In this chapter, you will learn about the AWS Well-Architected Framework, which was developed by AWS based on years of working with customers to help them build secure, highly performant, and reliable systems. You will be introduced to the five pillars of the framework: security, operational excellence, performance efficiency, reliability, and cost optimization. You will also learn how to conduct a basic assessment of your technology, and then take your architecture to the next level with the Well-Architected Tool.

The quality of your architecture is ultimately reflected by the experience your customers will have while using your applications and services. No user wants a site that goes down frequently, exposes their private information, or costs them too much money. Use the wisdom that's passed down in the Well-Architected Framework to learn how to follow industry best practices and keep your customers happy.

In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

• Understanding the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework
• Conducting a technology baseline review self-assessment
• Using The Well-Architected Tool to evaluate a production workload