As networking is essentially a basic component of modern distributed computing and the internet, anyone operating any kind of system in AWS will have to understand networking. You don't need to be a core engineer to be able to work with AWS, but you do need to have some basic understanding of the way networking works. The exam will test your knowledge of AWS networking solutions such as the VPC, subnets, NACLs, Security Groups, internet gateways, VPN gateways, NAT instances, Direct Connect, and VPC peering. However, you should not forget that all of these were initially designed on IPv4, so being able to understand how IPv4 works is crucial. When preparing for the exam, make sure to brush up on the following topics:

• Understanding IP address assignment, DHCP, DNS, name resolution, and routing
• How to design VPCs and the CIDR notation that's used in VPCs, subnets, and security rules
• How to mange subnet security with NACLs and instance security with security groups, allowing and blocking access, stateless NACLs versus stateful security groups, and so on
• Connectivity options in AWS—how to connect to the internet and to on-premise
• Service ceilings for network components
• Remember that VPN automatically encrypts traffic in transit with IPSec