Azure Well-Architected Framework: The 5 Pillars

The Azure Well-Architected Framework helps you build secure, reliable, and efficient cloud applications. It's based on five pillars.

The 5 Pillars

1. Reliability

Your application should work correctly even when things fail.

•Use multiple availability zones

•Implement health checks

•Plan for disaster recovery

•Test failure scenarios

2. Security

Protect your data and systems from threats.

•Use identity management (Azure AD)

•Encrypt data at rest and in transit

•Follow least privilege access

•Monitor for security threats

3. Cost Optimization

Get the most value from your cloud spending.

•Right-size your resources

•Use reserved instances for predictable workloads

•Set up cost alerts and budgets

•Delete unused resources

4. Operational Excellence

Run and monitor your systems effectively.

•Automate deployments with CI/CD

•Use infrastructure as code

•Monitor application health

•Document your architecture

5. Performance Efficiency

Use resources efficiently to meet demand.

•Choose the right services for your workload

•Scale horizontally when possible

•Use caching to reduce load

•Monitor and optimize bottlenecks

Getting Started

Start by assessing your current architecture against these pillars. Azure provides the Well-Architected Review tool to help identify areas for improvement.

Focus on one pillar at a time and make incremental improvements.