SRE Foundation (SREF)℠

This course is designed to fully prepare students to sit and pass the DevOps Institute’s Site Reliability Engineering Foundation (SREF) certification exam. At the same time, the course also provides a variety of engaging training assets, including instructor-led videos from subject matter experts, to give students a practical understanding of how to apply what they learn.

The course is provided by Good e-Learning, an award-winning online training company and a verified Education Partner of the DevOps Institute.

An Introduction to SRE Foundation (SREF)

Learning Objectives

This module explains the rationale behind the course and introduces the subject matter. Students receive an overview of the syllabus, along with a toolkit that contains:

• Table of contents

• Glossary

• Further resources

• Diagram pack

Module 1: SRE Principles & Practices

Learning Objectives

This module introduces students to SRE and its six essential principles and practices. It also looks at how SRE compares to DevOps.

Topics include:

• What is Site Reliability Engineering?

• SRE & DevOps: What is the Difference?

• SRE Principles & Practices

Module 2: Service Level Objectives & Error Budgets

Learning Objectives

This module examines service levels, service level objectives (SLOs), error budgets, and error budget policies.

Topics include:

• Service Level Objectives (SLO’s)

• Error Budgets

• Error Budget Policies

Module 3: Reducing Toil

Learning Objectives

This module looks at the 'Toil' concept. Students learn how toil creates problems, as well as how to manage it.

Topics include:

• What is Toil?

• Why is Toil Bad?

• Doing Something About Toil

Module 4: Monitoring & Service Level Indicators

Learning Objectives

This module examines monitoring, observability, and ‘service level indicators (SLIs)’.

Topics include:

• Service Level Indicators (SLIs)

• Monitoring

• Observability

Module 5: SRE Tools & Automation

Learning Objectives

This module defines ‘automation’ in terms of DevOps and SRE. It also examines different types of automation and various automation tools:

Topics include:

• Automation Defined

• Automation Focus

• Hierarchy of Automation Types

• Secure Automation

• Automation Tools

Module 6: Anti-Fragility & Learning from Failure

Learning Objectives

This module looks at learning from failure and how it relates to chaos engineering and ‘anti-fragility’.

Topics include:

• Why Learn from Failure

• Benefits of Anti-Fragility

• Shifting the Organizational Balance

Module 7: Organizational Impact of SRE

Learning Objectives

This module looks at how to manage SRE at an organizational level. It also shows students how to first implement SRE.

Topics include:

• Why Organizations Embrace SRE

• Patterns for SRE Adoption

• Sustainable Incident Response

• Blameless Post-Mortems

• SRE & Scale

Module 8: SRE, Other Frameworks, Trends

Learning Objectives

This module examines how SRE interacts with popular frameworks such as Agile, IT4IT, and ITIL 4. It also looks at how SRE may be defined in the future by emerging trends such as ‘customer reliability engineering’.

Topics include:

• SRE & Other Frameworks

• SRE Evolution

• Exam Simulator

This course comes with a FREE voucher that can be used to take the official Site Reliability Engineering Foundation (SREF) certification exam. The exam itself can be taken online via a service provided by the DevOps Institute. Learners can contact the Orbus support team to request vouchers.

There are no prerequisites for taking the SRE Foundation exam.

Exam format:

• This is a multiple-choice exam consisting of 40 questions
• There is a time limit of 60 minutes to complete the exam
• The exam is open book, with only the provided materials being permitted for use
• The pass mark for the exam is 65%: you must score at least 26 out of 40 questions correct
• Students who do not have English as a native language will be given an additional 25 minutes
• Candidates can take the exam online or in-person with an invigilator

Please ensure your device meets the system requirements before booking your exam. Please visit the DevOps Institute website for more information.

SRE is becoming an increasingly relevant skill in the world of IT service management (ITSM). Becoming a site reliability engineer can equip individuals for more dynamic and high-paying roles in companies all over the world. Better still, as the DevOps Institute sets a global standard in DevOps and SRE management, the SRE Foundation qualification can be a particularly impressive addition to a candidate’s CV.

A key advantage of studying SRE in this way is that much of the methodology is organic. There are multiple routes to becoming a site reliability engineer, with several potential skillsets being involved. Studying SRE online via a fully accredited course will ensure that candidates have a comprehensive view of the methodology, putting them in a better position to get started in more experienced SRE teams.

The ‘reliability’ of IT-powered products and services is a key aspect of how they create value. SRE practices enable businesses to make development and operations processes as efficient as possible while also minimizing service downtime and creating a level of transparency across the pipeline that will empower both troubleshooting and further optimization.

Businesses that already utilize other IT methodologies such as DevOps, ITIL 4, and COBIT 2019 also have a lot to gain by adopting SRE. SRE’s unique focus on applying developer tactics to operational problems can enhance the results of even experienced DevOps teams. Investing in SRE training for a team or department will also ensure everyone has an adequate understanding of the terminology and practices involved, enabling greater levels of collaboration and efficiency in meeting key targets.