If you want to be an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, but don’t know how to start, or if you are an expert in the field and need a source that includes a summary of all the concepts you’ve learned in one place, or even if you are a starter need to have a touch on the AWS cloud this has been prepared for you.
We cover all the concepts and also the links to the materials you require for the exam preparation, but you need to experience it to learn it, so to get the most out of your training, go to the Amazon AWS website, create a free account, draw a sample project and deploy it throughout your learning journey.
The Top 5 benefits of using AWS Cloud any Architect must know
If you want to be an AWS architect first thing you need to know is the benefits of AWS Cloud to be able to quickly respond to your customer’s questions. Here are the top 5:
- Start with no Capex, no upfront cost
- No-Commitment, walk away whenever you want
- Instant Delivery: and no more time-consuming negotiations
- Scalable and Reliable, more than any in-house data centres
- Built-In Security, Security certifications are built in and no need to worry about compliance
Amazon AWS Architecture Best Practices
The best applications running on the best infrastructure can lead to poor performance, service outage and even loss of valuable data if doesn’t have a proper design.
Based on AWS Best Practice on Architecting for the cloud, and as we discussed here you need to consider these 10 commandments when you design:
- Scalability
- Disposable Servers/Resources
- Think Automation
- Loose Coupling
- Think about Services, Not Servers
- DataBase
- No Single Point of Failure
- Cost Optimization
- Caching
- Security
So as an architect you must build your design based on the best practices that lead to the above principles. Here are the strategies that can help you achieve this:
- Scale Horizontally, instead of expanding the server’s component line CPU, Memory, .. (Vertical Scaling) increase the number of resources to support your application; Add more Web Server, DB servers, more hard drives, storage arrays
- Make your applications and components StateLess so you your service is not dependent on a particular component and you can benefit from Distributed Processing.
- Always Bootstrap to Automate your server’s build instead of manual build or use a Golden Image to build your servers upon.
- Use Infrastructure as a Code to create a reusable, maintainable infrastructure
- Utilise and Elastic Design to AutoScale up/down based on the application load to address performance requirement and also saving cost.
- Reduce interdependencies in systems/applications by utilising Technology agnostic interfaces (RESTful APIs,…) so that you can achieve Asynchronous Interaction between components and be able to Gracefully recover from any Failure.
- Move towards Serverless Architecture bu utilising Managed Services (Database, Analytics, Email, Queuing, Search, Data Warehouse , …) which are scalable, reliable and secure by built and maintained by your cloud providers. So no need to deploy new servers.
- make sure you built your design based on Redundancy within the datacenter or make your service resilient by extending to multiple datacenters.
- Right Size your application requirement; for example, you may reduce the cost of your service by putting it on cheaper servers or storages
- Understand different purchasing options offered by your cloud service provider for any opportunities to save costs.
- Utilise Application Data Caching for your Applications and Edge Caching for your static contents (e.g., Memcached,CDN)
- Increase Security at all layers from web application to database (e.g., WAF, Reduce Privileged Access, Security as a Code , Auditing)
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You want more! I’m still updating this and there is a lot more to come. Make sure you come back!