AWS Architecting In The Cloud

Architecting for the AWS Cloud Matt Tavis Solutions Architect [email_address]

Cloud Computing Attributes Abstract Resources Focus on your needs, not on hardware specs. As your needs change, so should your resources. On-Demand Provisioning Ask for what you need, exactly when you need it. Pay only for what you use. Scalability Scale out or in depending on usage needs. No Up-Front Costs No contracts or long-term commitments. Pay only for what you use. Efficiency of Experts Utilize the skills, knowledge and resources of experts.

What Do We Mean By Scalability

Scalability means the ability to scale up (bigger boxes), scale down (smaller boxes), scale out (more boxes) and scale in (fewer boxes)

A truly scalable has service has the following characteristics:

Increasing resources results in a proportional increase in performance

A scalable service is capable of handling heterogeneity

A scalable service is operationally efficient

A scalable service is resilient

A scalable service becomes more cost effective when it grows

A scalable architecture is critical to take advantage of a scalable infrastructure!

AWS Cloud Architecture Lessons

Design for failure and nothing fails

Loose coupling sets you free

Design for dynamism

Security is everywhere

Don’t fear constraints

Leverage a variety of storage options

Design for Failure and Nothing Fails

Never expect your systems to be stable

Never expect your code to be perfect

Everything fails

IO controllers

Ethernet chips

Hard disks

Fans

Power supplies

Cabling

Network ports

Switches

Load-balancers

If you can add it, it can fail

Examples of Handling Failure on AWS

Use Elastic IP addresses for consistent and re-mappable routes

Use multiple Amazon EC2 Availability Zones (AZs)

Create multiple database slaves across AZs

Use real-time monitoring across key access points (Amazon CloudWatch)

Use Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for persistent file systems

Build Loosely Couple Systems

Make no assumptions about the inner workings of your components

Design for a jumble of black boxes

Loosely coupled systems on AWS

De-coupling systems allows for hybrid models (in-cloud + in-physical data center)

Balancing between clusters enables easier scaling

Using queues (Amazon SQS) buffers against failures

Design for Dynamism

Components should not assume the health or location of other components

Bootstrapping and dynamic configuration helps you scale dynamically

Dynamism on AWS

Use Auto Scaling

Use Elastic Load Balancing on multiple layers

Use configurations in SimpleDB to bootstrap instance

Security is Everywhere

With AWS, physical security is free, network security is easy, and other security can be added

Building secure systems with AWS

Create distinct Security Groups for each Amazon EC2 cluster

Use group-based rules for controlling access between layers

Restrict external access to specific IP ranges

Encrypt data stored in Amazon S3

Encrypt all information transmitted across the wire

Consider encrypted file systems for sensitive data

Don’t Fear Constraints

Architectural constraints can be broken

Having a flexible, on-demand pool of resources allows for different architectures that remove constraints

I need more than xxGB of RAM per instance

Distribute load across multiple instances; use a shared distributed cache

I need more than xxK IOPS on my database

Run multiple read-only copies; sharding; database clustering software

My current server specs are better than an Amazon EC2 instance

Run more Amazon EC2 instances but only when you need them

I need static IPs for my servers

Boot scripts that re-configure software from configuration database

Leverage Many Storage Options

Amazon S3 is optimized for storing large objects

Store persistent data

Amazon CloudFront for performance

Push popular objects to 14 worldwide edge locations

Amazon SimpleDB for speed, scale, and simplicity

Store small bits of data that have no dependencies, such as metadata

Amazon EC2 local disk space for transient data

Amazon EBS acts like a disk drive for persistent storage

Store dynamic content or a traditional RDBMS

Use snapshots to S3 for backup

Diverse Use Cases

Web Site Hosting

Application Hosting

Media Distribution

Storage, Backup, Disaster Recovery

Content Delivery

High-Performance Computing

Software Development and Testing

Sample Architecture: Migrating Your Web Applications

Web Application Design

A typical web application could need:

Compute power

Storage capacity for images, music, etc.

Content distribution

Database storage

Messaging between components

Payment options to enable e-commerce

Load balancing for optimal performance

Typical Web App Architecture Web Server / Presentation Layer Application Server / Business Logic Database Client Browser

Web Application Design on AWS

An AWS-based web application could use:

Compute power ( Amazon EC2 )

Storage capacity for images, music, etc. ( Amazon S3 )

Content distribution ( Amazon CloudFront )

Database storage ( Amazon EBS )

Messaging btw. components ( Amazon SQS )

Payment options to enable e-commerce ( Amazon FPS )

Load balancing for optimal performance ( Amazon EC2 )

Use Amazon S3 for Storage Store persistent files in Amazon S3 for lower costs, higher reliability Client Browser

Use Amazon CloudFront Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network that caches data stored in Amazon S3 across a worldwide network of edge locations: Seattle, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Dallas, Ashburn, Newark, Miami, Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo Client Browser

Use Amazon EC2 for Compute Configure Amazon EC2 running your choice of web server to handle all incoming web requests. Client Browser

Use Amazon EC2 for Compute Configure multiple Amazon EC2 instances running your choice of application server to process requests. Use Availability Zones and Elastic IPs for greater reliability and resiliency. Client Browser

Use Amazon EBS for Database Configure an Amazon EBS device to host your existing relational database. Snapshots can be automatically backed up to Amazon S3. Client Browser

Use Amazon SQS Amazon SQS makes it easy to coordinate between the web server and application servers. Client Browser SQS

Use Amazon SimpleDB Amazon SimpleDB can be used to store metadata, logfiles, and other information for your site. SimpleDB Client Browser SQS

Additional Features and Other Serivces