Tag Archives: workshops

Let’s Architect! Cost-optimizing AWS workloads

Post Syndicated from Luca Mezzalira original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-cost-optimizing-aws-workloads/

Every software component built by engineers and architects is designed with a purpose: to offer particular functionalities and, ultimately, contribute to the generation of business value. We should consider fundamental factors, such as the scalability of the software and the ease of evolution during times of business changes. However, performance and cost are important factors as well since they can impact the business profitability.

This edition of Let’s Architect! follows a similar series post from 2022, which discusses optimizing the cost of an architecture. Today, we focus on architectural patterns, services, and best practices to design cost-optimized cloud workloads. We also want to identify solutions, such as the use of Graviton processors, for increased performance at lower price. Cost optimization is a continuous process that requires the identification of the right tools for each job, as well as the adoption of efficient designs for your system.

AWS re:Invent 2022 – Manage and control your AWS costs

Govern cloud usage and avoid cost surprises without slowing down innovation within your organization. In this re:Invent 2022 session, you can learn how to set up guardrails and operationalize cost control within your organizations using services, such as AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Anomaly Detection, and explore the latest enhancements in the AWS cost control space. Additionally, Mercado Libre shares how they automate their cloud cost control through central management and automated algorithms.

Take me to this re:Invent 2022 video!

Work backwards from team needs to define/deploy cloud governance in AWS environments

Work backwards from team needs to define/deploy cloud governance in AWS environments

Compute optimization

When it comes to optimizing compute workloads, there are many tools available, such as AWS Compute Optimizer, Amazon EC2 Spot Instances, Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances, and Graviton instances. Modernizing your applications can also lead to cost savings, but you need to know how to use the right tools and techniques in an effective and efficient way.

For AWS Lambda functions, you can use the AWS Lambda Cost Optimization video to learn how to optimize your costs. The video covers topics, such as understanding and graphing performance versus cost, code optimization techniques, and avoiding idle wait time. If you are using Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) and AWS Fargate, you can watch a Twitch video on cost optimization using Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate to learn how to adjust your costs. The video covers topics like using spot instances, choosing the right instance type, and using Fargate Spot.

Finally, with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), you can use Karpenter, an open-source Kubernetes cluster auto scaler to help optimize compute workloads. Karpenter can help you launch right-sized compute resources in response to changing application load, help you adopt spot and Graviton instances. To learn more about Karpenter, read the post How CoStar uses Karpenter to optimize their Amazon EKS Resources on the AWS Containers Blog.

Take me to Cost Optimization using Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate!
Take me to AWS Lambda Cost Optimization!
Take me to How CoStar uses Karpenter to optimize their Amazon EKS Resources!

Karpenter launches and terminates nodes to reduce infrastructure costs

Karpenter launches and terminates nodes to reduce infrastructure costs

AWS Lambda general guidance for cost optimization

AWS Lambda general guidance for cost optimization

AWS Graviton deep dive: The best price performance for AWS workloads

The choice of the hardware is a fundamental driver for performance, cost, as well as resource consumption of the systems we build. Graviton is a family of processors designed by AWS to support cloud-based workloads and give improvements in terms of performance and cost. This re:Invent 2022 presentation introduces Graviton and addresses the problems it can solve, how the underlying CPU architecture is designed, and how to get started with it. Furthermore, you can learn the journey to move different types of workloads to this architecture, such as containers, Java applications, and C applications.

Take me to this re:Invent 2022 video!

AWS Graviton processors are specifically designed by AWS for cloud workloads to deliver the best price performance

AWS Graviton processors are specifically designed by AWS for cloud workloads to deliver the best price performance

AWS Well-Architected Labs: Cost Optimization

The Cost Optimization section of the AWS Well Architected Workshop helps you learn how to optimize your AWS costs by using features, such as AWS Compute Optimizer, Spot Instances, and Reserved Instances. The workshop includes hands-on labs that walk you through the process of optimizing costs for different types of workloads and services, such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Amazon ECS, and Lambda.

Take me to this AWS Well-Architected lab!

Savings Plans is a flexible pricing model that can help reduce expenses compared with on-demand pricing

Savings Plans is a flexible pricing model that can help reduce expenses compared with on-demand pricing

See you next time!

Thanks for joining us to discuss cost optimization! In 2 weeks, we’ll talk about in-memory databases and caching systems.

To find all the blogs from this series, visit the Let’s Architect! list of content on the AWS Architecture Blog.

Let’s Architect! Getting started with containers

Post Syndicated from Luca Mezzalira original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-getting-started-with-containers/

Most of AWS customers building cloud-native applications or modernizing applications choose containers to run their microservices applications to accelerate innovation and time to market while lowering their total cost of ownership (TCO). Using containers in AWS comes with other benefits, such as increased portability, scalability, and flexibility.

