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Developing a Multi-Account AWS Environment Strategy
Explore twelve common patterns for developing an effective and efficient multi-account AWS environment strategy
Introduction
Every company is different: its organizational structure, the length of time it has existed, how fast it has grown, the industries it serves, its product and service diversity, public or private sector, and its geographic footprint. This uniqueness is reflected in how it organizes and manages its Cloud resources. Just as no two organizations are exactly alike, the structure of their AWS environments is rarely identical.
Some organizations successfully operate from a single AWS account, while others manage workloads spread across dozens or even hundreds of accounts. The volume and purpose of an organization’s AWS accounts are a result of multiple factors, including length of time spent on AWS, Cloud maturity, organizational structure and complexity, sectors, industries, and geographies served, product and service mix, compliance and regulatory requirements, and merger and acquisition activity.
“By design, all resources provisioned within an AWS account are logically isolated from resources provisioned in other AWS accounts, even within your own AWS Organizations.” (AWS)
Working with industry peers, the AWS community, and a wide variety of customers, one will observe common patterns for how organizations separate environments and workloads using AWS accounts. These patterns form an AWS multi-account strategy for operating securely and reliably in the Cloud at scale. The more planning an organization does in advance to develop a sound multi-account strategy, the less the burden that is required to manage changes as the organization grows over time.
The following post will explore twelve common patterns for effectively and efficiently organizing multiple AWS accounts. These patterns do not represent an either-or choice; they are designed to be purposefully combined to form a multi-account AWS environment strategy for your organization.
