Chapter Nine
Architecting on AWS
Individual services are the vocabulary; architecture is the grammar. This chapter steps back from single services to the frameworks, patterns, and cross-cutting practices that compose them into production systems.
By now the service catalog is familiar. The harder skill is composition: knowing which services combine, in what shape, for a given set of requirements — and which combinations are mistakes.
These seven topics are the connective tissue. The Well-Architected Framework gives the evaluation lens; the patterns give reusable shapes; and the security, cost, and reliability practices apply regardless of which services you picked.
Services in This Chapter
Service 59
Well-Architected Framework
The six pillars — operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability — and how to use them to evaluate a design.
Service 60
Architectural Patterns
The recurring shapes — three-tier web, event-driven, microservices, serverless — and the trade-offs that decide between them.
Service 61
Networking Architecture
Multi-VPC design, hybrid connectivity, subnet tiering, and the edge — how the networking services compose into a real topology.
Service 62
Security Best Practices
Defense in depth across identity, network, data, and detection — the cross-cutting security checklist.
Service 63
Cost Optimization
Right-sizing, purchase commitments, storage tiering, and the structural decisions that move the bill the most.
Service 64
Reliability & Disaster Recovery
RTO and RPO, the four DR strategies from backup-and-restore to multi-site active-active, and how to choose between them.
Service 65
Common Anti-Patterns
The recurring mistakes — over-engineering, single points of failure, ignoring cost until the invoice arrives — and how to recognize them early.