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Keep your workload and services up-to-date

PostedDecember 20, 2024
UpdatedMarch 21, 2025
ByKevin McCaffrey

Keeping workloads and services updated is crucial for optimizing performance efficiency. Regularly incorporating the latest features, improvements, and best practices not only enhances application performance but also minimizes risks associated with outdated services.

Best Practices

Regularly Update Cloud Services and Features

  • Establish a routine review process to identify and evaluate new AWS services and features that can enhance performance. This can include setting a quarterly schedule for reviewing AWS announcements and updates.
  • Create a dedicated team or assign responsibility for monitoring cloud performance best practices, ensuring they explore new tools and features regularly to improve workload efficiency.
  • Implement automated alerts or dashboards to notify your team of service updates, deprecated features, and recommendations from AWS that may impact performance.
  • Conduct performance benchmarking to evaluate the impact of updates on your workload, ensuring that new features effectively enhance performance.
  • Document the changes implemented from AWS updates to maintain an evolving repository of knowledge on performance enhancements, which can help in future decisions.

Questions to ask your team

  • How often do you review and update your workload and services to incorporate new features?
  • Do you have a process in place for monitoring AWS announcements and new service releases?
  • What methods do you use to evaluate the performance of new cloud services before integrating them?
  • Are there specific metrics you track to measure the impact of updates on performance?
  • How do you prioritize which updates to implement based on performance efficiency?
  • What procedures do you follow to test compatibility of new services with your existing workloads?
  • Do you have a team dedicated to staying informed about the latest cloud technologies and best practices?

Who should be doing this?

Cloud Architect

  • Research and identify new cloud services and features that enhance performance efficiency.
  • Evaluate the compatibility of new services with existing workloads.
  • Design an integration plan for adopting new features into current workloads.
  • Monitor and assess the impact of updates on overall performance.

DevOps Engineer

  • Implement deployment processes for updated services and features.
  • Automate workflows to streamline the update process.
  • Conduct performance testing and benchmarking post-update.
  • Ensure continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices are up-to-date.

System Administrator

  • Maintain and update workloads to ensure compatibility with the latest cloud services.
  • Monitor system performance and identify areas needing improvement.
  • Coordinate scheduled maintenance and updates for all environments.
  • Document changes and ensure compliance with internal policies.

Quality Assurance Engineer

  • Perform regression testing after updates to confirm existing functionality.
  • Identify performance bottlenecks during the testing phases.
  • Ensure that the new features meet specified performance standards.
  • Collaborate with other team members to refine testing processes based on findings.

Product Manager

  • Stay informed about emerging technology trends and updates in cloud services.
  • Assess business needs and advocate for updates that improve performance efficiency.
  • Communicate with stakeholders about the benefits of adopting new features.
  • Develop a roadmap for integrating efficient cloud features into business strategies.

What evidence shows this is happening in your organization?

  • Performance Efficiency Update Policy: A formal policy outlining the requirements for regularly updating workloads and services to incorporate the latest cloud features and improvements, ensuring optimal performance efficiency.
  • Cloud Services Update Checklist: A checklist that teams can use to assess and implement necessary updates for workloads and services, including steps to evaluate new cloud features and their potential impact on performance.
  • Performance Efficiency Monitoring Dashboard: A real-time dashboard that displays key performance metrics of workloads, highlighting areas that may benefit from updates or optimizations based on the latest cloud service offerings.
  • Continuous Delivery Strategy Document: A guide that outlines the strategy for continuous integration and delivery, focusing on how to implement regular updates and feature integrations for maximizing performance efficiency in cloud workloads.
  • Periodic Review Plan: A plan for conducting regular reviews of workloads to identify outdated components and integrate new cloud services, ensuring consistent alignment with performance efficiency goals.

Cloud Services

AWS

  • AWS Lambda: Allows you to run code without provisioning servers, automatically scaling based on demand, which can improve performance efficiency.
  • Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling: Automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances in response to changes in demand, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency.
  • Amazon CloudWatch: Provides monitoring and observability of your applications and resources, enabling you to detect performance inefficiencies quickly.

Azure

  • Azure Monitor: Collects and analyzes telemetry data, allowing you to monitor your applications and infrastructure effectively, thus enhancing performance efficiency.
  • Azure Auto Scale: Automatically adjusts resources to match demand, which helps maintain application performance and reduce costs.
  • Azure Advisor: Provides personalized best practices and recommendations to help optimize your Azure resources, including performance efficiency tips.

Google Cloud Platform

Question: What process do you use to support more performance efficiency for your workload?
Pillar: Performance Efficiency (Code: PERF)

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