10.4 Pillar Three - Performance

The performance efficiency pillar focuses on how to use computing resources efficiently to meet your requirements and how to maintain that efficiency as demand changes and technology evolves.

Design Principles

Democratize advanced technologies (e.g. you don't need to be a SQL guru to use DynamoDB)
Go global in minutes (e.g. deploy your system in multiple regions, CloudFormation, etc)
Use serverless architectures
Experiment more often

Definition

Performance Efficiency in the cloud consists of 4 areas:

Compute
- Best Practices: When architecting your system it is important to choose the right kind of server. Some applications require heavy CPU utilization, some require heavy memory utilization etc. With AWS servers are virtualized an at the click of a button (or API call) you can change the type of server in which your environment is running on. You can even switch to running with serverless and use AWS Lambda.
- Questions to ask yourself:
  - How do you select the appropriate instance type for your system?
  - How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate instance type as new instance types and features are introduced?
  - How do you monitor your instances post launch to ensure they are performing as expected?
  - How do you ensure that the quantity of your instances matches demand?
- AWS Key services
  - Auto-scaling
Storage
- Best practices: The optimal storage solutions for your environment depends on a number of factors. For example:
  - Access method: block, file, or object based
  - Pattern of access: random (e.g. S3), or sequential (e.g. MySQL on EBS)
  - Throughput required
  - Frequency of access - online, offline or archival
  - Frequency of update - worm, dynamic
  - Availability constraints
  - Durability constraints
- AWS storage is virtualized. With S3 you can have 11 * 9's durability, cross region replication, etc. With EBS you can choose between different storage mediums (such as SSD, Magnetic, PIOPS, etc). You can also easily move volumes between the different types of storage mediums (through taking snapshots, migration, etc).
- Questions to ask yourself:
  - How do you select the appropriate storage solution for your system?
  - How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate storage solution as new storage solutions and features are launched?
  - How do you monitor your storage solution to ensure it is performing as expected?
  - How do you ensure that the capacity and throughput of your storage solutions matches demand?
- AWS Key services
  - EBS, S3, Glacier
Database
- Best practices: The optimal database solution depends on a number of factors. Do you need database consistency, do you need high availability, do you need NoSQL, do you need Disaster Recovery, etc?
- Questions to ask yourself:
  - How do you select the appropriate database solution for your system? (OLTP or OLAP)
  - How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate database solution and features as new database solution and features are launched?
  - How do you monitor your database to ensure performance is as expected?
  - How do you ensure the capacity and throughput of your database matches demand?
- AWS Key service
  - RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift
Space-Time trade-off
- Best practices: Using AWS you can use services such as RDS to add read replicas, reducing the load on your database and creating multiple copies of the database. This helps to lower latency.
- You can use Direct Connect to provide predictable latency between your HQ and AWS.
- You can use the global infrastructure to have multiple copies of your environment, in regions that is closest to your customer base.
- You can also use caching services such as ElastiCache or CloudFront to reduce latency.
- Questions to ask yourself:
  - How do you select the appropriate proximity and caching solutions for your system? (e.g. CloudFront, ElastiCache)
  - How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate proximity and caching solutions as new solutions are launched?
  - How do you monitor your proximity and caching solutions to ensure performance is as expected?
  - How do you ensure that the proximity and caching solutions you have matches demand?
- AWS Key services
  - CouldFront, ElastiCache, Direct Connect, RDS read replicas, etc.

Exam Tips:

Performance Efficiency in the cloud consists of 4 areas and their questions.

Previous10.3 Pillar Two - Reliability Next10.5 Pillar Four - Cost Optimization

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Definition

Performance Efficiency in the cloud consists of 4 areas:

Compute

Best Practices: When architecting your system it is important to choose the right kind of server. Some applications require heavy CPU utilization, some require heavy memory utilization etc. With AWS servers are virtualized an at the click of a button (or API call) you can change the type of server in which your environment is running on. You can even switch to running with serverless and use AWS Lambda.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How do you select the appropriate instance type for your system?
- How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate instance type as new instance types and features are introduced?
- How do you monitor your instances post launch to ensure they are performing as expected?
- How do you ensure that the quantity of your instances matches demand?
AWS Key services
- Auto-scaling

Storage

Best practices: The optimal storage solutions for your environment depends on a number of factors. For example:
- Access method: block, file, or object based
- Pattern of access: random (e.g. S3), or sequential (e.g. MySQL on EBS)
- Throughput required
- Frequency of access - online, offline or archival
- Frequency of update - worm, dynamic
- Availability constraints
- Durability constraints
AWS storage is virtualized. With S3 you can have 11 * 9's durability, cross region replication, etc. With EBS you can choose between different storage mediums (such as SSD, Magnetic, PIOPS, etc). You can also easily move volumes between the different types of storage mediums (through taking snapshots, migration, etc).
Questions to ask yourself:
- How do you select the appropriate storage solution for your system?
- How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate storage solution as new storage solutions and features are launched?
- How do you monitor your storage solution to ensure it is performing as expected?
- How do you ensure that the capacity and throughput of your storage solutions matches demand?
AWS Key services
- EBS, S3, Glacier

Database

Best practices: The optimal database solution depends on a number of factors. Do you need database consistency, do you need high availability, do you need NoSQL, do you need Disaster Recovery, etc?
Questions to ask yourself:
- How do you select the appropriate database solution for your system? (OLTP or OLAP)
- How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate database solution and features as new database solution and features are launched?
- How do you monitor your database to ensure performance is as expected?
- How do you ensure the capacity and throughput of your database matches demand?
AWS Key service
- RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift

Space-Time trade-off

Best practices: Using AWS you can use services such as RDS to add read replicas, reducing the load on your database and creating multiple copies of the database. This helps to lower latency.
You can use Direct Connect to provide predictable latency between your HQ and AWS.
You can use the global infrastructure to have multiple copies of your environment, in regions that is closest to your customer base.
You can also use caching services such as ElastiCache or CloudFront to reduce latency.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How do you select the appropriate proximity and caching solutions for your system? (e.g. CloudFront, ElastiCache)
- How do you ensure that you continue to have the most appropriate proximity and caching solutions as new solutions are launched?
- How do you monitor your proximity and caching solutions to ensure performance is as expected?
- How do you ensure that the proximity and caching solutions you have matches demand?
AWS Key services
- CouldFront, ElastiCache, Direct Connect, RDS read replicas, etc.