AWS FOR WINDOWS SELF-STUDY GUIDE

Introduction
This self-study guide is written for IT professionals, architects, and software developers who are
interested in learning how to design, build, and deploy Microsoft workloads on AWS. This guide is
organized by various “topic areas”, or workloads, relevant to running Windows on AWS. Each topic area
consists of “items”, such as whitepapers, videos, and hands-on labs. Each item includes a description, a
hyperlink to publically-available content, and a time estimate (in minutes). Most of this material could
be considered Level 200 or 300, but we’ve avoided those labels since many resources span multiple
levels.
In selecting these items, we have attempted to provide efficient learning paths and reduce duplication.
We expect the content referenced by the items to be updated independently, sometimes without
breaking the links in this guide. We are exploring appropriate ways to update this guide as new or
improved content becomes available.
The first topic area addresses AWS core service pre-requisites for running Microsoft workloads, then this
guide covers DevOps and System Administration, Security, Active Directory and Directory Services, SQL
Server, SharePoint Sever, Exchange Server, Skype for Business Server and Lync, SAP, Dynamics CRM,
Enterprise Application Migration, Visual Studio and .NET, Web Applications, and AWS Workspaces and
AppStream 2.0. It concludes with sections on Microsoft Licensing, Miscellaneous Windows Topics, and
an appendix of other resources.
Please note that many AWS services are not covered in this guide. The selected items focus on the
essentials to deploy traditional Microsoft stack applications on AWS.
Each item includes one of the following content type codes:
Lab: Qwiklab.com (account required) WP: Whitepaper QS: Quick Start
Doc: Documentation/Tutorial Video: Webinar/re:Invent Blog: Blog post

Regarding the time estimates, your mileage will vary. Many items can be browsed in less time than the
stated estimates, and in other cases, readers may want to explore or dive deep. You will notice that the
total time of the topic areas are not balanced. This is not to emphasize one over another; rather, this
simply reflects the availability of content. For example, today there are limited training resources about
running Dynamics CRM on AWS, and none for Dynamics NAV and AX. We hope to expand the available
content to cover additional topics most important to our customers. Please let us know your priorities.
AWS doesn’t currently offer a Microsoft-focused certification, and this guide isn’t focused on
certification preparation, but this guide could be a helpful supplement to someone studying for an AWS
Associate level certification. See this page for more information: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/
If you have feedback or questions about this guide, please email microsoft@amazon.com
Good luck with your studies!

Page 1|9
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
AWS for Windows Essentials: EC2, VPC, EBS ................................................................................................ 2
DevOps and System Administration ............................................................................................................. 3
Security ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Active Directory and Directory Service ......................................................................................................... 4
SQL Server ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
SharePoint Server ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Exchange Server ............................................................................................................................................ 6
Skype for Business Server and Lync Server ................................................................................................... 6
SAP on Windows ........................................................................................................................................... 6
Dynamics CRM .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Enterprise Application Migration.................................................................................................................. 6
Visual Studio, .NET, Elastic Beanstalk, and Lambda...................................................................................... 7
Web Applications .......................................................................................................................................... 8
AWS Workspaces and AppStream 2.0 .......................................................................................................... 8
Microsoft Licensing on AWS ......................................................................................................................... 8
Miscellaneous Microsoft Topics.................................................................................................................... 9
Appendix: Resources..................................................................................................................................... 9

AWS for Windows Essentials: EC2, VPC, EBS

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Lab Creating Amazon EC2 Instances with Microsoft Windows 25
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2549
Lab Introduction to Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) with Windows Server 25
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2929
WP AWS Storage Services Overview 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Storage/AWS%20Storage%20Services%20
Whitepaper-v9.pdf
Video Deep Dive on Amazon Elastic Block Store 61
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AHmTmCkdp8

Page 2|9
DevOps and System Administration
Type Notes and Links Mins.
WP Introduction to DevOps on AWS 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/AWS_DevOps.pdf
Video AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0- 50
cnBy5AoWk
Doc AWS Management Portal for VMware vCenter 30
https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/vcenter-portal/
Video Benefit from DevOps When Moving to AWS for Windows 55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0VjKvJHi6s
Video EC2 Systems Manager for Hybrid Cloud Management 52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZqmRSIqQ6Q&t=765s
Video How I learned to embrace DevOps and Configure Infrastructure at Scale 49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5TglwWI5Yo
Video Manage Inventory, Patching, and System Images for Your Hybrid Cloud 49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eal9K0aGLYI
WP Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Simple Systems Manager (SSM) 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/whitepaper-ec2-ssm.pdf
QS Remote Desktop Gateway on the AWS Cloud 60
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/rd-gateway/
QS Windows PowerShell DSC on the AWS Cloud 120
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/powershell-dsc/
Lab AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell: Getting Started 50
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2545
Lab Using Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration in AWS 60
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2861
Lab Using the AWS Management Pack for Microsoft System Center 85
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2608
Lab Using AWS Systems Manager for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine 85
Manager https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2811
Video Best Practices: OpsWorks for Windows on AWS 60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFBo-mIHryw
WP Using Amazon Web Services and DFS Replication for Disaster Recovery of File 30
Servers https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/implementing-windows-file-server-
disaster-recovery.pdf

