CMIT 426 at the University of Maryland Global Campus is a hands-on study of Amazon Web Services, aimed at choosing and combining AWS services the way a solutions architect does.
UMGC designed it to help prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam. Its goals are to understand AWS computing, networking, storage and database services, to apply best practices for secure and reliable applications, and to identify the right service for an organization's technical requirements.
The prerequisite is CMIT 326, which introduces cloud technologies. CMIT 426 goes deeper into one provider, and the difficulty is choice: AWS often offers several services that could work, and assignments reward the one that fits the stated requirements best.
Course at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| University | University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) |
| Course code | CMIT 426 (3 credits) |
| Level | Undergraduate, upper level |
| Prerequisite | CMIT 326 |
| Certification alignment | AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate |
| Typical work | Hands-on labs in AWS, architecture designs, written justifications |
What CMIT 426 Covers
| Area | Typical AWS services involved |
|---|---|
| Compute | EC2 instances, Auto Scaling, Lambda |
| Networking | VPC, subnets, route tables, security groups, load balancers |
| Storage | S3, EBS, EFS and storage classes |
| Databases | RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB |
| Security and reliability | IAM, encryption, Multi-AZ design, backups, monitoring |
Key Concepts Explained
High Availability Across Availability Zones
An Availability Zone is an isolated location within a Region. Spreading resources across zones means one data center failure does not take the application down.
Example: A web application runs on EC2 instances in two zones behind an Application Load Balancer, with an Auto Scaling group keeping at least two healthy instances. The database uses RDS Multi-AZ, so a standby takes over if the primary fails.
Least Privilege with IAM
Users and services should get only the permissions they need. Roles are preferred over long-term access keys stored on servers.
Example: An EC2 instance needs to read one S3 bucket. Instead of placing keys on the server, you attach an IAM role whose policy allows read access to that bucket only.
Picking the Right Storage
Object storage (S3) suits files and backups, block storage (EBS) suits a single instance's disk, and file storage (EFS) suits shared access from many instances.
Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them
| Assignment type | What it tests | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-on labs | Building resources correctly | Document settings and show the working result |
| Architecture design | Meeting stated requirements | List requirements first, then map a service to each |
| Design justification | Reasoning about trade-offs | Explain why you chose one service over an alternative |
| Cost or security review | Applying best practice | Use the AWS Well-Architected pillars as a checklist |
Using the Well-Architected Framework
AWS's Well-Architected Framework is a ready-made structure for design papers. It has six pillars:
| Pillar | Question to answer in your design |
|---|---|
| Operational excellence | How will the system be deployed, monitored and improved? |
| Security | How are identities, data and networks protected? |
| Reliability | What happens when a component or zone fails? |
| Performance efficiency | Does the design scale with demand? |
| Cost optimization | Is anything paid for but not needed? |
| Sustainability | Are resources sized to avoid waste? |
Addressing each pillar in a sentence or two shows the marker you weighed trade-offs instead of picking services at random.
Cost Awareness in AWS Designs
Choosing the right service also means choosing a sensible price. Design questions often hinge on cost words such as "most cost-effective" or "minimize operational overhead".
Common levers include right-sizing instances, scaling automatically with demand, moving rarely used data to cheaper S3 storage classes, and choosing serverless services where workloads are spiky. Mentioning the cost trade-off in a sentence shows the marker you weighed it, even when security or availability wins.
Where Students Get Stuck
- Over-engineering. Adding every service looks impressive but ignores cost and the actual requirement.
- Networking. Public and private subnets, route tables and gateways cause most lab failures.
- Leaving resources running. Shut down or delete lab resources to avoid unexpected charges in any personal account.
- Thin justification. Markers want reasons, not just a diagram.
Study Tips for CMIT 426
- Draw every architecture before building it; label zones, subnets and traffic flow.
- Learn the six Well-Architected pillars and use them to structure design papers.
- Compare similar services in a table (for example RDS vs DynamoDB) as you study.
- Practice scenario questions: identify the key requirement word (cheapest, most available, serverless) first.
How We Help with CMIT 426
Send the assignment brief, the scenario requirements, your diagram or lab notes and the rubric. A writer with AWS knowledge can explain services and trade-offs, review your design rationale, or prepare a model write-up to learn from. We never log in to your AWS account or UMGC lab.
GradeEssays is independent of the University of Maryland Global Campus and of Amazon Web Services. Our work is a study aid within UMGC's academic integrity policy, written from scratch, with free revisions within the scope of your original request.
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Frequently Asked Questions
UMGC lists CMIT 326 as the prerequisite.
UMGC designed it to help prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam, which is taken separately through AWS.
Yes. UMGC describes it as a hands-on study of AWS, so expect labs that build real resources.
The course covers compute, networking, storage and database services, plus security and reliability best practices.
Start from the requirement: availability, cost, latency, scale or management effort, and choose the service that best matches it.
No. We do not access your accounts. We explain, review and provide model material for study.