Best Architect Exam Prep Podcasts (2025)

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CSE Live: CSE Mock Exam | California Supplemental Exam 2025 20:33

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12d ago20:33

20:33

Save 30% on CSE Exam Prep: https://www.blackspectacles.com/cse-pricing?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=cse_live_podcastIn this episode of CSE Live, Black Spectacles hosts a mock exam on the California Supplemental Exam focused on Contract Development, Project Planning, Construction Documents, Permitting, Project Bidding & Constru…

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ARE Live: Practice Management Mock Exam | ARE 5.0 PcM Exam November 2025 51:44

11d ago51:44

51:44

Save 30% on ARE 5.0 exam prep: https://www.blackspectacles.com/pricing?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=are_live_podcastJoin Black Spectacles and architect Chris Hopstock to learn the best study strategies for passing the PcM exam.On this episode of ARE Live, we walk through a mock exam for the Practice Management division of the …

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ARE Live: Project Development & Documentation Mock Exam | ARE 5.0 PDD Exam 2025 57:15

1M ago57:15

57:15

Learn more about ARE 5.0 exam prep here: https://www.blackspectacles.com/pricing.Join Black Spectacles and architect Chris Hopstock to learn the best study strategies for passing the PDD exam.On this episode of ARE Live, we walk through a mock exam for the Project Development & Documentation division of the ARE 5.0. You'll learn about the PDD exam …

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CSE Live: CSE Mock Exam | Schematic Design & Discretionary Approval 29:43

2M ago29:43

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Save 10% on CSE Exam Prep here: https://www.blackspectacles.com/cse-pricing.In this episode of CSE Live, Black Spectacles hosts a mock exam on the California Supplemental Exam focused on Schematic Design & Discretionary Approval!Timestamps:4:12 - Question No. 17:53 - Question No. 211:11 - Question No. 316:34 - Question No. 419:38 - Question No. 5Se…

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Welcome to the AWS CCP 1:55

2M ago1:55

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By Jason Edwards

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ARE Live: Construction & Evaluation Mock Exam | ARE 5.0 CE Exam 2025 1:06:50

3M ago1:06:50

1:06:50

Learn more about ARE 5.0 exam prep here: https://www.blackspectacles.com/pricing.Join Black Spectacles and architect Chris Hopstock to learn the best study strategies for passing the CE exam.On this episode of ARE Live, we walk through a mock exam for the Construction & Evaluation division of the ARE 5.0. You'll learn about the CE exam and we'll co…

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CSE Live: Understanding California Practice 33:39

3M ago33:39

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Save 10% on CSE Exam Prep here: https://www.blackspectacles.com/cse-pricing.In this episode of CSE Live, Black Spectacles breaks down some of the most important and commonly misunderstood sections of the California Supplemental Exam (CSE). Learn what you need to know about the Architects Practice Act, California Building Code, and essential contrac…

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Episode 106: Domain 4 Wrap-Up: Key Takeaways 19:09

3M ago19:09

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In this final episode of Domain 4, we wrap up the key concepts and takeaways from the Billing, Pricing, and Support domain of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. This domain focuses on understanding AWS’s pricing models, cost management tools, and the different AWS support plans available. We’ll summarize the most important topics, including…

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Episode 105: AWS Support Plans (Basic → Enterprise) 20:28

3M ago20:28

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In this episode, we explore AWS Support Plans, which provide varying levels of assistance and resources to help you manage and troubleshoot your AWS environment. AWS offers four support plans: Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise. We’ll start by explaining the features of the Basic support plan, which is free and provides access to AWS custom…

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Episode 104: AWS Organizations & Consolidated Billing 18:01

3M ago18:01

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In this episode, we explore AWS Organizations and Consolidated Billing, two services that help you manage multiple AWS accounts and optimize costs across your organization. AWS Organizations allows you to create and manage groups of AWS accounts, enabling you to apply policies, manage access, and centralize billing. We’ll walk you through how to se…

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Episode 103: AWS Budgets & Cost Explorer 18:09

3M ago18:09

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In this episode, we cover AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Explorer, two essential tools for monitoring, managing, and optimizing your AWS costs. AWS Budgets allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets for your AWS services and receive alerts when your usage or spending exceeds those thresholds. We’ll walk you through how to create cost and usage budge…

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Episode 102: AWS Pricing Calculator (Conceptual, Audio-Friendly) 15:23

