VPC Peering in AWS and GCP

The steps to do VPC peering in AWS and GCP are quite similar. You need to have these info:

In AWS

• Account ID
• Source and Target VPC ID
• Permission

In GCP

• Project ID
• Source and Target VPC name
• Permission

The below steps assume that the VPC peering are done on 2 different accounts (on AWS) or projects (on GCP) and both source and target VPC have been created prior.

How to do VPC peering in AWS:

You'll do configure the VPC peering in the source account first then followed with target account with similar steps.

1. Login to the source account.

2. Go to VPC > Peering Connections > Create Peering Connections.

3. Fill up the required information and click "Create Peering Connection" button. You'll see the review page. If the information is correct, proceed with the creation. 

4. You'll see your newly created peering status is "Pending Acceptance". Now login to the target account to accept the peering.

5. In the target account, go to VPC > Peering Connections. 

6. You'll see there's pending peering connection request. Choose on that entry and click button "Actions" > Accept Request.

7. The status should turn Active now.

*You may need to update the route table and security group entries if it's necessary.

How to do VPC peering in GCP:

You'll configure the VPC peering in the source project first then move on to the target project with the similar steps. 

1. Go to the first/source project
2. Go to VPC Networking > VPC Network Peering
3. Click "Create Connection" > Continue
4. Fill up the info and click button Create

You'll see the status is "Inactive" as you need to do the same steps on Target project.

You'll see the status is "Active" now.

You can confirm the peering by running this command in Cloud Shell:

gcloud compute routes list --project <target_project_id>

You should see entry with name starts with "peering-route" in the result.

My Study Plan in Passing AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02) Exam

 Hi Folks,

I'm happy to share that I've passed my AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02) certification exam beginning of this month. At first I was prepared to fail as I thought I didn't put enough effort to prepare. If I'm allowed to have an excuse, it'll be due to my pregnancy. I'm currently 7 months pregnant and the struggles are getting real everyday. I keep feeling tired everyday and I can't seem to sit or walk too long, which I heard is common issues during pregnancies. While still working full-time (luckily at home), preparing to be first-time mother,  I took few hours after work everyday preparing for my AWS SAA-C02 exam. 

In this post, I would like to share with you what are the learning materials I used for the past few months studying for the AWS SAA-C02 exam. Hopefully it'll be useful for you.

1. [Book] AWS Certified Solutions Architect Study Guide by Ben Piper, David Clinton

Although this version is not the latest SAA-C02 materials, I did read this book to refresh some of the AWS cloud computing concepts. And I think it does help in a way, as there are some valid contents in the book. I borrowed this ebook from Singapore's National Library and read it after work until before sleep around 1-2 hours almost every weekdays for 1.5 months (if I don't remember wrongly).

2. [Online Course] Stephane Maarek's Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate 2020

I bought this course on Udemy when they're having sale. I watched the tutorial videos for 1-1.5 months everyday after work until before sleep and most weekends. I quite enjoyed this course as the explanation by Stephane was quite clear and not confusing. This course also have some hands-on demo so you know how actually to do it on AWS console. There are 2 practice exams included as well at the end of the course.

3. [Practice Exams] Jon Bonso's AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Practice Exams

I bought this practice exam from Udemy and used this for the last 1 month before my exam to gauge my readiness. There are total 6 practice exams, 65 questions each. And good thing is they're actually being updated regularly. I went through the practice exam 2 times each and make sure I have at least 80% passing grade. After every practice exam, I read through all questions explanation (whether I answered them correctly or not), just to make sure I got the concept correctly (means no guessing).

I hope my study plans above help you to prepare for the AWS SAA-C02 exam. 

My New Journey As Cloud Engineer

 Hi all, 

It’s been a long time since I post on this blog. So much things happened and professionally I’ve grown so much. So I decided to write again to share with you my exciting new journey as cloud engineer.

Some background story

I quitted my job as network engineer (cum project manager) in a bank after 6 years with them. For the past 2 years I’ve been interested with learning cloud technology, especially AWS. I took up course on my own expense and went to take my AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification exam. I was fortunate that my hardwork in studying intensely for few months paid off. I passed the exam! I thought with this I would be able to convince my boss to start taking a look at cloud adoption. Little did I know it’s tough for a small employee like me (I was only promoted to AVP that time) to make influence. For the last half a year I stayed there, there’s slowly progress in cloud adoption but it’s not fast enough. I couldn’t focus on the cloud area because I still need to give my 110% for my main tasks in network team. And it’s exhausting. So I decided it was time for me to move to another company and pursued what I want.

The journey starts

I found my current job through a friend recommmendation. The role is cloud operations engineer. I’ve been in this position for 8 months now and I didn’t regret my decision to move here. In the beginning, it was a steep learning process for me. In previous company I used to handle projects with not much dynamics as what I find here. I did a lot of project budget, plan, schedule and vendor selection last time. but now I do more troubleshooting and analyzing logs. My previous company was more on preserved Asian culture, while here it’s fast moving global culture. I was scared that I couldn’t fit in, but luckily I got help from some colleagues. Another good thing, I got to learn so many AWS features which are hard to come by.

I do believe the cloud technology will be the main focus for the next 5 years and as IT professional we need to always keep up. Now I’m preparing to renew my AWS Solutions Architect Associate certificate. And I noticed so much have changed (or new features have been added) from the materials from 2 years ago.

Wish me luck in my study and I’ll write more on how I prepare for the exam in another post!