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Well-Architected Framework
Six pillars AWS uses to review designs. The lens the exam scores you against.
The six pillars
- Operational Excellence — run and improve systems (IaC, observability, runbooks).
- Security — protect data and systems (least privilege, encryption, traceability).
- Reliability — recover from failure, scale to meet demand (multi-AZ, backups, DR).
- Performance Efficiency — use resources well; pick the right service and right-size.
- Cost Optimization — pay only for what delivers value.
- Sustainability — minimize environmental impact of workloads.
How I use it
- Treat every design question as: which pillar is the requirement really testing?
- "Highly available" => Reliability (multi-AZ). "Cheapest that meets the need" => Cost. "Lowest latency" => Performance. "Protect data" => Security.
Gotchas & exam traps
- The exam rarely wants the most powerful option — it wants the one that best fits the stated pillar and constraints.
- Watch for a single word ("cost-effective", "least operational overhead", "highly available") that names the pillar.
The architect view
The pillars are a decision compass. When two answers look plausible, re-read the requirement, name the pillar it emphasizes, and choose the option that serves that pillar without over-building the others.