AWS Cloud Native System Architecture Blueprint
Complete Architecture Overview
This AWS Cloud Native System Architecture Blueprint outlines a scalable, secure, and observable cloud-native platform built on AWS. It leverages microservices
hosted on ECS/EKS
with containers
, orchestrated through App Mesh
using Envoy
sidecars for resilient service-to-service communication. CloudFront
and API Gateway
, protected by WAF
, handle client access, while DynamoDB
, RDS
, and ElastiCache
manage data persistence and caching. Observability is ensured via CloudWatch
, X-Ray
, and CloudTrail
, and security is enforced with IAM
, VPC
, and KMS
. The architecture is designed for high availability, agility, and global scalability, supporting modern applications like APIs, web platforms, or data pipelines.
Architecture Principles
1. Layered Isolation
- Presentation: CloudFront, Web/Mobile Apps
- Edge: WAF, API Gateway, ALB
- Compute: ECS/EKS microservices
- Data: DynamoDB, RDS, ElastiCache
- Observability: CloudWatch, X-Ray, CloudTrail
2. Service Communication
- App Mesh for service routing
- Envoy sidecars for mTLS
- Retries and circuit breaking
- Service discovery integration
3. Security & Compliance
- IAM least-privilege policies
- VPC with private subnets
- KMS for encryption at rest
- WAF for web protection
Key Performance Metrics
Component | Target SLA | Latency | Throughput |
---|---|---|---|
API Gateway | 99.95% | <50ms | 10,000 RPS |
ECS/EKS Cluster | 99.9% | <100ms | 5,000 RPS |
ElastiCache | 99.99% | <5ms | 20,000 QPS |
DynamoDB | 99.99% | <10ms | 10,000 WCU/RCU |
1. Client Access Architecture
This diagram illustrates the client-side architecture, where Web Apps (React)
and Mobile Apps (iOS/SwiftUI, Android/Kotlin)
interact with the platform via CloudFront
and API Gateway
. CloudFront
serves as a global CDN, caching static assets in S3
and executing edge logic with Lambda@Edge
for request normalization. Web apps leverage CloudFront
for low-latency delivery, while mobile apps connect directly to API Gateway
for dynamic APIs. This layer connects to the API Gateway Architecture (Diagram 2) for secure backend interactions.
Key Features
Performance Optimization
- CloudFront caching (TTL 1yr)
- Stale-while-revalidate for dynamic content
- Code splitting in React
- Progressive Web App support
Security
- CSP headers for XSS protection
- JWT in HttpOnly cookies
- Certificate pinning (mobile)
- WAF rules for bot protection
// Sample React API Client const apiClient = axios.create({ baseURL: process.env.API_URL, timeout: 5000, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } }); apiClient.interceptors.response.use(null, (error) => { if (error.config && error.response && error.response.status >= 500) { return new Promise((resolve) => { setTimeout(() => resolve(apiClient(error.config)), 1000); }); } return Promise.reject(error); }); export const fetchData = (endpoint) => apiClient.get(`/${endpoint}`, { headers: { 'Cache-Control': 'max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=3600' } });
2. API Gateway Architecture
This diagram details the API Gateway
layer, which serves as the secure entry point for client requests from the Client Access Architecture (Diagram 1). It integrates with a Lambda Authorizer
for JWT validation using Cognito User Pool
and KMS
for secure key management. The gateway routes requests to the Compute Layer (Diagram 3) and is protected by WAF
rules to block malicious traffic, such as SQL injection and DDoS attacks.
Gateway Configuration
Endpoint | Throttling | Cache TTL | Auth |
---|---|---|---|
/api/v1/data | 1000 RPS | 60s | Optional |
/api/v1/secure | 500 RPS | 0s | Required |
# Terraform for API Gateway resource "aws_api_gateway_rest_api" "cloud_native" { name = "cloud-native-api" description = "API Gateway for Cloud Native Platform" endpoint_configuration { types = ["REGIONAL"] } } resource "aws_api_gateway_authorizer" "jwt" { name = "jwt-authorizer" rest_api_id = aws_api_gateway_rest_api.cloud_native.id authorizer_uri = aws_lambda_function.authorizer.invoke_arn type = "TOKEN" identity_source = "method.request.header.Authorization" } resource "aws_wafv2_web_acl_association" "api" { resource_arn = aws_api_gateway_stage.prod.arn web_acl_arn = aws_wafv2_web_acl.api.arn }
3. Compute Layer Architecture
This diagram focuses on the Compute Layer
, which hosts microservices
on ECS/EKS
clusters with containers
. Requests are routed from the API Gateway (Diagram 2) via ALB
to the cluster. Microservices are auto-scaled based on demand, and App Mesh
(Diagram 4) manages service-to-service communication. This layer interacts with the Data Storage (Diagram 5) and Observability/Security (Diagram 6) layers.
ECS Task Definition
{ "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" }
4. Service Mesh Architecture
This diagram details the Service Mesh
layer, which uses App Mesh
with Envoy
sidecars to manage service-to-service communication within the Compute Layer (Diagram 3). It supports mTLS, retries, and circuit breaking for resilience and connects to the Data Storage (Diagram 5) and Observability/Security (Diagram 6) layers.
App Mesh Configuration
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 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
5. Data Storage Architecture
This diagram focuses on the Data Storage
layer, which includes DynamoDB
for NoSQL data, RDS
for relational data, and ElastiCache
for caching. The Compute Layer (Diagram 3) interacts with this layer for data persistence and low-latency access, with encryption managed by KMS
.
Data Model
-- RDS Schema (PostgreSQL) CREATE TABLE entities ( id UUID PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, attributes JSONB, created_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW(), updated_at TIMESTAMPTZ ); -- DynamoDB Schema { "TableName": "Entities", "KeySchema": [ { "AttributeName": "pk", "KeyType": "HASH" }, // "ENTITY#123" { "AttributeName": "sk", "KeyType": "RANGE" } // "METADATA" ], "GlobalSecondaryIndexes": [ { "IndexName": "NameIndex", "KeySchema": [ { "AttributeName": "name", "KeyType": "HASH" } ], "Projection": { "ProjectionType": "INCLUDE", "NonKeyAttributes": ["attributes"] } } ] }
Cache Strategy
Read-Through Cache
- Cache hit: 5ms response
- Cache miss: 50ms (DB + warm cache)
- TTL: 5 minutes (hot data)
- TTL: 1 hour (static data)
Invalidation Triggers
- Data updates
- Attribute changes
- Scheduled refreshes
- Event-driven invalidation
6. Observability and Security Architecture
This diagram details the Observability and Security
layer, which includes CloudWatch
for metrics and logs, X-Ray
for tracing, and CloudTrail
for auditing. Security is enforced with IAM
, VPC
, and KMS
. The Compute Layer (Diagram 3) integrates with this layer for monitoring and compliance.
CloudWatch Alarm Configuration
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
Security Controls
Access Control
- IAM least-privilege policies
- Role-based access control
- Service-linked roles
- Session management
Network Security
- VPC private subnets
- Security groups
- Network ACLs
- WAF rules