1.9 Your first account and your first deploy
You have a working free-tier account with billing alerts, and something of yours is live.
Before:00. Groundwork — Linux, Networking & GitUnlocks:02. Compute09. Cost Engineering
The first account is where theory touches a credit card, and this topic does it safely: multi-factor authentication on the root login from minute one, a billing alert before anything is deployed, and then one static site actually live and reachable from your phone. It closes the foundations module because nothing teaches like a real deployment. The trap it exists to prevent is the free tier's edges — the limits are real, the surprises arrive as invoices, and the alert must exist before the mistake does.
Work through these
Creating an account safely; MFA on the root/owner login from minute one
The owner login on a new account can do anything, including spend without limit, so a second authentication factor on it is the first action rather than a later improvement. Everything else assumes this was done.
Free tier limits and the traps inside them
Free tiers are real, and the traps inside them are also real: services that fall outside the tier, allowances that reset, and resources that keep running after you stopped paying attention. Reading the limits is part of the setup.
A billing alert BEFORE anything is deployed
A spending alert set before anything is deployed is the difference between a surprise and a warning. It costs nothing and it is the single most useful thing a beginner can turn on.
Deploy one static site and reach it from your phone
Getting one real thing online and reaching it from a phone closes the loop from account to working service. It is a small deployment on purpose, so the focus stays on the process rather than the application.
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