3M ago15:23

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In this episode, we introduce the AWS Pricing Calculator, a powerful tool for estimating the costs of AWS services based on your specific usage patterns. The AWS Pricing Calculator allows you to create and customize cost estimates for a wide range of services, including EC2, S3, RDS, and more. We’ll walk you through how to use the calculator, build…

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Episode 101: Data Transfer Pricing (Hidden Costs) 30:13

3M ago30:13

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In this episode, we explore one of the often-overlooked aspects of AWS pricing: data transfer costs. AWS charges for data transferred between different AWS services, regions, and out to the internet, and these costs can quickly add up if not carefully managed. We’ll walk you through the different types of data transfer costs, including data transfe…

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Episode 100: Savings Plans & Dedicated Hosts 18:38

3M ago18:38

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In this episode, we dive into two important cost optimization strategies within AWS: Savings Plans and Dedicated Hosts. Savings Plans offer flexible pricing for AWS compute services like EC2, Lambda, and Fargate, allowing you to save up to 72% over On-Demand pricing in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of usage for one or three years…

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Episode 99: On-Demand vs. Reserved vs. Spot Instances 21:35

3M ago21:35

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In this episode, we provide a detailed comparison of On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot Instances, helping you decide which option is best for your AWS workloads. On-Demand Instances are the most flexible and allow you to pay for compute capacity by the hour or second, making them ideal for unpredictable workloads. However, they can be more expensive co…

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Episode 98: AWS Pricing Models Overview 21:09

3M ago21:09

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In this episode, we explore the different pricing models available for AWS services, helping you understand how to optimize costs while using AWS resources. AWS offers several pricing models to cater to various needs, including On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot Instances, as well as Savings Plans. We’ll walk you through each of these models, starting w…

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Episode 97: Domain 3 Audio Quiz: Scenario Walkthroughs 21:23

3M ago21:23

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In this episode, we provide scenario-based questions related to Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services. Scenario-based questions test your ability to apply your knowledge of AWS services in real-world situations, such as deciding on the best storage solution for an application or selecting the right compute resource for a specific workload. We’ll …

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Episode 96: Domain 3 Audio Quiz: Practice Questions 20:43

3M ago20:43

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In this episode, we put your knowledge of Domain 3 to the test with practice questions based on the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. These questions will cover the key AWS services and concepts discussed in Domain 3, including EC2, S3, RDS, and networking. We’ll walk you through each question, providing detailed explanations for the correct a…

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Episode 95: Domain 3 Wrap-Up: Key Takeaways 24:06

3M ago24:06

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In this episode, we wrap up Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services, summarizing the key concepts and topics that you need to understand for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. This domain covers a wide range of AWS services, including compute, storage, networking, and databases, as well as essential concepts like high availability, elastici…

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Episode 94: AI Services: Translate & Transcribe 22:39

3M ago22:39

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In this episode, we explore two AWS AI services designed to help you break language barriers and convert speech into text: Amazon Translate and Amazon Transcribe. Amazon Translate is a neural machine translation service that delivers high-quality, real-time translations between numerous languages. We’ll walk you through how to use Translate for bui…

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Episode 93: AI Services: Rekognition & Comprehend 22:26

3M ago22:26

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In this episode, we explore two additional AI services from AWS: Amazon Rekognition and Amazon Comprehend. Amazon Rekognition is a powerful service for analyzing images and videos using machine learning. Rekognition can identify objects, scenes, faces, and even text within images and videos, making it useful for a wide range of applications such as…

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Episode 92: AI Services: Lex & Polly 22:22

3M ago22:22

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In this episode, we explore two powerful AWS AI services: Amazon Lex and Amazon Polly. Amazon Lex is a service for building conversational interfaces, such as chatbots and voice assistants, using deep learning techniques for natural language understanding (NLU) and automatic speech recognition (ASR). We’ll explain how to use Lex to create chatbots …

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Episode 91: SageMaker Overview 20:03

3M ago20:03

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In this episode, we introduce Amazon SageMaker, AWS’s fully managed service that provides tools for building, training, and deploying machine learning (ML) models. SageMaker simplifies the process of developing machine learning models by offering a wide range of tools and frameworks that streamline everything from data preparation to model deployme…

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Episode 90: Amazon QuickSight 17:43

