INFO 2004 Cloud Platforms
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · S1 2026INFO 2004 Overview
- University of Adelaide
- Dated 2026 roadmap
- ~15 hours each week
- Seminars + practicals
- Coursework + viva
INFO 2004 Cloud Platforms is centred on designing, implementing and managing cloud infrastructure for small-to-medium enterprises, with AWS as the main service environment and AWS Academy-aligned resources supporting further study and professional certification.
- Assessment mix Two graded labs and a three-stage migration strand carry the Canvas weightings.
- Architecture spine Five Well-Architected pillars, six migration strategies and evidence-led design choices.
- Build discipline Use each service only after the workload, responsibility, security and cost reasoning is explicit.
- Check Canvas Task formats, rubrics and the viva process are not published in the materials available here.
What INFO 2004 covers
INFO 2004 follows the delivered ten-topic roadmap. Foundations and economics lead into architecture and migration; security and VPC networking follow; compute, storage, databases, scaling and monitoring build the implementation layer; careers, certification and sky computing close the sequence.
The chapters below follow that delivered order while separating foundational compute from AWS service selection and separating general storage from database design.
Cloud Fundamentals and Essential Characteristics
Defining cloud computing; the five NIST essential characteristics; on-premises vs cloud; the evolution of cloud02Service Models and Deployment Models
IaaS, PaaS and SaaS abstraction levels; public, private, community and hybrid deployment; the provider market03Cloud Economics: CapEx, OpEx and Cost Control
Drivers for adoption; CapEx vs OpEx; total cost of ownership; pricing calculators, budgets and support tiers04The AWS Well-Architected Framework
The five pillars taught here: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimisation, and their design principles05Cloud Migration: The Six Rs
Gartner's original five Rs; re-host, re-platform, re-factor, re-purchase, retire, retain; choosing a strategy by complexity06Security Foundations and the CIA Triad
Why security is a priority; defining cybersecurity; confidentiality, integrity, availability; FIPS 199 impact scoring07Shared Responsibility, IAM and Compliance
The shared responsibility model; splitting customer vs provider duties; identity and access management; compliance and governance08VPC Networking, Subnets and Route Tables
VPC concepts; subnets and routing; security groups vs network ACLs; CloudFront, Route 53 and content delivery09Compute Foundations: Virtualisation and Containers
Core computer components; von Neumann architecture; CPU virtualisation and vCPUs; bare-metal, VMs, containers, microservices10AWS Compute Services: EC2, ECS and Lambda
The three AWS compute services; EC2 instance types and purchasing options; AMIs; ECS containers; Lambda; Elastic Beanstalk11Storage: Local, Network and Cloud Options
Volatile vs non-volatile storage; file systems, partitioning and formatting; DAS, SAN and NAS; block, file and object storage12Cloud Databases and Big Data
Purpose of a database and the DBMS; relational, columnar, key-value, document and graph models; SQL vs NoSQL; data lakes and warehouses13Scaling, Load Balancing and Monitoring
Unexpected-demand scenarios; load balancer types, capabilities and algorithms; global server load balancing; auto scaling, health checks, CloudWatch14Careers, Certification and Sky Computing
Cloud career paths and the skills gap; AWS, Azure and GCP certification tracks; multi-cloud; sky computing as the next stepThe delivered roadmap begins with cloud models, economics and migration reasoning, then moves through security, VPC networking, compute, storage, databases, auto scaling and monitoring before closing with careers and sky computing. Teaching is organised as seminars and practicals. The welcome material asks students to budget approximately 15 hours each week, including 8–10 hours of study material, across a ten-topic structure.
The strongest way to study the course is as a chain of design decisions. Define the workload before choosing a service model. Separate service model from deployment model. Convert business drivers into a migration strategy. Review the proposed architecture through the five pillars taught here: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency and cost optimisation.
Allocate customer and provider duties before selecting controls. Place networking, compute, storage and data choices into one architecture, then show how load balancing, health checks, auto scaling and monitoring let it respond to changing demand. The assessment facts below come from the Canvas graded-assessment listing and dated roadmap.
Five point values sum to 100 and are treated as the Canvas weightings, but the official weighting document did not capture. None of the five briefs, rubrics or submission instructions is present in the materials available here. Confirm the current Course Outline and Canvas brief before relying on format, length, collaboration, submission or viva arrangements.
