Today, Uli Homann announced a big refresh of the Azure Well-Architected Framework for designing and running optimized workloads on Azure. The Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF) is a set of quality-driven tenets, architectural decision points, and review tools intended to help solution architects build a technical foundation for their workloads. This guidance will help customers make informed architectural decisions for their workloads and show them how to apply it in their organizational context. The guidance is consistent and high-quality.
I had the chance to talk to Dom Allen, Principal Program Manager in the Microsoft Skilling organization about the updates to the Azure Well-Architected Framework.
Details of the refreshed Azure Well-Architected Framework
Design principles. Presents goal-oriented principles that build a foundation for the workload. Each principle includes a set of recommended approaches and the benefits of taking those approaches. The principles for each pillar have changed in terms of content and coverage.
- Reliability design principles
- Security design principles
- Cost Optimization design principles
- Operational Excellence design principles
- Performance Efficiency design principles
Design review checklists. Lists roughly codified recommendations that drive action. Use the checklists during the design phase of your new workload and to evaluate brownfield workloads.
- Design review checklist for Reliability
- Design review checklist for Security
- Design review checklist for Cost Optimization
- Design review checklist for Operational Excellence
- Design review checklist for Performance Efficiency
Trade-offs. Describes tradeoffs with other pillars. Many design decisions force a tradeoff. It’s vital to understand how achieving the goals of one pillar might make achieving the goals of another pillar more challenging.
- Reliability tradeoffs
- Security tradeoffs
- Cost Optimization tradeoffs
- Operational Excellence tradeoffs
- Performance Efficiency tradeoffs
Recommendation guides. Every design review checklist recommendation is associated with one or more guides. They explain the key strategies to fulfill that recommendation. They also include how Azure can facilitate workload design to help achieve that recommendation. Some of these guides are new, and others are refreshed versions of guides that cover a similar concept. The recommendation guides include trade-offs along with risks.
Cloud design patterns. Build your design on proven, common architecture patterns. The Azure Architecture Center maintains the Cloud Design Patterns catalog. Each pillar includes descriptions of the cloud design patterns that are relevant to the goals of the pillar and how they support the pillar.
The Well-Architected Review assessment has also been refreshed.
Learn More
To learn more, see the new hub page for the Azure Well-Architected Framework: aka.ms/waf
Also check out the guidance of the Cloud Adoption Framework.
- Prepare your Azure Cloud Environment with the Cloud Adoption Framework
- Azure Cloud management in the Cloud Adoption Framework
- An introduction to the Cloud Adoption Framework Ready methodology
- An introduction to the Cloud Adoption Framework Manage methodology
- Assess your cloud journey using the Cloud Adoption Strategy Evaluator