3M ago17:43

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In this episode, we explore Amazon QuickSight, a fast, cloud-powered business intelligence (BI) service that makes it easy to create and publish interactive dashboards and reports. QuickSight enables you to visualize and analyze data stored in AWS services like S3, RDS, and Redshift, as well as third-party data sources. We’ll walk you through how t…

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Episode 89: Amazon Kinesis 18:12

3M ago18:12

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In this episode, we introduce Amazon Kinesis, a suite of services that enables you to easily collect, process, and analyze real-time streaming data at massive scale. Kinesis is designed for workloads like real-time analytics, monitoring, and log processing, where you need to process data in real-time as it arrives. We’ll walk you through the key co…

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Episode 88: Athena & Glue 19:01

3M ago19:01

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In this episode, we focus on Amazon Athena and AWS Glue, two powerful services for querying and processing data in the cloud. Amazon Athena is an interactive query service that allows you to analyze large datasets stored in Amazon S3 using standard SQL queries. We’ll walk you through how to set up Athena, create tables, and run SQL queries to extra…

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Episode 87: Backup & Glacier 19:32

3M ago19:32

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In this episode, we discuss AWS Backup and Amazon Glacier, two critical services for ensuring the durability, security, and long-term retention of your data in the cloud. AWS Backup is a fully managed backup service that automates the backup of AWS resources such as EC2 instances, RDS databases, EFS file systems, and DynamoDB tables. We’ll walk you…

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Episode 86: Storage Gateway 17:05

3M ago17:05

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In this episode, we explore AWS Storage Gateway, a hybrid cloud storage service that enables you to seamlessly connect on-premises environments with AWS Cloud storage. AWS Storage Gateway provides a set of services to extend your on-premises applications to the cloud by allowing them to securely store data in Amazon S3, Glacier, or other AWS servic…

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Episode 85: EFS & FSx 20:38

3M ago20:38

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In this episode, we explore Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) and Amazon FSx, two fully managed file storage services provided by AWS that are designed for different use cases. Amazon EFS is a scalable, elastic file storage service that can be used with EC2 instances, containers, and on-premises servers. It is ideal for workloads that require shared…

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Episode 84: EBS vs. Instance Store 21:40

3M ago21:40

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In this episode, we compare Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) and Instance Store, two types of storage options available for EC2 instances. EBS provides persistent block-level storage that is independent of your EC2 instance. It retains data even if the instance is stopped or terminated, making it ideal for storing important data such as databases, …

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Episode 83: Lifecycle Policies & Versioning 21:06

3M ago21:06

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In this episode, we focus on Amazon S3’s lifecycle policies and versioning, two powerful features that help you manage your data over time. S3 Lifecycle policies allow you to automate the movement of objects between storage classes based on predefined rules, helping you optimize costs and ensure that your data is stored efficiently. We’ll walk you …

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Episode 82: S3 Storage Classes 20:23

3M ago20:23

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In this episode, we dive deeper into Amazon S3’s various storage classes, which provide different cost and performance options for storing data in the cloud. Amazon S3 offers several storage classes to help you optimize costs based on your data access patterns. We’ll walk you through the different storage classes, including the Standard storage cla…

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Episode 81: S3 Basics 18:27

3M ago18:27

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In this episode, we introduce Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), AWS’s object storage service designed to store and retrieve any amount of data, from anywhere on the web. Amazon S3 is known for its scalability, durability, and security, making it ideal for storing everything from static website files and backups to large datasets and media files. …

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Episode 80: Direct Connect & VPN 25:28

3M ago25:28

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In this episode, we explore two key networking services in AWS: AWS Direct Connect and VPN (Virtual Private Network). AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated network connection between your on-premises environment and AWS, bypassing the public internet to offer more reliable, secure, and lower-latency connectivity. We’ll walk you through how to set…

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Episode 79: CloudFront & Global Accelerator 25:40

3M ago25:40

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In this episode, we explore two powerful AWS services for improving the performance and availability of your global applications: Amazon CloudFront and AWS Global Accelerator. CloudFront is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that caches copies of your content at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency and improving the speed of content delivery. W…

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Episode 78: Amazon Route 53 25:38

3M ago25:38

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In this episode, we dive into Amazon Route 53, AWS’s scalable Domain Name System (DNS) service, which is used for routing end-user requests to applications hosted on AWS. Route 53 offers domain registration, DNS routing, and health checking, providing a complete solution for managing your domain names and directing traffic to AWS services like EC2 …

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Episode 77: Security Groups vs. NACLs 23:25

