AWS Well-Architected Framework
The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides a structured approach for building secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure for applications. It is divided into five pillars, each addressing different aspects of a cloud workload. Each pillar also has its own detailed whitepaper.
6 Pillars:
Operational Excellence
Security
Reliability
Performance Efficiency
Cost Optimization
Sustainibility
AWS Well-Architected - General Definitions
Component: Code, Configuration, and AWS Resources that meet a requirement.
Workload: A set of components working together to deliver business value.
Milestones: Key changes in architecture throughout the product lifecycle.
Architecture: How components work together within a workload.
Technology Portfolio: A collection of workloads required for business operations.
AWS Well-Architected - On Architecture
On-Premise Enterprise: Typically has centralized teams with defined roles.
AWS: Utilizes distributed teams with flexible roles, addressing new risks with Practices, Mechanisms, and Leadership Principles.
Centralized Teams:
Technical Architecture
Solution Architecture
Data Architect
Networking Architect
Security Architecture
Distributed Teams:
Practice
Team Experts
Mechanism
Automated Checks for Standards
Amazon Leadership Principles
Leadership Principles:
Customer Obsession
Ownership
Invent and Simplify
Are Right, A Lot
Learn and Be Curious
Hire and Develop the Best
Insist on the Highest Standards
Think Big
Bias for Action
Frugality
Earn Trust
Dive Deep
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Deliver Results
Strive to be Earth's Best Employer
Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility
AWS Well-Architected - General Design Principles
Stop guessing capacity needs: Utilize cloud computing to scale as needed.
Test systems at production scale: Clone production environments for testing.
Automate architectural experimentation: Use tools like CloudFormation for easier experimentation.
Allow evolutionary architectures: Embrace CI/CD and rapid evolution.
Drive architecture with data: Leverage data from CloudWatch and CloudTrail.
Improve through game days: Simulate traffic or failures to test recovery.
AWS Well-Architected - Anatomy of a Pillar
Each Pillar includes:
Design Principles: Key principles to consider during implementation.
Definition: Overview of best practice categories.
Best Practices: Detailed information on practices with AWS Services.
Resources: Additional documentation, whitepapers, and videos.
Design Principles by Pillar
Operational Excellence:
Perform operations as code
Make frequent, small, reversible changes
Refine operations procedures frequently
Anticipate failure
Learn from operational failures
Security:
Implement a strong identity foundation
Enable traceability
Apply security at all layers
Automate security best practices
Protect data in transit and at rest
Prepare for security events
Reliability:
Automatically recover from failure
Test recovery procedures
Scale horizontally
Stop guessing capacity
Manage change in automation
Performance Efficiency:
Democratize advanced technologies
Go global in minutes
Use serverless architectures
Experiment more often
Consider mechanical sympathy
Cost Optimization:
Implement Cloud Financial Management
Adopt a consumption model
Measure overall efficiency
Stop spending money on undifferentiated heavy lifting
Analyze and attribute expenditure
Sustainability:
Optimize resource usage
Choose energy-efficient services
Design for longevity
Monitor and measure impact
Promote renewable energy
Additional Resources
AWS Well-Architected Tool: An auditing tool for assessing cloud workloads against the AWS Well-Architected Framework. It provides a checklist to create a report for stakeholders.
AWS Architecture Center: A portal with best practices and reference architectures for various workloads.