Architecture patterns are where individual decisions become complete systems.
While pillars explain how to make specific decisions and topics organize what decisions you’ll face, patterns show how everything fits together in production-ready architectures.
These aren’t theoretical patterns. They’re the recurring enterprise architectures that AWS Solutions Architects design repeatedly—and that SAP-C02 tests repeatedly.
For enterprise-level organizations, the transition to the cloud is rarely 100%. The Hybrid Cloud & Edge pattern focuses on the seamless integration of on-premises data centers with the AWS Cloud, and extending AWS services to the edge for ultra-low latency requirements.
🏗️ Core Architectural Patterns #
SAP-C02 candidates must distinguish between various connectivity methods based on Bandwidth, Reliability, Security, and Time-to-Deploy.
1. Hybrid Connectivity Decision Matrix #
- Site-to-Site VPN: Quick to deploy, encrypted over the public internet, but lacks consistent performance.
- AWS Direct Connect (DX): Private, consistent throughput ($1\text{ Gbps}$ to $100\text{ Gbps}$), but long lead time for physical provisioning.
- AWS Transit Gateway (TGW): The “Hub” that simplifies transitive peering between thousands of VPCs and on-premises networks.
- SD-WAN Integration: Using TGW Connect to integrate third-party virtual appliances.
2. Edge Computing & Low Latency #
- AWS Outposts: Bringing native AWS services (EC2, S3, RDS) into your physical data center.
- AWS Local Zones: Deploying latency-sensitive applications closer to specific geographic end-users.
- AWS Wavelength: Optimized for 5G mobile edge computing (MEC) applications.
📚 Key Decision Pillars (Deep Dives) #
Mastering these pillars is essential for solving “Most Cost-Effective Hybrid” scenarios:
- Direct Connect vs VPN Decision Matrix: Understanding Public vs. Private vs. Transit VIFs.
- Transit Gateway & Cloud WAN Routing: Designing centralized network inspection and shared services.
- Route 53 Resolver for Hybrid DNS: Managing bi-directional DNS resolution between Cloud and On-prem.
- Snow Family & DataSync Migration Flow: Offline vs. Online large-scale data ingestion.