rehearse the highest-risk topics: IAM policy syntax, security-list vs. NSG behavior, Data Guard topologies, and budget/committed-use math

Complete two timed practice sets and analyze error patterns by domain rather than by question

Finalize a one-page exam-day sheet of decision rules and common traps