The combination of containers technologies and AWS services also provides features such as load balancing, auto scaling, and service discovery, making it easier to deploy and manage applications at scale.

In this edition of Let’s Architect! we share useful resources to help you to get started with containers on AWS.

Container Build Lens

This whitepaper describes the Container Build Lens for the AWS Well-Architected Framework. It helps customers review and improve their cloud-based architectures and better understand the business impact of their design decisions. The document describes general design principles for containers, as well as specific best practices and implementation guidance using the Six Pillars of the Well-Architected Framework.

Take me to explore the Containers Build Lens!

Follow Containers Build Lens Best practices to architect your containers-based workloads

Follow Containers Build Lens Best practices to architect your containers-based workloads.

EKS Workshop

The EKS Workshop is a useful resource to familiarize yourself with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) by practicing on real use-cases. It is built to help users learn about Amazon EKS features and integrations with popular open-source projects. The workshop is abstracted into high-level learning modules, including Networking, Security, DevOps Automation, and more. These are further broken down into standalone labs focusing on a particular feature, tool, or use case.

Once you’re done experimenting with EKS Workshop, start building your environments with Amazon EKS Blueprints, a collection of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules that helps you configure and deploy consistent, batteries-included Amazon EKS clusters across accounts and regions following AWS best practices. Amazon EKS Blueprints are available in both Terraform and CDK.

Take me to this workshop!

The workshop is abstracted into high-level learning modules, including Networking, Security, DevOps Automation, and more.

The workshop is abstracted into high-level learning modules, including Networking, Security, DevOps Automation, and more.

Architecting for resiliency on AWS App Runner

Learn how to architect an highly available and resilient application using AWS App Runner. With App Runner, you can start with just the source code of your application or a container image. The complexity of running containerized applications is abstracted away, including the cloud resources needed for running your web application or API. App Runner manages load balancers, TLS certificates, auto scaling, logs, metrics, teachability and more, so you can focus on implementing your business logic in a highly scalable and elastic environment.

Take me to this blog post!

A high-level architecture for an available and resilient application with AWS App Runner.

A high-level architecture for an available and resilient application with AWS App Runner

Securing Kubernetes: How to address Kubernetes attack vectors

As part of designing any modern system on AWS, it is necessary to think about the security implications and what can affect your security posture. This session introduces the fundamentals of the Kubernetes architecture and common attack vectors. It also includes security controls provided by Amazon EKS and suggestions on how to address them. With these strategies, you can learn how to reduce risk for your Kubernetes-based workloads.

Take me to this video!

Some common attack vectors that need addressing with Kubernetes

Some common attack vectors that need addressing with Kubernetes

See you next time!

Thanks for exploring architecture tools and resources with us!

Next time we’ll talk about serverless.

To find all the posts from this series, check out the Let’s Architect! page of the AWS Architecture Blog.

Let’s Architect! Streamlining business with migration and modernization

Post Syndicated from Luca Mezzalira original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-streamlining-business-with-migration-and-modernization/

Many customers migrate their systems to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to increase their competitive edge and drive business value. To maximize the benefits of a cloud migration, companies tend to move their applications in conjunction with modernization initiatives. These joined efforts help your applications gain more agility, scalability, and resilience. Modernizing the portfolio of workloads with AWS means that you can re-platform, refactor, or replace these workloads by using containers, serverless technologies, purpose-built data stores, and software automation. These functionalities allow you to benefit from the best of the AWS agility and total cost optimization (TCO) benefits.

In this edition of Let’s Architect! we share hands-on activities, customer stories, and tips and tricks to migrate and modernize your applications with AWS.

Migrating to the cloud: What is the cost of doing nothing?

Would you think that small companies always migrate faster than large enterprises? Actually, cloud migration speed doesn’t necessarily depend on the size of the business! Company size is not a clear indicator of migration and modernization success, but a shift of culture and mindset is essential for successful company evolution.

When it comes to migration, the cost of doing nothing is not just financial: Businesses can also expect a slower pace of innovation and a higher security burden. This video analyzes the financial benefits of migration and shares mental models for approaching an AWS cloud migration, and Marriott team members explain how they planned their migration and the lessons learned along the way.

Take me to this re:Invent 2022 video!

Benefits of an early migration start

Benefits of an early migration start

Modernization pathways for a legacy .NET Framework monolithic application on AWS

Organizations aim to deliver the best technological solutions based on customer needs. At any stage in their cloud adoption journey, businesses often end up managing and building monolithic applications. Let’s explore a migration path for a monolithic .NET Framework application to a modern microservices-based stack on AWS, and discuss AWS tools to break the monolith into microservices and containerize applications.

Cost optimization is another key factor for modernizing your workloads and solutions include moving to Linux-based systems or using open-source database engines. This Migrate and Modernize enterprise workloads with AWS video walks you through the process of migrating and modernizing enterprise workloads with AWS.

