Reference and External Source Map

This module has no local book chunks for cloud-platform fundamentals. The semester book library now supports later modules with CI/CD, security, and engineering-practice texts, but this module still escalates to official provider documentation for every primary concept.

This is intentional. For a tool-heavy, API-heavy, configuration-heavy subject, official docs are the authoritative source and change more often than any textbook can track.

Source Roles

Source	Role	Why it is here
AWS official docs	Primary	AWS is the most widely used cloud platform and the clearest vocabulary to anchor on; every concept page's default "see also" points here
GCP official docs	Cross-provider reference	Use when a concept has a sharper version (Cloud Run) or when the vocabulary differs
Azure Learn	Cross-provider reference	Use for Well-Architected-style framing and for regions/AZs cross-check
AWS Well-Architected framework	Selective support	For shared-responsibility and reliability framing
Twelve-Factor App	Selective support	Application patterns that make higher rungs of the ladder viable

External Reference Map by Cluster

Cluster 1: What a Cloud Platform Is

• AWS Shared Responsibility Model
• Well-Architected Security Pillar: Shared responsibility
• AWS EC2: Regions and Zones
• Azure: What are availability zones?
• Azure Well-Architected: Using Availability Zones and Regions
• The Twelve-Factor App

Cluster 2: Compute

• EC2 Auto Scaling: Auto Scaling groups
• EC2 Auto Scaling: Mixed instance types and purchase options
• Architect for AWS Fargate for Amazon ECS
• Google Cloud Run
• Lambda function scaling (cold starts, concurrency)
• Lambda provisioned concurrency
• Lambda SnapStart

Cluster 3: Networking

• Amazon VPC: How it works
• Amazon VPC: Subnets for your VPC
• Amazon VPC: VPC basics
• AWS: Elastic Load Balancing
• AWS: What is an Application Load Balancer?
• Route 53: Private hosted zones
• AWS PrivateLink: Accessing AWS services

Cluster 4: Storage and Databases

• AWS decision guide: Choosing an AWS storage service
• AWS Overview whitepaper: Storage services
• AWS: When to choose Amazon EFS
• Amazon RDS
• Amazon Aurora overview
• Overview of Data Transfer Costs for Common Architectures
• CUR: Understanding data transfer charges

Cluster 5: Identity and Accounts

• IAM JSON policy element reference
• IAM JSON policy elements: Principal
• IAM identities: users, groups, roles
• AWS Control Tower: Multi-account landing zone
• Prescriptive Guidance: Account structure and OUs
• OU structure in regulated AWS landing zones
• Tagging Best Practices: Cost allocation tags
• Tagging Best Practices: Building a cost allocation strategy

Concept-to-Source Map

Concept	Best external URL	Why
01 Shared-responsibility model	AWS Shared Responsibility Model	Canonical diagram and narrative
02 Regions, AZs, failure domains	AWS EC2: Regions and Zones	Authoritative semantics including AZ IDs
03 IaaS/PaaS/serverless ladder	Twelve-Factor App	Application patterns behind the ladder
04 VMs + ASGs	EC2 Auto Scaling groups	Canonical ASG model
05 Managed containers	AWS Fargate for Amazon ECS	Task sizing and scheduling model
06 Serverless functions	Lambda function scaling	Concurrency, cold-start mitigation
07 VPCs, subnets, route tables, NAT	Amazon VPC: How it works	Canonical VPC model
08 Load balancers L4 vs L7	AWS: What is an Application Load Balancer?	Listener/rule model, health checks
09 DNS and private endpoints	Route 53 private hosted zones	Private DNS scope and resolution
10 Object/block/file storage	AWS storage decision guide	Decision tree
11 Managed databases	Amazon Aurora overview	Relational managed-DB architecture
12 Data egress and region boundaries	Overview of Data Transfer Costs	Real per-path pricing examples
13 IAM policies, roles vs users	IAM JSON policy element reference	Policy grammar with examples
14 Organizations and landing zones	Control Tower: Multi-account landing zone	Reference landing-zone architecture
15 Billing, tagging, budgets	Tagging Best Practices: Cost allocation tags	Authoritative cost-tagging guidance

Note: No Local Book Chunks

When cloud-specific book material (for example, sections of The Cloud Adoption Playbook, AWS Cookbook, or similar) is added to library/raw/semester-09-cloud-devops/books/, update this page to include a "Read only if stuck" block pointing to those chunks. Until then, every escalation is an official-documentation URL, which matches the reading policy: "prefer official docs over third-party summaries for tools, APIs, cloud services, and infrastructure."