AWS Well-Architected Tool Cheat Sheet

The AWS Well-Architected Tool is a service in the AWS Console that helps you review the state of your applications and workloads against the latest AWS architectural best practices. It provides a consistent process for evaluating architectures and offers actionable guidance to help you implement scalable, reliable, and efficient designs.

The tool is based on the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

The Six Pillars of the Well-Architected Framework

The framework is built on six pillars, and the tool's review questions are organized around them.

1. Operational Excellence

Focuses on the ability to run and monitor systems to deliver business value and to continually improve supporting processes and procedures.

• Key Topics: Automating changes, responding to events, and defining standards to manage daily operations.

2. Security

Focuses on protecting information, systems, and assets while delivering business value through risk assessments and mitigation strategies.

• Key Topics: Identity and access management, detective controls, infrastructure protection, data protection, and incident response.

3. Reliability

Focuses on the ability of a workload to perform its intended function correctly and consistently when it’s expected to. This includes the ability to operate and test the workload through its total lifecycle.

• Key Topics: Foundations, change management, and failure management (e.g., designing for resiliency and disaster recovery).

4. Performance Efficiency

Focuses on using computing resources efficiently to meet system requirements, and to maintain that efficiency as demand changes and technologies evolve.

• Key Topics: Selection of the right resource types and sizes, monitoring performance, and making informed decisions to maintain efficiency as business needs evolve.

5. Cost Optimization

Focuses on avoiding un-needed costs.

• Key Topics: Understanding and controlling where money is being spent, selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective resources, analyzing spend over time, and scaling to meet business needs without overspending.

6. Sustainability

Focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of running cloud workloads.

• Key Topics: Selecting efficient hardware and software, optimizing data storage and access patterns, and adopting a data-driven approach to sustainability by measuring the impact of your workload.

Using the AWS Well-Architected Tool

The review process follows a straightforward workflow within the AWS Console.

1. Define Your Workload: You begin by defining the workload you want to review. A workload is a set of components that together deliver business value (e.g., a multi-tier web application, a data analytics platform).

2. Conduct the Review: You answer a series of questions based on the six pillars of the Well-Architected Framework. These questions are designed to assess your architecture against AWS best practices.

3. Generate a Report: Once the questions are answered, the tool generates a detailed report that identifies potential architectural risks. These are categorized as:

   • High-Risk Issues (HRIs): Items that can significantly impact business value, such as data loss or major security vulnerabilities.

   • Medium-Risk Issues (MRIs): Items that may have a negative impact on the business, but typically to a lesser extent than HRIs.

4. View the Improvement Plan: The report includes a step-by-step improvement plan with actionable recommendations and links to relevant AWS documentation and whitepapers to help you remediate the identified risks.

Key Tool Features

• Milestones: You can save a snapshot of your review at a specific point in time. Milestones allow you to track your progress as you implement improvements and see how your architecture evolves over time.

• Custom Lenses: You can create your own custom lenses with specific questions tailored to your organization's governance standards or for particular technologies that are not covered by the standard AWS lenses.

• AWS Lenses: In addition to the main framework, AWS provides specific lenses that focus on a particular technology domain, such as the Serverless Lens, SaaS Lens, and Financial Services Industry Lens.

• API Integration: The tool has robust APIs that allow you to integrate its findings and processes into your own applications, workflows, and governance tools.

• Sharing: Custom lenses and workload reports can be shared with other AWS accounts or across an entire AWS Organization.

Pricing

• The AWS Well-Architected Tool is offered at no additional charge.