Introduction
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Well-Architected Framework is for all AWS customers looking to optimize their cloud environment from the ground up.
The comprehensive review incorporates a series of questions, best practices, and optimization procedures spanning applications and workloads. Its objective is to unearth opportunities for cost savings, enhance application performance, and mitigate security risks.
By aligning a company’s infrastructure with industry standards and bolstering overall resiliency, AWS Well-Architected is particularly advantageous for scaling businesses. However, given the vastness of AWS and the exhaustive nature of the review, effectively performing the review can take time and effort for these same growing companies.
This guide is for companies seeking to conduct an AWS Well-Architected review that produces the greatest output for their specific AWS structure and needs.
It delves into the value of AWS Well-Architected and how the framework can work across diverse companies, goals, and unique cloud environments. It also provides insights on selecting and leveraging a partner to execute the process collaboratively.
Breaking Down Well-Architected Framework
How it Works
The Well-Architected Framework, introduced by Amazon Web Services in 2012, has evolved into a cornerstone resource for AWS customers seeking to optimize their cloud architectures. It is a comprehensive toolset for guiding businesses in building resilient, efficient, and secure systems. The framework incorporates:
- Six Pillars: Central to the Well-Architected Framework are six key pillars, which provide a structured approach to reduce risk and implement scalable designs across diverse aspects of cloud infrastructure.
- Operational Excellence Pillar: Emphasizes efficiently running and monitoring systems while continuously enhancing processes. It covers areas such as automating changes, responding to events, and establishing standards for daily operations.
- Security Pillar: Dedicated to safeguarding information and systems. It includes ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of data, managing user permissions, and implementing controls to identify security events.
- Reliability Pillar: Centers on ensuring workloads perform their intended functions and recover swiftly from failures. Topics include designing distributed systems, planning for recovery, and adapting to changing requirements.
- Performance Efficiency Pillar: Focuses on effectively allocating IT and computing resources. It involves choosing resource types and sizes optimized for workload requirements, monitoring performance, and sustaining efficiency as business needs evolve.
- Cost Optimization Pillar: Aims to prevent unnecessary expenses. Key aspects include understanding spending patterns, controlling fund allocation, selecting appropriate resources, and scaling to meet business needs without exceeding budgets.
- Sustainability Pillar: Intended to minimize the environmental impact of cloud workloads. It involves a shared responsibility model for sustainability, understanding the environmental impact, and maximizing utilization to reduce the required resources and downstream effects.
- Domain-Specific Lenses: AWS Well-Architected offers domain-specific lenses, enabling a focused examination of distinct industry and technology sectors like machine learning (ML), data analytics, serverless, high-performance computing (HPC), IoT, SAP, streaming media, the gaming industry, hybrid networking, and financial services. These additional lenses provide a targeted perspective, ensuring a more customized and effective analysis, whether during the standard review or independently.
- Management Console: Streamlining the implementation and assessment process, the Well-Architected Framework incorporates a user-friendly management console. This console facilitates ease of use, providing a centralized platform for users to navigate the review process, access valuable insights, and make informed decisions to enhance their cloud architectures. The results from reviews are also available on-demand in this console. As the workload matures, one can re-evaluate questions and mark milestones to identify when significant improvements to the workload were made. It becomes a living document of the path to best practice implementations of each pillar.
- Partner Program: Members of the AWS Well-Architected Partner Program undergo comprehensive training on the AWS Well-Architected Framework and are authorized to apply best practices, assess workload conditions, and implement necessary enhancements. Clients collaborating with these partners experience notable cost reductions, enhanced application performance, and decreased security risks.
The Benefits
The Well-Architected Framework enables AWS users to achieve their goals with greater efficiency and confidence. Benefits include stronger, faster operations, including quicker resolution of errors when they arise. Businesses also gain more assurance in the scalability of their applications, ensuring they can seamlessly grow to meet evolving demands. The Well-Architected Framework impacts the financial aspects of your business by ensuring that applications are functional and cost-effective, contributing to a secure and sustainable revenue stream. The Well-Architected Framework Review offers a notable, often overlooked benefit in fostering forward-thinking approaches. This empowers both technical and business teams to make informed decisions, develop a strategic roadmap, and address critical aspects they might otherwise overlook during their early phases of development.