Page 3|9
Security
Type Notes and Links Mins.
WP AWS Security Best Practices 65
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Security/AWS_Security_Best_Practices.pdf
Video Automated Governance of Your AWS Resources 50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P2I7HlrFtA
Video Mastering Access Control Policies 57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkr5enrsMks
Video AWS Security Roadshow - IAM Recommended Practices 39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-PyVnhxx-U
Video Running, Configuring, and Securing Windows Workloads 62
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXHmHFtA0kc
WP Securing the Microsoft Platform on Amazon Web Services 30
https://d3ulk6ur3a3ha.cloudfront.net/whitepapers/aws-microsoft-platform-
security.pdf
WP Single Sign-on to Amazon EC2-based .NET Applications 90
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/ec2-adfs-howto.pdf

Active Directory and Directory Service

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video Active Directory on AWS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK_IkNTUPGw 42
Video Architecting Microsoft Workloads on AWS 44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZowS9gwhW4
Video Best Practices for Integrating Active Directory with AWS Workloads 38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu-CpNFMELs
WP Managing Your Microsoft Windows Server Fleet with AWS Directory Service 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/simpledomainjoin.pdf
QS Active Directory Domain Services on the AWS Cloud 60
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/active-directory-ds/
QS Web Application Proxy on AWS 90
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/wap-adfs/
Blog Optimizing Joining Windows Server Instances to a Domain with PowerShell in AWS 45
CloudFormation https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/optimizing-joining-
windows-server-instances-to-a-domain-with-powershell-in-aws-cloudformation/

Page 4|9
SQL Server
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video Best Practices: SQL Server on Amazon RDS and EC2 41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtASjS0hVDA
Video SQL Server on AWS for High Availability 42
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddf0kBQ24fk
Video Design, Deploy, and Optimize Microsoft SQL Server on AWS 58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIuLY2u7v8
WP Deploying Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon Web Services 75
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/RDS/Deploying_SQLServer_on_AWS.pdf
Lab Introduction to Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) – SQL Server 35
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2944
Lab Administering Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server 90
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2561
Lab SQL Server in Amazon EC2: Getting Started https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2583 90
Lab SQL Server 2016 AlwaysOn Availability Groups in Amazon EC2 117
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2980
QS SQL Server with WSFC on the AWS Cloud 180
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/sql/

SharePoint Server
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video SharePoint 2013 on AWS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO0Pd87jg1w 38
Lab SharePoint Server on AWS (part 1): Getting Started 90
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2553
Lab Deploy a SharePoint Server Farm on AWS https://run.qwiklab.com/focuses/2791 70
WP Estimating AWS Deployment Costs for Microsoft SharePoint Server 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/estimating-aws-deployment-costs-for-
sharepoint.pdf
QS Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016 on the AWS Cloud 180
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/sharepoint/
YouTube - re:Invent WIN304 Design, Deploy, and Optimize Microsoft SharePoint
on AWS
SlideShare - re:Invent WIN304 Design, Deploy, and Optimize Microsoft SharePoint
on AWS

Page 5|9
Exchange Server
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video Exchange Server 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTwCXoSrCX0 55
WP Implementing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 in the AWS Cloud 40
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/AWS_Exchange_Planning_Implementation
_Guide.pdf
Lab Running Microsoft Exchange 2013 SP1 on AWS https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2582 60
QS Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 on the AWS Cloud 180
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/exchange/

Skype for Business Server and Lync Server

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Lab Skype for Business Server on AWS: Getting Started 117
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2607
QS Microsoft Lync Server 2013 on the AWS Cloud 120
https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/lync/

SAP on Windows
Type Notes and Links Mins.
WP Implementing SAP Solutions on Amazon Web Services 30
http://awsmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/SAP_on_AWS_Implementation_Guide_v3.pdf
WP SAP on Amazon Web Services High Availability Guide 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/enterprise-marketing/SAP/sap-on-aws-high-availability-
guide.pdf

Dynamics CRM
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Lab Installing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 on AWS: Getting Started 85
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2572

