AWS Well-Architected Framework
AWS framework with six pillars of best practices for designing and operating reliable, secure, efficient, and cost-effective cloud systems.
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What it is
The AWS Well-Architected Framework is a set of best practices organized into six pillars for evaluating and improving cloud architectures. It functions as a maturity model specific to AWS.
The six pillars
| Pillar | Key question | AWS tools |
|---|---|---|
| Operational excellence | How do you operate and improve workloads? | CloudWatch, Systems Manager, CloudFormation |
| Security | How do you protect data and systems? | IAM, KMS, GuardDuty, Security Hub |
| Reliability | How do you recover from failures? | Auto Scaling, Route 53, S3 cross-region |
| Performance efficiency | Are you using the right resources? | Compute Optimizer, Lambda, ElastiCache |
| Cost optimization | Are you eliminating unnecessary spending? | Cost Explorer, Savings Plans, S3 tiers |
| Sustainability | Are you minimizing environmental impact? | Graviton, Spot Instances, right-sizing |
Well-Architected Tool
AWS provides a console tool for guided reviews of your workloads against the pillars, generating a prioritized improvement plan.
Specialized lenses
- Serverless Lens
- SaaS Lens
- Machine Learning Lens
- Data Analytics Lens
Why it matters
The Well-Architected Framework is the reference guide for evaluating architectures on AWS. Its six pillars — operational excellence, security, reliability, efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability — provide a common language for discussing architectural trade-offs.
References
- Well-Architected Framework — Official documentation.
- Well-Architected Labs — Hands-on exercises.
- Well-Architected Pillars — AWS, 2024. The six pillars of the framework.