Take me to this blog post with more detail!

A modernized microservices-based rearchitecture

A modernized microservices-based rearchitecture

Implementing a serverless-first strategy in an enterprise

Organizations of all sizes want to benefit from the agility, cost savings, and developer experience that serverless architectures can provide on AWS. For large enterprises, the return on investment (ROI) can be massive, but overcoming architecture inertia while ensuring security best practices and governance stay in place is a hurdle that many struggle with. In this lightning talk, learn how your organization can implement a serverless-first strategy to overcome these obstacles. Delta Air Lines shares the story of making serverless-first a reality as part of their AWS journey.

Take me to this video

Benefits of serverless

Benefits of serverless

Application Migration with AWS

This workshop shows you how to migrate and modernize a fictional application to the AWS Cloud by:

  1. Performing a database migration
  2. Migrating and modernizing your web server using different migration strategies (for example, breaking down the monolith into containers)
  3. Teaching you how to improve Operation excellence, Security, Performance efficiency, and Cost optimization of the deployed architecture by following these pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

Take me to this workshop!

Different migration strategies for web servers

Different migration strategies for web servers

See you next time!

Thanks for exploring architecture tools and resources with us!

Next time we’ll talk about distributed systems with containers.

To find all the posts from this series, check out the Let’s Architect! page of the AWS Architecture Blog.

Let’s Architect! Architecture tools

Post Syndicated from Luca Mezzalira original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/lets-architect-architecture-tools/

Tools, such as diagramming software, low-code applications, and frameworks, make it possible to experiment quickly. They are essential in today’s fast-paced and technology-driven world. From improving efficiency and accuracy, to enhancing collaboration and creativity, a well-defined set of tools can make a significant impact on the quality and success of a project in the area of software architecture.

As an architect, you can take advantage of a wide range of resources to help you build solutions that meet the needs of your organization. For example, with tools in the likes of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Solutions Library and Serverless Land, you can boost your knowledge and productivity while working on event-driven architectures, microservices, and stateless computing.

In this Let’s Architect! edition, we explore how to incorporate these patterns into your architecture, and which tools to leverage to build solutions that are scalable, secure, and cost-effective.

How AWS Application Composer helps your team build great apps

In this re:Invent 2022 session, Chase Douglas, Principal Engineer at AWS, speaks about AWS Application Composer, a newly launched service.

This service has the potential to change the way architects design solutions—without writing a single line of code! The service is user-friendly, intuitive, and requires no prior coding experience. It allows users to scaffold a serverless architecture, defining a CloudFormation template visually with drag-and-drop. A detailed AWS Compute Blog post takes readers through the process of using AWS Application Composer.

Take me to this re:Invent 2022 video!

How an architecture can be designed with AWS Application Composer

How an architecture can be designed with AWS Application Composer

AWS design + build tools

When migrating to the cloud, we suggest referencing these four tried-and-true AWS resources that can be used to design and build projects.

  1. AWS Workshops are created by AWS teams to provide opportunities for hands-on learning to develop practical skills. Workshops are available in multiple categories and for skill levels 100-400.
  2. AWS Architecture Center contains a collection of best practices and architectural patterns for designing and deploying cloud-based solutions using AWS services. Furthermore, it includes detailed architecture diagrams, whitepapers, case studies, and other resources that provide a wealth of information on how to design and implement cloud solutions.
  3. Serverless Land (an Amazon property) brings together various patterns, workflows, code snippets, and blog posts pertaining to AWS serverless architectures.
  4. AWS Solutions Library provides customers with templates, tools, and automated workflows to easily deploy, operate, and manage common use cases on the AWS Cloud.
Inside event-driven architectures designed by David Boyne on Serverless Land

Inside event-driven architectures designed by David Boyne on Serverless Land

The Well-Architected way

In this session, the AWS Well-Architected provides guidance on how to implement the architectural models reported in the AWS Well-Architected Framework within your organization at scale.

Discover a customer story and understand how to use the features of the AWS Well-Architected Tool and APIs to receive recommendations based on your workload and measure your architectural metrics. In the Framework whitepaper, you can explore the six pillars of Well-Architected (operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability) and best practices to achieve them.

Understanding the key design pillars can help architects make informed design decisions, leading to more robust and efficient solutions. This knowledge also enables architects to identify potential problems early on in the design process and find appropriate patterns to address those issues.

Take me to the Well-Architected video!

Discover how the AWS Well-Architected Framework can help you design scalable, maintainable, and reusable solutions

Discover how the AWS Well-Architected Framework can help you design scalable, maintainable, and reusable solutions

See you next time!

Thanks for exploring architecture tools and resources with us!

Join us next time when we’ll talk about data mesh architecture!

To find all the posts from this series, check out the Let’s Architect! page of the AWS Architecture Blog.