Enterprise Application Migration

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Blog AWS Server Migration Service https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-aws- 15
server-migration-service/
Doc AWS Direct Connect FAQs https://aws.amazon.com/directconnect/faqs/ 20

Page 6|9
WP AWS Database Migration Service Best Practices 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/RDS/AWS_Database_Migration_Service_Be
st_Practices.pdf
Doc Getting Started with AWS Database Migration 30
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/dms/latest/userguide/CHAP_GettingStarted.html
WP An Overview of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework 20
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/aws_cloud_adoption_framework.pdf
Video Migrate Applications to AWS Quickly, Multisite Replication and SQL HA 41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd5mOBZAPVQ
Doc AWS Server Migration User Guide http://docs.aws.amazon.com/server-migration- 30
service/latest/userguide/server-migration.html
WP AWS Well-Architected Framework 60
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/architecture/AWS_Well-
Architected_Framework.pdf

Visual Studio, .NET, Elastic Beanstalk, and Lambda

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video Turbocharge Your Microsoft .NET Developments with AWS 59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miymscHdlHY
Lab Working with AWS CodeCommit on Windows https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/3016 45
Video Deploying and Managing .NET Pipelines and Microsoft Workloads 57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ZlIq7lOW8
Lab Programming Amazon S3 with .NET https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2551 70
Lab Programming AWS Security Token Service (STS) with .NET 55
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2581
Lab Programming Amazon DynamoDB with .NET https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2790 75
Lab Programming Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS with .NET 70
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2579
Video Developing Serverless C# Applications with AWS Lambda 50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymn6WGCSjE4
Lab Programming AWS Lambda for Windows https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2580 65
Doc Tutorial: How to Deploy a .NET Sample Application Using AWS Elastic Beanstalk 30
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/create_deploy_NET.quick
start.html
WP Optimizing ASP.NET with C++ AMP on the GPU 45
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/optimizing-asp-net-with-cpp-amp-on-the-
gpu.pdf

Page 7|9
Web Applications
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Lab Introduction to Amazon ElastiCache with Windows Server 25
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2924
Lab Windows Server Website Hosting on AWS: Getting Started 85
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2863
WP Hosting Static Websites on AWS 40
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/Storage/Building%20Static%20Websites%2
0on%20AWS.pdf
WP Blue/Green Deployments on AWS 30
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/AWS_Blue_Green_Deployments.pdf

AWS Workspaces and AppStream 2.0

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Video Deploying Amazon WorkSpaces at Enterprise Scale 47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppP7rrkqc8
Video Best Practices from the Trenches: Deploy Amazon WorkSpaces Like a Pro 54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q-ahnw2Lsc
Doc Amazon WorkSpaces Administration Guide 120
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/workspaces/latest/adminguide/workspaces-ag.pdf
Video Deliver Desktop Applications to Any Device, Anywhere with AppStream 2.0 51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YAxsI6UaX0
Video Building SaaS Offerings for Desktop Apps with Amazon AppStream 2.0 55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69PGgSvHOEo

Microsoft Licensing on AWS

Type Notes and Links Mins.
Doc Microsoft Licensing on AWS 20
https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/
Doc Amazon Web Services and Microsoft https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/ 30

Page 8|9
Miscellaneous Microsoft Topics
Type Notes and Links Mins.
Lab Using Windows Server Storage Spaces with Amazon EBS 65
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2862
WP Using Windows Storage Spaces and iSCSI on Amazon EBS 40
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/using-windows-storage-spaces-and-iscsi-
on-amazon-ebs.pdf
Lab Oracle 11G on Windows Server 2012 R2: Getting Started 75
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2577
Lab Microsoft DirectAccess on AWS: Getting Started 90
https://qwiklabs.com/focuses/2871

Appendix: Resources
 Windows Server Solutions on AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/?nc1=f_dr
 Resources for Windows on AWS https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/
 Microsoft whitepapers: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/whitepapers/
 Whitepapers https://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/
 AWS Quick Starts: https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/
 AWS Certifications: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/
 AWS Microsoft FAQ (licensing): https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/
 AWS for Windows Case Studies: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/case-studies/
 AWS Monthly Webinar Series: https://aws.amazon.com/about-
aws/events/monthlywebinarseries/
 Windows Hands-on Lab Webinars: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/events/hands-on-labs/
 AWS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT-nPlVzJI-ccQXlxjSvJmw
 Windows on Amazon EC2 Documentation:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/concepts.html
 Training – AWS for Windows: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/training/
 AWS Partner Network https://aws.amazon.com/partners/

Page 9|9