Hands-on labs give you the chance to apply your newfound knowledge and retain what you’ve learned. Labs include a secure, temporary, pre-configured cloud environment and a set of learning objectives for you to complete within a certain timeframe.
Complete labs on their own or as part of a course. We provide all the tools in-browser, so you can practice without worrying about disturbing your production cloud environment.
Note: This feature is available for learners with a Skills Everything plan license or an ACG subscription or license. Select Hands-on labs are available to Skills learners with access to labs.
In this article
Finding Hands-on labs in Skills
Note: In order to provide you with the freshest content, Pluralsight-created cloud labs were removed from Skills in favor of ACG’s more current and comprehensive hands-on cloud labs. Starting August 26, 2024, Skills learners can no longer access Pluralsight-created cloud labs. If you’re a learner on a Skills plan that includes labs, you’ve been provided access to a select number of ACG labs at no additional cost.
If you're a learner on the Skills Everything plan, you can access ACG labs from your home page. For learners on other Skills plans with access to labs, here's how to discover ACG cloud labs on the Skills platform:
- Enter your preferred cloud platform into the search bar.
—or—
Click Browse all in the navigation menu. - Use Filters to refine your search:
- Under Category, check the box next to Cloud.
- Under Content type, check the box next to Labs.
Tip: ACG hands-on labs are indicated with an A Cloud Guru logo.
Finding Hands-on labs in ACG
Access Hands-on labs in ACG from your dashboard, the course outline page, or within the course player.
From the dashboard
- Click Labs in the navigation menu.
- Find a lab that interests you and click to open it.
- Click Start Lab.
From the course outline page
- Expand a course module and look for a clip with the Hands-on lab tag.
- Click the lab of your choice.
- Click Start Lab.
From within the course player
- In the navigation pane, click the Expand the navigation pane icon.
- Click All Lessons to show the course outline in the navigation pane.
- Labs are indicated with a lab icon. Click one to open it.
- Click Start Lab.
As you progress through a module, you may encounter a lab you don’t have time to complete. You can click Skip this lesson at the bottom of the page to come back to it later.
Navigating your Hands-on lab
Once you’ve started your lab, you’ll see a video player and your lab tools.
- Watch the Videos to guide you through the lab, or click Guide to see written instructions instead.
- Click Lab Diagram for easy access to an infographic you can reference while you work.
- Click Instant Terminal to quickly launch Instant terminal in a new tab.
- Use your Credentials to log into the cloud environment for the lab—either Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Additional Resources might contain context, tips, or documentation that will come in handy.
- Learning Objectives are tasks you must work through in order to complete the lab.
Connecting to the cloud console
- In the Credentials section of your lab tools, click Open Link in Incognito Window. This will copy the cloud console link to your clipboard.
- Open a private browser window and paste the link in the URL bar.
Tip: While you’re entering your credentials or following lab instructions, we recommend having the lab instructions and your cloud console open in separate windows side-by-side for ease of use.
- Go back to the lab page, then copy and paste the username and password into the cloud console page to sign in.
You’re ready to begin your Hands-on lab. Don’t forget you’re on the clock—you can check the timer at the top of the lab page to see how much time you have left.