How INFO 2004 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1.1 - Networking & Compute Lab – VPC, EC2, EBS | 10% | A graded lab task on networking and compute — VPC, EC2 and EBS. The roadmap names it "Networking & Compute Laboratory – VPC, EC2, and EBS" and distinguishes it from that week's non-graded practical. Due 17-4-26 (17 April 2026). Whether it is completed in the AWS Academy Learner Lab is NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. Deliverable type, length, rubric, group-vs-individual and submission mechanism are all NOT STATED — the assessment brief is not published in the course materials available here; confirm the format, length and rubric on Canvas. |
| Assignment 1.2 - Database Lab – RDS and App Integration | 5% | A graded lab task on databases — Amazon RDS and application integration. The roadmap names it "Database Lab – RDS & App Integration" and distinguishes it from that week's non-graded RDS practical. Due 8-5-26 (8 May 2026). Whether it is completed in the AWS Academy Learner Lab is NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. Rubric, length and format NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. |
| Assignment 2.1 - Cloud Migration Plan – Recommendations | 20% | First stage of the three-part Cloud Migration Plan strand: the recommendations. Due 20-3-26 (20 March 2026), the earliest due date of all five tasks despite its 2.1 number; assignments open 2-3-26 (2 March 2026). It falls in the week the roadmap labels EXTENSION WEEK. Word count, rubric and format NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. |
| Assignment 2.2 - AWS Prototype & Implementation Report | 40% | Largest single component. Due 22-5-26 (22 May 2026). Name conflict: Canvas calls it "AWS Prototype & Implementation Report"; the roadmap calls the same slot "Cloud Migration Plan – Prototype Implementation". Both readings are retained here. Deliverable format, page or word limit and rubric bands are all NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. |
| Assignment 2.3 - Viva Voce – Solution Defence | 25% | An oral defence of the student's own migration solution, scheduled in the 25 May – 29 May Course Conclusion week; no explicit due date is given. Name conflict: Canvas writes "Viva Voce – Solution Defence" while the roadmap writes "Cloud Migration Plan – Viva / Oral Defence". Duration, number of questions, examiner count, rubric, whether individual or group, and whether conducted in person or online are ALL NOT STATED — confirm on Canvas. |
Architecture recommendation: trace a workload from requirement to review
- Step 1State the workload and decision criteria before naming a service: demand pattern, data sensitivity, operational capability, acceptable disruption and cost control.
- Step 2Compare the six migration strategies. Explain why the chosen strategy fits the required change and complexity, and name the strongest rejected alternative.
- Step 3Describe the architecture at concept level: VPC boundary, traffic path, compute role, storage or database role, and the monitoring feedback loop. Do not add unstated service limits.
- Step 4Review the design through all five pillars taught in the course. Convert each concern into a concrete review question rather than merely listing pillar names.
- Step 5Close with assumptions and evidence gaps. Route submission format, rubric and task-specific constraints to Canvas instead of inventing them.
Key terms
- Cloud computing
- On-demand access to a configurable pool of shared resources, studied here through five essential characteristics and the contrast with on-premises infrastructure.
- IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
- Three service models representing different abstraction levels and different responsibility splits between customer and provider.
- Well-Architected review
- A lightweight, blame-free conversation that finds critical issues and improvement actions across the five pillars taught in this course.
- Migration strategy
- A deliberate pathway for moving or changing a workload. The course distinguishes Gartner's older five from the six commonly used strategies.
- CIA triad
- Confidentiality, integrity and availability: three security objectives used with qualitative impact levels in the FIPS 199 reasoning method.
- VPC
- A virtual network dedicated to an AWS account, with concepts including subnets, route tables, gateways, endpoints and CIDR blocks.
- Virtualisation
- The abstraction that lets compute resources be represented as virtual CPUs and machines, forming a bridge from physical hardware to cloud compute.
- Auto scaling
- The management process that changes available capacity in response to defined conditions, supported by health checking and monitoring metrics.
INFO 2004 FAQ
How is INFO 2004 assessed?
The Canvas graded-assessment listing carries five values: Assignment 1.1 at 10%, Assignment 1.2 at 5%, Assignment 2.1 at 20%, Assignment 2.2 at 40% and Assignment 2.3 at 25%. They sum to 100. Confirm the current weightings in the official Course Outline.
When are the Cloud Migration Plan stages due?
Assignment 2.1 is due 20 March 2026. Assignment 2.2 is due 22 May 2026. Assignment 2.3 is scheduled in the 25–29 May Course Conclusion week, but the materials available here give no explicit date for it.
Why is Assignment 2.1 due before Assignment 1.1?
The numbering is strand-based rather than chronological. The dated order is 2.1, then 1.1, then 1.2, then 2.2, then 2.3.
What is the Viva Voce worth and how does it work?
It carries 25 in the Canvas listing. The materials available here do not publish its duration, question count, examiner count, collaboration mode, location, delivery mode or rubric. Confirm all of those on Canvas.
How many Well-Architected pillars are taught here?
Five: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency and cost optimisation. The chapter preserves the course's five-pillar version and its 27 listed design principles.
What is the difference between a security group and a network ACL?
A security group is associated with instances, supports allow rules and is stateful. A network ACL applies at subnet level, supports allow and deny rules and is stateless. Their evaluation and association behaviour also differ.
What are the six Rs of cloud migration?
Re-host, re-platform, re-factor or re-architect, re-purchase, retire and retain. Keep this list separate from Gartner's earlier five.
How much time should I budget for INFO 2004?
The welcome material says approximately 15 hours each week and describes 8–10 hours of study material in a ten-topic structure.
How to prepare for the assessments
Study the roadmap in loops rather than as isolated service names. First, summarise each topic as a decision: what problem is being solved, what choices exist, which source-grounded criteria separate them, and what would make the decision fail. Second, build one migration scenario across the course.
Add economics after service models, add the five-pillar review after migration, add CIA and shared responsibility before controls, then add network, compute, storage, database and scaling decisions. Third, practise defending rejected alternatives. The course's workshop material repeatedly values criteria and justification, while the assessment briefs themselves are absent.
Keep a separate Canvas checklist for task format, rubric, submission requirements and the viva process; do not fill those gaps with assumptions.
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