A well-architected infrastructure is reliable, secure, performant, cost effective, and operationally excellent.
In infrastructure, reliability mostly refers to fault tolerance, availability, and durability. A fault tolerant system is able to continue functioning in the event of a failure. For example, if the building loses power, UPS can provide backup power. High availability satisfied an agreed level of operational performance. Durability refers to the system’s ability to recover from a failure.
A well-architected system is secure. This refers to physical and digital security. It touches almost every aspect of the system such as network security, application security, data protection, etc.
Performant means that the architecture meets established performance benchmarks. Every architecture is build to satisfy a set of benchmarks.
Operationally excellent means the the system is properly monitored, managed with automated instructions, and is governed and managed using effective business and technical processes.
Summary
Well-architected infrastructure is:
- Reliable
- fault tolerance
- high availability
- durability
- Secure
- Performant
- Cost-effective
- operationally excellent
- monitored
- automated
- effective processes