As you’ve no doubt realized, when discussing the cloud there is a lot of new terminology to learn, this is even more true when discussing Amazon Web Services (AWS) specifically. If you’re considering deploying your infrastructure into the AWS cloud, you’ve most likely heard the term “well-architected”, but you’re not exactly sure what the AWS Well-Architected Framework is.
Developed by AWS solutions architects after years of building solutions for clients, the AWS Well-Architected Framework is a way to learn architectural best practices for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient, and cost-effective systems in the cloud. It enables you to consistently measure your architectures against best practices and identify areas for improvement.
Built on a set of foundational questions, the framework will help you determine how well your architecture aligns with AWS cloud best practices. It is purposefully designed to generate a conversation rather than act as an audit mechanism, and it provides a consistent baseline for architecture decision making.
The first step to adopt AWS best practices is conducting a Well-Architected review. Working with an AWS Well-Architected Partner or through the newly released Well-Architected Tool, the review asks a series of questions for each of the five AWS Well-Architected pillars. Your answers to these questions form the basis for the second step, the remediation plan required to achieve AWS Well-Architected status.
To better understand the AWS Well-Architected Framework, let’s look at the five pillars:
Operational Excellence
The operational excellence pillar focuses on running and monitoring systems to deliver business value, and continually improving processes and procedures. Key topics include managing and automating changes, responding to events, and defining standards to successfully manage daily operations.
Security
The security pillar focuses on protecting information & systems. Key topics include confidentiality and integrity of data, identifying and managing who can do what with privilege management, protecting systems, and establishing controls to detect security events.
Reliability
The reliability pillar focuses on the ability to prevent, and quickly recover from failures to meet business and customer demand. Key topics include foundational elements around setup, cross project requirements, recovery planning, and how we handle change.
Performance Efficiency
The performance efficiency pillar focuses on using IT and computing resources efficiently. Key topics include selecting the right resource types and sizes based on workload requirements, monitoring performance, and making informed decisions to maintain efficiency as business needs evolve.
Cost Optimization
Cost Optimization focuses on avoiding un-needed costs. Key topics include understanding and controlling where money is being spent, selecting the most appropriate and right number of resource types, analyzing spend over time, and scaling to meet business needs without overspending.
The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides you with a consistent approach to evaluate your architectures and implement designs that will scale over time. The Framework helps you produce stable and efficient systems, allowing you to focus on your functional requirements.
As a member of the AWS Well-Architected Partner program, Eplexity is certified by AWS to review of your infrastructure with you and provide you the remediation services required to achieve Well-Architected status. If you’re interested in learning more, simply drop us a line, we’re here to help.
