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Alec Dutcher
Alec Dutcher

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AWS Well-Architected Framework Study Guide - Introduction

This series is intended to be a personal study guide. Information may not be comprehensive. Please feel free to comment if any information is inaccurate. I claim no ownership of the language herein; much of it is taken directly from existing AWS documentation - links where available.

Introduction

  • The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides best practices for building workloads in the AWS Cloud
  • It documents questions that allow you to align an architecture with these best practices
  • It is intended for those in technology roles (CTOs, architects, developers, operations)
  • The AWS Well-Architected Tool is a service that allows you to consistently review your architecture using this framework
  • AWS Well-Architected Labs provides code and documentation for hands-on experience implementing best practices

Definitions

Terms

  • Component - code, configuration, and AWS Resources that together deliver against a requirement
  • Workload - set of components that together deliver business value
  • Architecture - how components communicate and interact in a workload
  • Milestones - key changes in your architecture throughout the product lifecycle (design, implementation, testing, go live, and in production)
  • Technology portfolio - collection of workloads required for the business to operate

The Pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework

  • Operational Excellence - run workloads effectively, gain insight into their operations, and to continuously improve supporting processes
  • Security - protect data, systems, and assets
  • Reliability - workload performs its intended function correctly and consistently when it’s expected to
  • Performance Efficiency - use computing resources efficiently to meet and maintain system requirements
  • Cost Optimization - run systems to deliver business value at the lowest price point
  • Sustainability - reducing energy consumption and increasing efficiency across all components of a workload

On Architecture

  • Customers often have a central team for architecture
  • AWS distributes capabilities into teams rather than having centralized teams for each capability
  • Practices focus on enabling each team to have a given capability
  • Mechanisms carry out automated checks to ensure standards are being met
  • The Well-Architected Framework is the customer-facing implementation of the AWS internal review process

General Design Principles

  • Stop guessing capacity needs
  • Test systems at production scale
  • Automate to make architectural experimentation easier
  • Allow for evolutionary architectures
  • Drive architectures using data (about those architectures)
  • Improve through game days (simulate events in production)

Appendix: Questions and Best Practices

The Review Process

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