The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides a foundational set of best practices that act as a roadmap for building secure, efficient, and scalable cloud applications on AWS. These recommended practices are arranged according to six pillars: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability.

To help you delve deeper into specific aspects of your cloud architecture, AWS offers Well-Architected Lenses. Think of these lenses as specialized filters you can apply to your design. Each lens focuses on a particular domain, such as machine learning, data analytics, or high performance computing. The lens examines your architecture through the lens of that domain’s best practices, highlighting areas that align well and pinpointing potential improvements.

There are two primary categories of lenses accessible:

Lens Catalog

This library offers a wide range of pre-built lenses that cover a variety of industries and technologies, including:

Machine Learning

Train, deploy, and manage machine learning models at scale. The Machine Learning Lens helps you design an architecture that is secure, reliable, and cost-effective throughout the machine learning lifecycle, from data ingestion and model training to deployment and inference.

Data Analytics

Design high-performance, secure, and cost-effective data analytics workloads on AWS. The Data Analytics Lens provides guidance on selecting the right services for data storage, processing, and analysis, as well as best practices for data security, scalability, and performance optimization.

Serverless

Build and deploy scalable, cost-efficient, and operationally simple serverless applications. The Serverless Lens helps you architect serverless applications that are fault-tolerant, secure, and easy to manage. It also provides recommendations for optimizing performance and cost efficiency.

High Performance Computing (HPC)

Run computationally intensive workloads in the cloud. The HPC Lens offers guidance on selecting the right AWS services for your HPC workloads, such as compute instances, storage, and networking. It also covers best practices for optimizing performance, cost, and fault tolerance.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Connect, manage, and secure IoT devices at scale. The IoT Lens provides recommendations for designing secure, scalable, and reliable IoT architectures on AWS. It covers topics such as device provisioning, data collection, and analytics.

SAP

Migrate and operate SAP workloads on AWS to leverage the benefits of cloud computing. The SAP Lens helps you migrate your SAP applications to AWS while ensuring security, compliance, and performance. It also provides best practices for managing and optimizing your SAP deployments on AWS.

Streaming Media

Deliver high-quality, secure video and audio streams to a global audience. The Streaming Media Lens provides guidance on designing and deploying scalable, reliable, and cost-effective streaming media applications on AWS. It covers topics such as content ingest, transcoding, content delivery, and security.

Games Industry

Build, deploy, and operate scalable and performant gaming applications. The Games Industry Lens helps you design and deploy cloud-based gaming applications that deliver a high-quality and immersive experience for gamers around the world. It covers topics such as game server hosting, matchmaking, and data synchronization.

Hybrid Networking

Extend your on-premises network to AWS to create a seamless hybrid cloud environment. The Hybrid Networking Lens provides guidance on designing and implementing a secure and reliable hybrid network connection between your on-premises network and AWS.

Financial Services

Meet the strict regulatory and compliance requirements of the financial services industry. The Financial Services Lens helps you design and deploy cloud-based architectures that meet the security, compliance, and operational resilience requirements of the financial services industry. These lenses are developed and maintained by AWS experts, providing you with access to the latest best practices and proven design patterns. For example, if you’re building a serverless application, you can leverage the Serverless Lens to ensure your architecture adheres to best practices for scalability, cost-efficiency, and operational simplicity. Similarly, the Data Analytics Lens provides guidance on designing high-performance, secure, and cost-effective data analytics workloads on AWS. No matter your domain or technical focus, there’s a good chance the Lens Catalog has a lens that can provide valuable insights for your cloud project.

Custom Lenses

The Lens Catalog offers a vast collection of pre-built lenses, but there may be occasions where you have unique architectural requirements that aren’t specifically addressed by any of them. In these cases, you can create your own custom lens. This empowers you to tailor the evaluation criteria to your specific needs, ensuring your architecture meets the exact requirements of your project.

For example, imagine you’re building a cloud-based solution for a healthcare organization. While the Lens Catalog offers a well-rounded Security Lens, you might also want to consider incorporating industry-specific compliance regulations such as HIPAA. With a custom lens, you can add questions and best practices specifically geared towards HIPAA compliance, ensuring your architecture meets not only general security best practices but also the regulatory requirements of the healthcare industry.

The ability to create custom lenses extends beyond industry-specific compliance. Perhaps you’re developing a custom machine learning model that requires specific data privacy considerations. You can create a custom lens that incorporates best practices for data privacy in machine learning, along with any specific requirements for your unique model. Custom lenses can also be tailored to address organizational policies or internal best practices that aren’t reflected in the pre-built lenses.

For instance, your organization might have a strict policy around logging and encryption. You can create a custom lens that incorporates these specific requirements, ensuring your cloud architecture adheres to your organization’s security posture. Custom lenses offer a powerful mechanism to extend the reach of the Well-Architected Framework, allowing you to address specialized architectural considerations that may not be covered by the pre-built lenses in the Lens Catalog.

Custom lenses are not just for niche industries; they can be valuable for any project with unique requirements. Perhaps you’re developing a custom machine learning model that requires specific data privacy considerations. You can create a custom lens that incorporates best practices for data privacy in machine learning, along with any specific requirements for your unique model. Custom lenses offer a powerful mechanism to extend the reach of the Well-Architected Framework, allowing you to address specialized architectural considerations that may not be covered by the pre-built lenses in the Lens Catalog.

Beyond just creating custom lenses for your own use, you can also share them with your team or other AWS accounts. This collaborative approach can be extremely beneficial, allowing teams to develop and refine custom lenses that meet the specific needs of their organization. Imagine a large organization with multiple cloud architects working on various projects. By sharing custom lenses, the team can ensure consistency across projects while also benefiting from the collective expertise of the architects involved.

By leveraging both the AWS Well-Architected Framework and Well-Architected Lenses, you gain a comprehensive view of your cloud architecture’s strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to make informed decisions about optimization, ensuring your cloud applications are built on a solid foundation.