AWS Cloud Native System Overview

Introduction to AWS Cloud Native System

This AWS Cloud Native System Overview presents a scalable, secure, and observable architecture leveraging **microservices** hosted on **ECS/EKS** with **containers**. **App Mesh** with **Envoy** sidecars ensures resilient service-to-service communication, while **CloudWatch** and **X-Ray** provide comprehensive observability. Security is enforced through **IAM**, **VPC**, **WAF**, and **KMS**, ensuring compliance and data protection. Designed for high availability and agility, this system supports modern applications like APIs, web platforms, or data pipelines.

Cloud Native Architecture Diagram

The vertical diagram illustrates a layered AWS cloud-native system: **Clients** access via **CloudFront** and **API Gateway**, protected by **WAF**. **Microservices** on **ECS/EKS** with **Envoy** sidecars communicate via **App Mesh**. **DynamoDB** and **RDS** store data, with **ElastiCache** for caching. **CloudWatch**, **X-Ray**, and **CloudTrail** ensure observability, while **IAM**, **VPC**, and **KMS** enforce security. Arrows are color-coded: yellow (dashed) for client traffic, orange-red for service interactions, blue for data flows, purple for observability, and green for security.

Key Components

The cloud-native system comprises integrated components for compute, networking, observability, and security:

• CloudFront: Global CDN for low-latency delivery of static and dynamic content.
• WAF: Protects against web exploits like SQL injection and DDoS attacks.
• API Gateway: Manages secure, scalable API endpoints with authentication.
• ALB: Distributes traffic to ECS/EKS microservices for load balancing.
• ECS/EKS Cluster: Hosts containerized microservices with auto-scaling.
• App Mesh: Manages service-to-service communication with Envoy sidecars.
• Envoy Sidecar: Proxies traffic for routing, mTLS, and resilience.
• DynamoDB: NoSQL database for high-performance, scalable data storage.
• RDS: Relational database for structured data with multi-AZ support.
• ElastiCache: In-memory caching for low-latency data access.
• AWS X-Ray: Provides distributed tracing for microservice interactions.
• CloudWatch: Collects metrics, logs, and alarms for system monitoring.
• CloudTrail: Audits API calls for compliance and security tracking.
• IAM: Enforces least-privilege access for services and resources.
• VPC: Isolates resources with subnets and security groups.
• KMS: Manages encryption keys for data at rest.

Benefits of AWS Cloud Native System

This architecture delivers significant advantages for modern applications:

• Scalability: ECS/EKS and DynamoDB scale seamlessly with demand.
• Security: WAF, IAM, KMS, and VPC ensure robust protection.
• Observability: X-Ray, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail provide deep insights.
• Resilience: App Mesh enables retries, circuit breaking, and load balancing.
• Agility: Microservices and containers accelerate development cycles.
• Cost Efficiency: Pay-as-you-go pricing optimizes resource usage.
• Global Reach: CloudFront ensures low-latency access worldwide.

Implementation Considerations

Building this cloud-native system requires addressing key considerations:

• Security Hardening: Configure WAF rules, enable mTLS in App Mesh, and rotate KMS keys.
• Performance Optimization: Tune ElastiCache, optimize DynamoDB capacity, and configure ALB health checks.
• Cost Management: Use Savings Plans for ECS/EKS and monitor usage with Cost Explorer.
• Scalability Planning: Set auto-scaling policies for ECS/EKS and DynamoDB on-demand mode.
• Observability Setup: Create X-Ray service maps, CloudWatch dashboards, and CloudTrail log analysis.
• Resilience Testing: Simulate service failures and traffic spikes to validate App Mesh behavior.
• Compliance Requirements: Enable CloudTrail for audits and ensure encryption for GDPR/SOC compliance.
• CI/CD Integration: Automate deployments with CodePipeline and CodeBuild.

Example Configuration: ECS Task Definition with App Mesh

Below is a JSON task definition for an ECS service with an Envoy sidecar for App Mesh.