3M ago23:25

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In this episode, we dive into the differences between Security Groups and Network Access Control Lists (NACLs), two key AWS features used to control access to your resources in a VPC. While both serve the purpose of controlling inbound and outbound traffic, they operate at different layers within the network. Security Groups are stateful firewalls …

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Episode 76: VPC Basics (Subnets, Route Tables, Gateways) 26:20

3M ago26:20

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In this episode, we explore the basics of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), which is the foundational service for building a secure, isolated network environment within AWS. VPC allows you to define your own network topology, including creating subnets, configuring route tables, and setting up gateways for communication with the internet and othe…

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Episode 75: Database Migration Service 23:22

3M ago23:22

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In this episode, we focus on AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), which simplifies the process of migrating databases to AWS with minimal downtime. Whether you’re moving a database to Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, or any other AWS service, DMS allows you to replicate your data in real-time and complete your migration with minimal disruption to your a…

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Episode 74: Amazon Neptune 23:25

3M ago23:25

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In this episode, we explore Amazon Neptune, AWS’s fully managed graph database service designed for building and running applications that work with highly connected datasets. Neptune supports two popular graph models: Property Graph and RDF (Resource Description Framework), which makes it suitable for use cases like social networks, recommendation…

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Episode 73: ElastiCache 22:46

3M ago22:46

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In this episode, we dive into Amazon ElastiCache, a fully managed, in-memory data store service designed to accelerate application performance by caching frequently accessed data. ElastiCache supports two popular open-source caching engines: Redis and Memcached. We’ll explore how to use ElastiCache to offload database queries and reduce latency, en…

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Episode 72: DynamoDB 23:42

3M ago23:42

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In this episode, we focus on Amazon DynamoDB, a fully managed, serverless NoSQL database service designed for high-availability and low-latency performance. DynamoDB is ideal for applications that require real-time data access and can scale horizontally to handle massive amounts of traffic. We’ll walk you through the basic features of DynamoDB, inc…

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Episode 71: Amazon Aurora 21:38

3M ago21:38

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In this episode, we explore Amazon Aurora, a relational database engine that is compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL but designed for the cloud with high performance, scalability, and availability. Aurora provides faster performance than traditional MySQL databases while offering the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open-source databases. We’ll…

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Episode 70: Relational Databases with RDS 27:53

3M ago27:53

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In this episode, we dive deep into Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service), AWS’s fully managed relational database service. Amazon RDS supports multiple database engines, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. We’ll walk you through how to set up an RDS instance, choose the appropriate database engine, and configu…

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Episode 69: Intro to AWS Databases 28:42

3M ago28:42

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In this episode, we provide an introduction to the various AWS database services available, helping you understand the different types of databases and their use cases. AWS offers a wide range of database services, from relational databases like Amazon RDS and Aurora to NoSQL databases such as DynamoDB, as well as fully managed in-memory databases …

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Episode 68: Amazon ECR 16:43

3M ago16:43

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In this episode, we focus on Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), a fully managed container registry service that makes it easy to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images. ECR integrates seamlessly with Amazon ECS and EKS, allowing you to build, store, and run containerized applications within the AWS ecosystem. We’ll explain how to c…

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Episode 67: Amazon EKS 18:10

3M ago18:10

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In this episode, we explore Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), a fully managed service that makes it easy to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install or manage your own Kubernetes control plane. Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration, and EKS provides a highly available, scalable platform for running c…

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Episode 66: Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) 19:05

3M ago19:05

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In this episode, we dive into Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), AWS’s highly scalable, fast, and secure container management service. ECS makes it easy to run, stop, and manage Docker containers on a cluster of EC2 instances. We’ll walk you through the basics of ECS, including how to create a cluster, define services, and run containerized ap…

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Episode 65: AWS Fargate 17:25

3M ago17:25

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In this episode, we explore AWS Fargate, a serverless compute engine for containers that allows you to run Docker containers without managing the underlying EC2 instances. Fargate abstracts away the infrastructure management, so you can focus on defining your containerized applications and deploying them at scale. We’ll explain how to integrate Far…

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Episode 64: AWS Lambda 16:52

3M ago16:52

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In this episode, we take a deep dive into AWS Lambda, one of the most popular serverless compute services offered by AWS. AWS Lambda allows you to run code in response to events, such as changes to data in Amazon S3, DynamoDB updates, or HTTP requests via API Gateway. We’ll walk you through how to create Lambda functions, configure triggers, and in…