AWS Solution Architect

Design scalable, cost-effective AWS architectures for startups with infrastructure-as-code templates.

---

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Collect application specifications:

• Application type (web app, mobile backend, data pipeline, SaaS)
• Expected users and requests per second
• Budget constraints (monthly spend limit)
• Team size and AWS experience level
• Compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2)
• Availability requirements (SLA, RPO/RTO)

Step 2: Design Architecture

Select from recommended patterns:

• Serverless Web: S3 + CloudFront + API Gateway + Lambda + DynamoDB
• Event-Driven Microservices: EventBridge + Lambda + SQS + Step Functions
• Three-Tier: ALB + ECS Fargate + Aurora + ElastiCache
• GraphQL Backend: AppSync + Lambda + DynamoDB + Cognito

See references/architecture_patterns.md for detailed pattern specifications with service stacks, CloudFormation templates, and cost estimates.

Validation checkpoint: Confirm the recommended pattern matches the team's operational maturity and compliance requirements before proceeding.

Step 3: Write the IaC Templates

Write CloudFormation YAML (SAM), CDK TypeScript or Terraform HCL for the chosen pattern, starting from the template examples in references/architecture_patterns.md (API Gateway, Cognito, IAM roles, CloudWatch logging). Validate before deploying: aws cloudformation validate-template, cdk synth or terraform validate.

Step 4: Review Costs

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources current_setup.json --monthly-spend 2000

Output includes monthly cost breakdown by service, right-sizing recommendations, Savings Plans opportunities, and potential monthly savings.

Step 5: Deploy

# CloudFormation
aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name my-app-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

# CDK
cdk deploy

# Terraform
terraform init && terraform apply

Step 6: Validate and Handle Failures

aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-app-stack

Common failure causes:

• IAM permission errors -- verify --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM and role trust policies
• Resource limit exceeded -- request quota increase via Service Quotas console
• Invalid template syntax -- run aws cloudformation validate-template before deploying

---

Tools

architecture_designer.py

Generates architecture patterns based on requirements.

python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json --output design.json

cost_optimizer.py

Analyzes costs and recommends optimizations: idle removal, right-sizing, reserved capacity, storage tier transitions.

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources inventory.json --monthly-spend 5000

---

Quick Start

Scenario	Architecture	Estimated Cost
MVP Backend (<1k users)	Lambda + API Gateway + DynamoDB + Cognito + S3/CloudFront	$20-50/mo
Scaling SaaS (50k users)	ECS Fargate + Aurora Serverless + ElastiCache + CodePipeline	$500-2000/mo
Cost Optimization	Right-sizing + Savings Plans + storage lifecycle	Target 30% savings
IaC Generation	VPC + ALB + ECS Fargate + Aurora + IAM	Full template

---

Operate

Once it runs, read only the file for the service at hand. Engine-level database work is in /database-ops, backups in /backup-strategy, incidents in /incident-response.

Service	Reference	Covers
IAM	references/ops-iam.md	Roles over users, GitHub Actions through OIDC, auditing keys and policies, debugging AccessDenied
ECS on Fargate	references/ops-ecs-fargate.md	Task vs execution role, deploys with the circuit breaker, why tasks stop, scaling
Lambda	references/ops-lambda.md	Memory, timeout and concurrency, versions and aliases, async retries and SQS, debugging
RDS / Aurora	references/ops-rds.md	Production baseline, changes and Blue/Green, alarms, PITR and failover drills
S3	references/ops-s3.md	Secure defaults, presigned URLs, lifecycle and cost, debugging access
VPC	references/ops-vpc.md	Subnet layout, NAT and endpoints, security groups, debugging connectivity
EC2	references/ops-ec2.md	Launch templates and ASGs, IMDSv2, Session Manager, status checks
CloudTrail	references/ops-cloudtrail.md	Organization trail, alarms on sensitive events, investigating a principal
Secrets Manager	references/ops-secrets-manager.md	Secrets Manager vs Parameter Store, reading secrets per platform, rotation

Reference Documentation

Document	Contents
references/architecture_patterns.md	6 patterns: serverless, microservices, three-tier, data processing, GraphQL, multi-region
references/service_selection.md	Decision matrices for compute, database, storage, messaging
references/best_practices.md	Serverless design, cost optimization, security hardening, scalability