{
  "family": "microservice-a",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "app",
      "image": "my-app:1.0",
      "portMappings": [
        {
          "containerPort": 8080,
          "protocol": "tcp"
        }
      ],
      "essential": true,
      "logConfiguration": {
        "logDriver": "awslogs",
        "options": {
          "awslogs-group": "/ecs/microservice-a",
          "awslogs-region": "us-west-2",
          "awslogs-stream-prefix": "app"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "envoy",
      "image": "aws-appmesh-envoy:v1.22.2.0-prod",
      "essential": true,
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "APPMESH_RESOURCE_NAME",
          "value": "microservice-a"
        }
      ],
      "user": "1337",
      "logConfiguration": {
        "logDriver": "awslogs",
        "options": {
          "awslogs-group": "/ecs/microservice-a",
          "awslogs-region": "us-west-2",
          "awslogs-stream-prefix": "envoy"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "requiresCompatibilities": ["FARGATE"],
  "cpu": "512",
  "memory": "1024",
  "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
  "taskRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/ecsTaskRole"
}
                

Example Configuration: App Mesh Virtual Node and Router

Below is a CloudFormation template for an App Mesh virtual node and router.

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Resources:
  Mesh:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::Mesh
    Properties:
      MeshName: cloud-native-mesh
      Spec:
        EgressFilter:
          Type: ALLOW_ALL
  VirtualNodeA:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::VirtualNode
    Properties:
      MeshName: !Ref Mesh
      VirtualNodeName: microservice-a
      Spec:
        ServiceDiscovery:
          DNS:
            Hostname: microservice-a.default.svc.cluster.local
        Listeners:
          - PortMapping:
              Port: 8080
              Protocol: http
        Backends:
          - VirtualService:
              VirtualServiceName: microservice-b.default.svc.cluster.local
  VirtualNodeB:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::VirtualNode
    Properties:
      MeshName: !Ref Mesh
      VirtualNodeName: microservice-b
      Spec:
        ServiceDiscovery:
          DNS:
            Hostname: microservice-b.default.svc.cluster.local
        Listeners:
          - PortMapping:
              Port: 8080
              Protocol: http
  VirtualServiceB:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::VirtualService
    Properties:
      MeshName: !Ref Mesh
      VirtualServiceName: microservice-b.default.svc.cluster.local
      Spec:
        Provider:
          VirtualNode:
            VirtualNodeName: !Ref VirtualNodeB
  VirtualRouter:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::VirtualRouter
    Properties:
      MeshName: !Ref Mesh
      VirtualRouterName: microservice-b-router
      Spec:
        Listeners:
          - PortMapping:
              Port: 8080
              Protocol: http
  Route:
    Type: AWS::AppMesh::Route
    Properties:
      MeshName: !Ref Mesh
      VirtualRouterName: !Ref VirtualRouter
      RouteName: microservice-b-route
      Spec:
        HttpRoute:
          Match:
            Prefix: /
          Action:
            WeightedTargets:
              - VirtualNode: !Ref VirtualNodeB
                Weight: 100
          RetryPolicy:
            MaxRetries: 3
            PerRetryTimeout:
              Unit: ms
              Value: 2000
            HttpRetryEvents:
              - server-error
                

Example Configuration: CloudWatch Alarms for Observability

Below is a CloudFormation template for CloudWatch alarms to monitor system health.

Resources:
  HighCPUMetricAlarm:
    Type: AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm
    Properties:
      AlarmName: HighCPUUsage
      AlarmDescription: Triggers when ECS CPU usage exceeds 80%
      MetricName: CPUUtilization
      Namespace: AWS/ECS
      Statistic: Average
      Period: 300
      EvaluationPeriods: 2
      Threshold: 80
      ComparisonOperator: GreaterThanThreshold
      Dimensions:
        - Name: ClusterName
          Value: CloudNativeCluster
      AlarmActions:
        - !Ref SNSTopic
      TreatMissingData: notBreaching
  SNSTopic:
    Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
    Properties:
      TopicName: CloudNativeAlerts