Adapting the Framework

The goal of the Well-Architected Framework is to provide consistent principles and best practices that can be applied to many different workloads. The general approach addresses the broadest possible range of issues. Not all of them have to apply to the workload under investigation and can therefore be ignored with a comment to that effect, allowing the questionnaire to be customized to the scope applicable to the workload.

The results of a review can be varied, and they can be used in different ways. Only in the very rarest of cases is a result likely the perfect implementation of everything, with no further recommendations. Even then, a review is extremely valuable because you now have the assurance that the use case is fundamentally set up well.

The majority of reviews result in identifying a number of risks and proposals for specific solutions and recommendations. This ideal starting point includes tasks in planning for the next releases and their prioritization according to the identified risks.

Translated into the world of agile methods, the result of a Well-Architected Framework Review is a number of user stories that are already well qualified to be transferred to the backlog for prioritization. Figuratively speaking, the team leaves a table full of Post-it notes after the review.

Looking ahead, it makes sense to run the review at regular intervals (e.g., as the workload continues to evolve) or when major changes are made, so you can keep the picture up to date.

The Well-Architected Tool

You can implement the framework directly in the AWS Management Console with the AWS Well-Architected tool by logging in to the management console and opening the tool after signing in to the AWS website [1]. When you use the tool for the first time, you will be taken to a page with an introduction to its functions.

The first thing you need to do is to define a workload in one of two ways: by selecting the Define workload button in the Define a Workload section, or by selecting Workloads | Define workload from the left navigation pane. For details on how AWS uses the data for your workload, select Why does AWS need this data, and how will it be used? In the Name field, type a name for your workload. The name must be between three and 100 characters in length. At least three of the characters must not be spaces. Workload names must be unique. However, spaces and case are ignored when the system checks for uniqueness.

Next, enter a description of the workload in the Description field of between three and 250 characters in length. The Review Owner field asks for the name, email address, or identification key for the primary group or owner of the workload review process. Then, in the Environment field, select the environment for your workload: A Production workload runs in a production environment, and a Pre-production workload runs in a pre-production environment. In the Regions section, select the regions for your workload. Here you can choose between AWS regions and non-AWS regions; up to five regions (in a comma-separated list) are allowed, and you can use both options if this is meaningful for your workload.

The next steps are optional. In the Account IDs box, you can specify the account IDs related to your workload, and in the Architectural Design field, you can type the URL for your architectural design. The Industry Type field lets you store the type of industry for your workload, and the Industry field is a place for the branch that best matches your workload. In the Tags section, you can further specify tags to be associated with your workload. After that, click Next : If a mandatory field is empty or a specified value is invalid, you need to fix the problem before continuing.

Now select the perspectives in the Apply Lenses section that apply to this workload. Up to 20 perspectives can be added to a workload, but this article focuses on the AWS Well Architected Framework perspective. After answering basic questions about your workload, click Define workload , and you will be taken to a page with your current workload details. Select Start review to begin; otherwise, you can click the Workloads option in the left navigation pane and the workload name to open its detail page.

Answering Review Questions

The questions page of the review is divided into three sections (Figure 1). The left section shows questions for each of the pillars mentioned at the beginning. The questions that you have answered are tagged Done . The number of questions answered for each pillar is written next to its name. You can navigate to questions for other pillars by selecting the name and then selecting the question you want to answer.

Figure 1: The questions page of the AWS Well-Architected tool is divided into three sections.

In the middle pane, you can see the current question where you choose the best practices you follow. Click the Info link for additional information on the question or a best practice, or click the Ask an expert button to access the dedicated AWS Well Architected section of the AWS Community, re:Post. Additional information and helpful resources appear in the right pane.

When answering each question, use the following procedure:

• Read the question and decide if it applies to your workload (click Info for further guidance). If a question does not apply to your workload, select Question does not apply to this workload ; otherwise, click on the best practices in the list that you are currently following. If you are not currently using any of these best practices, go for None of these .
• If one or more best practices do not apply to your workload, uncheck the methods that do not apply. For each unchecked best practice, you can optionally specify a reason and provide additional details. In general, the Notes field can optionally be used to add information related to the question. For example, you can describe why the question is not applicable or provide additional details on the selected best practices.
• Select Next after each question to continue. You can click Save and exit at any time to save your changes and stop documenting your workload. To return to the questions, go to the workload detail page and click Continue reviewing .

After documenting the status of your workload for the first time, you will want to save the milestone and generate a workload report. A milestone represents the current status of the workload and lets you to measure future progress as you make changes according to your improvement plan. To do this, click the Save milestone button in the workload overview on the workload detail page and type a name (e.g., Version 1.0 – Initial Review <workload name> ). Do not forget to click Save .

If you want to generate a workload report, select the desired view and click Generate report . A PDF file is created containing the workload status, the number of risks detected, and a list of recommended improvements.