- The Performance Efficiency pillar in the AWS Well-Architected Framework focuses on the ability to use computing resources efficiently to meet system requirements and maintain that efficiency as demand changes and technologies evolve.
- It emphasizes selecting the right services and resources, reviewing choices regularly, monitoring performance, and making trade-offs to improve efficiency.
- Democratize Advanced Technologies
- Simplify the adoption of advanced technologies by leveraging managed services from your cloud vendor. Instead of requiring your team to become experts in hosting and managing complex technologies like NoSQL databases, media transcoding, or machine learning, consider consuming these technologies as a service. This allows your team to focus on product development instead of infrastructure management.
- Go Global in Minutes
- Deploy your workload in multiple AWS Regions worldwide to provide lower latency and an improved experience for your customers. Global deployment can enhance performance by bringing your application closer to users, reducing response times.
- Use Serverless Architectures
- Serverless architectures eliminate the need to manage physical servers for compute tasks. Serverless offerings like serverless storage for static websites and event services for hosting code free you from server management responsibilities. This approach can lower costs due to the scalability of managed services.
- Experiment More Often
- The flexibility of virtual and automatable resources in the cloud enables rapid comparative testing. Try out different instances, storage options, or configurations to find the optimal setup for your workload. This iterative approach helps identify performance bottlenecks and optimize resource utilization.
- Consider Mechanical Sympathy
- Understand the nuances of how cloud services are consumed and choose the approach that best aligns with your workload’s requirements. For example, carefully consider data access patterns when choosing between different database and storage solutions to ensure efficient data retrieval and processing.
- Selection
- Identify the most suitable AWS services and configurations for your workload. Consider managed services, serverless options, and various instance types to find the optimal balance of performance, cost, and manageability.
- Review
- Regularly assess your architectural choices to ensure you are leveraging the latest AWS offerings and taking advantage of evolving cloud technologies. The AWS cloud is constantly improving; periodic reviews help ensure you are using the most efficient and performant solutions.
- Monitoring
- Continuously track the performance of your applications and infrastructure. Leverage monitoring tools to identify performance bottlenecks, unusual activity, or deviations from expected behaviour. Proactive monitoring enables early detection of performance issues and facilitates timely resolution.
- Trade-offs
- Making informed trade-offs in your architecture can improve performance. For instance, consider techniques like data compression or caching to optimize data storage and retrieval. You might also consider relaxing consistency requirements in specific scenarios to enhance performance.
- Understand Available Services and Resources: Familiarize yourself with the breadth of services and resources AWS offers. Explore various options like compute instances, storage services, databases, and networking features to identify solutions that align with your workload’s needs.
- Define a Process for Architectural Choices: Establish a clear process for making architectural decisions, drawing from internal expertise, external resources, and best practices. Encourage experimentation and benchmarking to evaluate different service options for your workload.
- Factor Cost Requirements into Decisions: Align your architectural choices with your budget constraints. Consider cost implications when selecting resource types, sizes, and service tiers to ensure cost-efficiency without sacrificing performance.
- Use Policies or Reference Architectures: Leverage existing organizational policies, reference architectures, and industry best practices to guide your architectural decisions. These resources can provide valuable insights and proven approaches for building performant and efficient systems.
- Use Guidance from Your Cloud Provider or an Appropriate Partner: Consult with AWS solutions architects, professional services, or trusted partners for guidance. Their expertise can help you review your architecture, identify potential optimizations, and make informed decisions to maximize performance.
- Benchmark Existing Workloads: If migrating existing workloads to the cloud, establish performance benchmarks to understand how they perform in the AWS environment. Use the collected data to inform architectural decisions and identify areas for improvement.
- Load Test Your Workload: Deploy your application on the cloud using different resource types and configurations to assess performance under various load conditions. Monitor performance metrics during load tests to identify bottlenecks and ensure your architecture can handle expected demand.