James's Ramblings

Well Architected

Created: January 22, 2024

Seven Pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework

1. Operational Excellence

  • Focus: Ensures efficient and effective operations to support workloads.

  • Key areas:

    • Managing and automating changes.
    • Responding to operational events.
    • Continuously improving processes and procedures.

2. Security

  • Focus: Protecting data, systems, and assets while maintaining privacy and compliance.

  • Key areas:

    • Identity and access management.
    • Protecting data at rest and in transit.
    • Enforcing data and infrastructure protection mechanisms.
    • Incident response planning and testing.

3. Reliability

  • Focus: Ensuring that workloads perform as expected and can recover quickly from failures.

  • Key areas:

    • Designing systems for high availability and fault tolerance.
    • Monitoring system performance and identifying failures.
    • Managing change effectively.

4. Performance Efficiency

  • Focus: Using IT and computing resources efficiently to meet system and business requirements.

  • Key areas:

    • Choosing the right resource types and sizes.
    • Monitoring performance and making informed decisions.
    • Taking advantage of serverless and managed services.

5. Cost Optimization

  • Focus: Minimizing costs while delivering required performance and functionality.

  • Key areas:

    • Implementing cost-effective resources.
    • Monitoring usage and spending.
    • Removing unused or underutilized resources.
    • Optimizing over time with evolving workloads.

6. Sustainability

  • Focus: Reducing the environmental impact of workloads by optimizing resources.

  • Key areas:

    • Reducing energy consumption.
    • Adopting efficient infrastructure and design practices.
    • Leveraging renewable energy sources where applicable.