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03

AWS Cloud & Kubernetes

AWS architecture review, Kubernetes deployment patterns, infrastructure as code, and cloud cost optimization

Cloud Infrastructure Package

Deliverables

AWS Well-Architected Review

Comprehensive assessment against AWS's 6 pillars with specific remediation roadmap

  • -Operational Excellence: CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, incident response
  • -Security: IAM policies, encryption at rest/transit, network segmentation
  • -Reliability: Multi-AZ setup, backup strategies, disaster recovery
  • -Performance Efficiency: Right-sizing instances, caching strategies, CDN usage
  • -Cost Optimization: Reserved instances, Spot usage, unused resource cleanup
  • -Sustainability: Carbon footprint analysis, efficient resource utilization

Kubernetes Architecture Assessment

Review of EKS cluster configuration, deployment patterns, and operational maturity

  • -Cluster setup: Node groups, auto-scaling, networking (VPC CNI vs Calico)
  • -Workload patterns: Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets best practices
  • -Security: RBAC, Pod Security Standards, network policies, secrets management
  • -Observability: Prometheus/Grafana stack, logging (CloudWatch, ELK), distributed tracing

Infrastructure as Code Audit

Review of Terraform/CDK/CloudFormation usage with best practices

  • -Terraform: Module structure, remote state (S3 + DynamoDB), workspace strategy
  • -CDK: Construct patterns, cross-stack references, environment configuration
  • -CI/CD integration: Automated plan/apply, drift detection, policy as code (OPA)

Cost Optimization Roadmap

Detailed analysis of current spend with actionable recommendations to reduce costs by 20-40%

  • -Compute: Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot instances for batch workloads
  • -Storage: S3 Intelligent-Tiering, EBS volume optimization, snapshot lifecycle
  • -Data transfer: VPC endpoints, CloudFront optimization, cross-region costs

Key Questions

(14 questions)
01

Is infrastructure defined as code (Terraform, CDK, CloudFormation) with version control?

02

Are environments (dev/staging/prod) isolated with separate AWS accounts or VPCs?

03

Is Kubernetes (EKS) used for container orchestration with proper security and scaling?

04

Are workloads right-sized with auto-scaling configured for both EC2 and pods?

05

Is networking properly configured with VPCs, subnets, security groups, and NACLs?

06

Are databases running on managed services (RDS, Aurora) with automated backups?

07

Is disaster recovery tested regularly with documented RTO/RPO objectives?

08

Are AWS costs monitored with budgets, alerts, and regular optimization reviews?

09

Is infrastructure monitored with CloudWatch, Prometheus, or third-party APM tools?

10

Are security best practices followed (least privilege IAM, encryption, MFA, GuardDuty)?

11

Is CI/CD integrated with infrastructure deployment (GitOps, automated rollbacks)?

12

Are Kubernetes deployments following best practices (resource limits, health checks, PodDisruptionBudgets)?

13

Is cluster autoscaling configured properly (Cluster Autoscaler or Karpenter)?

14

Are container images scanned for vulnerabilities and stored in ECR with lifecycle policies?

Artifacts To Review

Terraform/CDK code and state configuration
AWS Cost Explorer reports (last 3 months)
EKS cluster configurations and node group settings
Kubernetes manifests or Helm charts
IAM policies and role definitions
CloudWatch dashboards and alarms
Network diagrams (VPC, subnets, routing tables)
Disaster recovery runbooks and recent test results
Security group rules and NACLs
Container image scanning reports (ECR, Trivy, Snyk)

Sample Outputs

AWS Well-Architected Assessment Report

Detailed findings across all 6 pillars with High/Medium/Low risk categorization and specific remediation steps

Format: PDF with architecture diagrams and code examples

Cost Optimization Plan

Month-by-month implementation plan to reduce AWS spend by 20-40% without impacting performance

Format: Spreadsheet with current costs, recommendations, and projected savings

Kubernetes Maturity Scorecard

Assessment of your EKS deployment against production readiness criteria with gaps and remediation timeline

Format: Interactive scorecard with prioritized action items

Infrastructure as Code Best Practices Guide

Customized guide with module structure examples, state management patterns, and CI/CD integration

Format: Markdown guide with code repository templates

Maturity Levels

Emerging

Manual infrastructure provisioning, basic EC2/RDS usage, no IaC, ad-hoc deployments

Developing

Some Terraform/CloudFormation, basic Kubernetes usage, manual scaling, limited monitoring

Defined

Comprehensive IaC, EKS with auto-scaling, multi-environment setup, CloudWatch monitoring, cost tracking

Advanced

GitOps workflows, advanced Kubernetes patterns (service mesh, operators), FinOps culture, predictive scaling, chaos engineering

> Start Assessment

Get AWS Cloud & Kubernetes Insights

Schedule a discovery call to discuss how this assessment can help your organization. Fractional CAIO clients receive this module included in their retainer.

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