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Optimise Your AWS Cloud Environment with the Best Practices: Be Well Architected!

The AWS Well-Architected Framework is a set of best practices and guidelines designed to help architects and developers build secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure on AWS.

The AWS Well-Architected Framework is a tool designed to help users build and operate secure, reliable, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable systems on AWS.

By using this framework, users can learn architectural best practices and measure their systems against them.

AWS Solutions Architects, with years of experience, have identified core strategies and best practices for cloud-based systems.

The framework is aimed at technology professionals like CTOs, architects, developers, and operations team members.

Operational Excellence

Focuses on the ability to run and monitor systems, respond to incidents, and continuously improve processes and procedures.

Security

Addresses the ability to protect information, systems, and assets while delivering business value through risk assessments and mitigation strategies.

Reliability

Refers to the ability of systems to recover from failures and handle changes gracefully, as well as to prevent failures and mitigate their impact.

Performance Efficiency

Addresses the ability to use computing resources efficiently and effectively to meet system requirements and maintain cost effectiveness.

Cost Optimisation

Refers to the ability to avoid unnecessary costs, continuously monitor and improve cost-effectiveness, and plan for cost management.

Sustainability

The ability to continually improve sustainability impacts by reducing energy consumption and increasing efficiency across all components of a workload by maximising the benefits from the provisioned resources and minimising the total resources required.

The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides a structured approach for designing, evaluating, and optimising workloads on AWS, and includes a set of questions and best practices that can help organisations to identify potential issues and areas for improvement in their architecture.

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Who is the AWS Well-Architected Framework intended for?

The framework is intended for technology professionals, such as chief technology officers (CTOs), architects, developers, and operations team members.

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What does the AWS Well-Architected Tool provide?

The AWS Well-Architected Tool provides a consistent process for reviewing and measuring architecture using the AWS Well-Architected Framework, and offers recommendations for making workloads more reliable, secure, efficient, and cost-effective.

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How does AWS support the application of best practices?

AWS supports the application of best practices through AWS Well-Architected Labs, which provides a repository of code and documentation for hands-on experience, and by teaming up with select AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners in the AWS Well-Architected Partner program.

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What are the six pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework?

The six pillars are operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimisation, and sustainability.

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How do business decisions affect engineering priorities in the context of the WAF?

Business decisions can drive engineering priorities by making trade-offs between the framework's pillars based on business context, such as prioritising sustainability impact and cost reduction at the expense of reliability or prioritising reliability for mission-critical solutions.

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How does AWS help customers design systems that adhere to cloud best practices?

AWS experts work with customers on making architectural trade-offs as their designs evolve and deploy these systems into live environments, learning from the performance and consequences of those trade-offs. This knowledge informs the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

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How does AWS mitigate risks associated with distributing decision-making authority?

AWS mitigates these risks by implementing practices that focus on enabling each team to have the necessary capability and by placing experts who ensure that teams meet required standards. Additionally, they implement mechanisms, often automated, to check for compliance with rules or processes.

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How does AWS help teams gain architectural capabilities and follow best practices?

AWS provides access to a virtual community of principal engineers who can review designs and help teams understand AWS best practices. This community works to make best practices visible and accessible, such as through lunchtime talks focused on applying best practices to real examples.

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What is the Well-Architected Framework?

The Well-Architected Framework is the customer-facing implementation of AWS's internal review process, codifying principal engineering thinking across field roles, like Solutions Architecture and internal engineering teams. It is a scalable mechanism that allows customers to take advantage of AWS's learnings

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Conclusion

By following the framework, organisations can build and operate cloud-based systems that are secure, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective.

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