Summary of "Week 7 Lab: AWS and Azure Platforms"

Week 7 overview — role reversal

Week 7 reverses roles: students who used AWS in the first six weeks must now use Azure, and those who used Azure must now use AWS. Everyone must create and work in the opposite cloud platform.

The instructor reiterated the course progression from the first six weeks and explained how the remaining weeks and lab tasks will be organized and assessed.

Goals

Gain hands‑on skills on both AWS and Azure.
Deploy end‑to‑end web applications and ML (MLOps) applications.
Demonstrate deployment, scaling, and operational awareness for both application types.

Purpose and rationale

Employers commonly ask about both AWS and Azure; familiarity with only one platform can risk poor interview outcomes.
The course requires competence on both platforms; future quizzes, exams, or lab tasks may use either platform.

What you must know from the first six weeks (recap)

Week 1: Account creation; explore regions, availability zones, and cloud services.
Week 2: Identity and security services (IAM, roles, policies, etc.).
Week 3: Database and storage services.
Week 4: Compute services.
Weeks 5–6: Web application development and deployment.

Refer back to the week 1 and week 2 lab videos/materials and apply those same tasks on the opposite platform.

Lab organization and upcoming focus

Role reversal begins in week 7: switch to the platform you have not used.
Over the next four weeks you will complete the remaining platform tasks. Split work across lab sessions, for example:
- Do two tasks in one lab and two in the next.
- Put web application work in one lab session.
- Put ML/AML (MLOps) work in another lab session.
Ultimate outcome: deploy a web application and an ML application end‑to‑end on the assigned cloud and show scaling and operational considerations.

Steps and checklist for the next (tomorrow’s) lab

Create an account on the opposite platform (Azure if you used AWS; AWS if you used Azure).
- Preferably create the account before the lab to avoid connectivity or OTP issues.
- If needed, get help from a classmate who already has experience with that platform.
Immediately after account creation:
- Explore regions, availability zones, and available services.
- Study identity and security services (review IAM, role management, and security best practices).
Refer to week 1 and week 2 lab materials and repeat those tasks on the alternate platform.
If you still have pending work on your original platform, finish it first, then switch to the alternate platform.

Practical tips and logistics

Create accounts at home if possible to avoid OTP / signal problems in the lab.
Pair or consult neighbors/peers who have prior experience with the platform for faster onboarding.
Keep and maintain lab notebooks — the instructor will collect them and verify that notes for all six weeks are prepared.

Assessment and expectations

You must be able to work on either cloud platform when asked in quizzes, exams, or the final lab test.
Lab notebooks will be checked to ensure documentation of six weeks of work.