When To Adopt
Companies should initiate a Well-Architected Framework review right from the outset. Proactive engagement ensures a smoother path forward, and prevents potential challenges from escalating into significant problems by reducing unexpected or unknown technical debt. However, reality often differs from the ideal approach. Companies typically engage in these discussions when compelled by a compliance review, facing cost overruns, or experiencing suboptimal application performance. While it is advisable to initiate AWS Well-Architected preemptively, it is a flexible and powerful framework, and effective at any point in your journey.
Working with a Partner
The Well-Architected Framework is designed to be self-service. Still, due to the complexity of information and the unique environments of each business, it is advisable to work with a certified partner for effective implementation. Partners bring specialized expertise to different aspects of your application and infrastructure and the framework itself. Understanding the framework’s pillars, labs, and questions alone can take days, while a certified partner streamlines the process, providing guidance and completing the task in a fraction of the time. Another significant advantage of working with a partner is the ability to swiftly recommend corrective paths and actions. Certified partners can help customize a program to meet your needs, saving both time and money.
Getting Started With A Partner
What to Expect
When engaging with a partner, certain expectations and processes come into play. Here’s some of what you can anticipate:
Information Gathering/Preparation
You’ll need to prepare relevant system information including architecture diagrams, a checklist provided by the partner, and outlining target goals for your meeting. You should also have access to the AWS account which runs the workload in question so resources can be reviewed during the meeting. Much of the work can be done efficiently during the call if sufficient preparation and attention have been invested.
Interactive Workshop
The partner will schedule an interactive session during which they guide you through the management console, help you complete questionnaires and evaluations, and address questions individually. The interactive nature of this step often prompts introspection among clients, leading to valuable discussions about aspects they may not have considered before. The review results appear in your AWS account once completed, and the workshops are usually done in just a few hours.
Follow-Up Actions
Following the review, there’s an opportunity for prioritization and optional follow-up actions, such as addressing the highest-priority concerns raised during the review. Actions may range from creating documentation to making adjustments to the application or architecture, depending on the specific findings of the review.
Picking the Right Partner
Selecting the ideal partner for your Well-Architected Framework Review involves carefully considering several key factors. The partner should offer:
Deep AWS-Specific Expertise
Ensure that the partner possesses profound expertise in AWS. While some providers may offer services for multiple clouds, having specialists deeply familiar with AWS is crucial. This specific knowledge is invaluable, especially in navigating the intricacies of AWS, contributing significantly to the effectiveness of the review. A partner with a comprehensive understanding of AWS can provide more nuanced insights and recommendations tailored to the AWS environment.
Proven Track Record
Look for a partner with a proven track record in successfully conducting Well-Architected Framework Reviews. A history of positive outcomes and satisfied clients indicates reliability and competence. References or case studies showcasing past successes can offer valuable insights into the partner’s capabilities and the impact of their services.
Experience with Scaling Businesses
The right partner should have a nuanced understanding of scaling businesses. This involves familiarity with the challenges and opportunities that come with business growth in the context of cloud infrastructure. A partner with knowledge of scaling businesses can provide targeted advice and recommendations aligned with your specific growth objectives.
Efficient Processes
Opt for a partner that doesn’t advocate for unnecessarily prolonged processes. The review should be a streamlined and efficient experience, emphasizing relevant information tailored to your business needs. A partner’s ability to guide you through the process without unnecessary delays is crucial, ensuring that the review adds value without becoming an exhaustive or time-consuming endeavor.
Partner Funding Program
AWS offers a partner funding program to help its customers work with a Well-Architected partner. Based on specific parameters and requirements being met, such as the company’s workload types and how they use the Well-Architected tool, some customers qualify for as much as $5,000 in AWS service credits per workload. Your partner should know about this program and help you determine if you qualify.
Conclusion
Conducting an AWS Well-Architected Review today is paramount for shaping a prosperous tomorrow for your company. The ability to scale effectively with technology is greatly enhanced when organizations feel confident and in control of their infrastructure. Engaging with a trusted partner adds a strategic advantage, leveraging their experience in addressing common challenges. This collaborative approach saves valuable time and guarantees a more efficient and effective implementation of the AWS Well-Architected Framework, ensuring your company is well-positioned for sustained success.
