AWS SysOps Administrator
Offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS's associate-level operations certification is now named AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate (exam SOA-C03). It was formerly AWS Certified...
Be the first
Nobody has started a AWS SysOps Administrator study group or listed as a tutor yet. If you’re preparing for this exam, start the group — the next person who lands here will have somewhere to study with you.
Start the first study groupAlready hold AWS SysOps Administrator? Become the first tutor
Not ready to host?
We’ll email you when someone else starts a AWS SysOps Administrator group.
AWS SysOps Administrator exam at a glance
Format
65 questions; multiple choice or multiple response (exam labs may appear)
Duration
130 minutes
Delivery
Pearson VUE test center or online proctored
Passing score
720 out of 1000 (scaled)
Exam cost
$150 USD
Validity
3 years
Prerequisites
None; AWS recommends hands-on experience operating AWS environments. CloudOps (SOA-C03) is the current exam for this catalog path.
About the AWS SysOps Administrator certification
AWS's associate-level operations certification is now named AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate (exam SOA-C03). It was formerly AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate. The new name applies to people who pass SOA-C03; existing SysOps certifications stay valid until they expire and are not renamed retroactively.
The exam validates monitoring and maintaining AWS workloads, security and networking, business continuity, and cost and performance optimization.
Who it’s for: Systems, operations, and DevOps engineers who run workloads on AWS.
Official exam page· Details verified 2026-08
What the AWS SysOps Administrator exam covers
- Monitoring, logging, and analysis
- Reliability and business continuity
- Deployment, provisioning, and automation
- Security and compliance
- Networking and content delivery
- Cost and performance optimization
How to study for the AWS SysOps Administrator
- 1Use SOA-C03 (CloudOps) materials, not retired SOA-C02-only SysOps banks.
- 2Practice CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config, Systems Manager, and backup/restore.
- 3Implement IAM, VPC, and encryption as an operator — not only as an architect.
- 4Study cost tools: Cost Explorer, Budgets, Savings Plans, and right-sizing.
- 5Take the official practice exam and review operational runbooks.
AWS SysOps Administrator — frequently asked questions
Is SysOps gone?
The associate operations exam was renamed CloudOps Engineer (SOA-C03). If you already hold SysOps Administrator – Associate, it remains valid until expiration. New candidates should prepare for CloudOps.
How is this different from Solutions Architect?
Solutions Architect emphasizes design. CloudOps/SysOps emphasizes running, monitoring, securing, and optimizing workloads that already exist.