Well-Architected Framework

Well-Architected Framework

The Well-Architected Framework is a set of best practices and guidelines for designing and operating reliable, secure, and efficient workloads in the cloud. It consists of five pillars:

Operational Excellence

• Focuses on running and managing AWS resources to deliver business value and improve supporting processes and procedures
• Key concepts:
  • Prepare and operate: Prepare and provision resources to meet business needs, and operate and manage resources to deliver business value
  • Continuous improvement: Regularly evaluate and improve processes and procedures
  • Knowledge and experience: Develop skills and knowledge to improve operational efficiency
• Best practices:
  • Implement monitoring and logging to track performance and issues
  • Automate repetitive tasks and processes
  • Establish change management processes
  • Continuously monitor and improve processes and procedures

Security

• Focuses on protecting AWS resources and data from unauthorized access and malicious activities
• Key concepts:
  • Identity and Access Management (IAM): Manage access to AWS resources using IAM roles and permissions
  • Detective controls: Implement monitoring and logging to detect security incidents
  • Infrastructure protection: Protect AWS resources and data with security groups, network ACLs, and encryption
  • Incident response: Establish procedures for responding to security incidents
• Best practices:
  • Implement least privilege access to AWS resources
  • Use encryption to protect data at rest and in transit
  • Regularly review and update security configurations
  • Implement a incident response plan

Reliability

• Focuses on designing and implementing AWS resources to withstand failures and maintain business continuity
• Key concepts:
  • Foundational services: Use highly available AWS services, such as S3 and DynamoDB
  • Multi-AZ deployments: Deploy resources across multiple Availability Zones to improve availability
  • Auto Scaling: Use Auto Scaling to dynamically adjust capacity to meet changing demand
  • Disaster recovery: Establish procedures for disaster recovery and business continuity
• Best practices:
  • Design for failure and implement fault-tolerant architectures
  • Use load balancing and autoscaling to improve availability
  • Implement regular backups and snapshots
  • Establish a disaster recovery plan

Performance Efficiency

• Focuses on using compute resources efficiently to meet system requirements
• Key concepts:
  • Compute resources: Right-size compute resources to meet system requirements
  • Storage: Use efficient storage options, such as S3 and EBS
  • Database: Use efficient database options, such as Aurora and DynamoDB
  • Application architecture: Design applications to optimize performance and efficiency
• Best practices:
  • Right-size compute resources to meet system requirements
  • Use caching and content delivery networks to reduce latency
  • Optimize database performance
  • Implement efficient application architectures

Cost Optimization

• Focuses on optimizing costs to meet business requirements
• Key concepts:
  • Cost awareness: Establish cost awareness and tracking
  • Cost optimization: Optimize costs by right-sizing resources and using cost-effective services
  • Reserved Instances: Use Reserved Instances to reduce costs
  • Cost allocation: Allocate costs to business units and applications
• Best practices:
  • Establish a cost optimization strategy
  • Right-size resources to meet system requirements
  • Use cost-effective services, such as spot instances and lambda functions
  • Allocate costs to business units and applications

Well-Architected Framework

• A set of best practices and guidelines for designing and operating reliable, secure, and efficient workloads in the cloud
• Consists of five pillars: Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, and Cost Optimization

Operational Excellence

• Focuses on running and managing AWS resources to deliver business value and improve supporting processes and procedures
• Key concepts: prepare and operate, continuous improvement, and knowledge and experience
• Best practices:
  • Implement monitoring and logging
  • Automate repetitive tasks and processes
  • Establish change management processes
  • Continuously monitor and improve processes and procedures

Security

• Focuses on protecting AWS resources and data from unauthorized access and malicious activities
• Key concepts: Identity and Access Management (IAM), detective controls, infrastructure protection, and incident response
• Best practices:
  • Implement least privilege access to AWS resources
  • Use encryption to protect data at rest and in transit
  • Regularly review and update security configurations
  • Implement a incident response plan

Reliability

• Focuses on designing and implementing AWS resources to withstand failures and maintain business continuity
• Key concepts: foundational services, multi-AZ deployments, Auto Scaling, and disaster recovery
• Best practices:
  • Design for failure and implement fault-tolerant architectures
  • Use load balancing and autoscaling to improve availability
  • Implement regular backups and snapshots
  • Establish a disaster recovery plan

Performance Efficiency

• Focuses on using compute resources efficiently to meet system requirements
• Key concepts: compute resources, storage, database, and application architecture
• Best practices:
  • Right-size compute resources to meet system requirements
  • Use caching and content delivery networks to reduce latency
  • Optimize database performance
  • Implement efficient application architectures

Cost Optimization

• Focuses on optimizing costs to meet business requirements
• Key concepts: cost awareness, cost optimization, Reserved Instances, and cost allocation
• Best practices:
  • Establish a cost optimization strategy
  • Right-size resources to meet system requirements
  • Use cost-effective services, such as spot instances and lambda functions
  • Allocate costs to business units and applications