AWS architecture diagrams give teams a shared view of cloud environments for planning, documentation, network reviews, and stakeholder communication. This guide includes practical AWS architecture examples and use cases you can adapt for your own cloud architecture.
What Is an AWS Architecture Diagram?
An AWS architecture diagram is a visual representation of a cloud system built on Amazon Web Services. It shows how AWS services, infrastructure components, network boundaries, data flows, and security layers connect within an application or workload.
Teams use AWS architecture diagrams to plan new systems, document existing infrastructure, explain deployment structure, troubleshoot issues, and review cloud architecture for scalability, reliability, security, and cost efficiency.
They are also useful when reviewing workloads against AWS best practices, such as the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
Common AWS Use Cases
An AWS use case refers to a specific scenario or situation in which AWS services and resources are employed to design, build, and manage a particular IT infrastructure or application. Use cases are practical examples that illustrate how organizations or individuals can leverage AWS’s cloud computing capabilities to address specific business or technical requirements.
Following are some helpful AWS use cases Creately has designed to make your application designing process much easier. Simply click the use case that meets your requirements to modify it online. Listed below are the AWS use case in this post;
- AWS VPC diagram with Public and Private Subnets
- Varnish Behind the Amazon Router 53
- Architecture of the Elastic Load Balancing Service
- Reference Architecture with Amazon VPC Configuration
- Multiple VPN Connections
- Running a Stack in a VPC
- 3-Tier Auto-Scalable Web Application Architecture
- High-Level HA Architecture for VPN Instances 2
- Varnish behind the Reverse Proxy
To create Azure Architecture, use an Azure architecture diagram tool
AWS VPC Architecture Diagram with Public and Private Subnets
This AWS architecture diagram represents a scenario that includes a VPC or a virtual private cloud with a public subnet and a private subnet. If you are planning to run a public-facing web application with back-end servers that are not publicly accessible – for example a multi-tier website – this use case would be ideal to communicate your application design. Click the image to make the necessary changes online.
Varnish Behind the Amazon Router 53
This AWS use case describes the implementation architecture of Varnish on Amazon Web Service Cloud. Varnish is a web application accelerator that is used for page caching and faster delivery. Start with this AWS architecture diagram to plan out your own Varnish deployment architecture in AWS.
Architecture of the Elastic Load Balancing Service
This is the architecture of an Elastic Load Balancing service. Here there are two resources; load balancers and the controller service. While the load balancers monitor the traffic and handle requests coming in through the internet, the controller service monitors the load balancers and makes sure that they conduct themselves properly. Click on the AWS architecture diagram to use it or modify it online.
Reference Architecture with Amazon VPC Configuration
This AWS use case describes the configuration of security groups in Amazon VPC against reflection attacks where malicious attackers use common UDP services to source large volumes of traffic from around the world. Through the configuration of such security groups, these attacks can be detected and mitigated easily.
Multiple VPN Connections
This AWS use case depicts multiple VPN connections. While the VPC has an attached private virtual gateway, your network has a customer gateway which needs to be configured to enable the VPN connection. Click on the image to start editing right away.
Running a Stack in a VPC
The AWS architecture diagram below shows the configuration of a VPC for an AWS OpsWorks app server stack. Several components are included in this VPC; subnets, internet gateway, load balancer and NAT. Click on the image to change the diagram according to your requirements.
3-Tier Auto-Scalable Web Application Architecture
This is a 3-tier auto-scalable web application architecture. The core network backbone, the distribution layer and the access layer are shown here. You can click the image and edit the use case online according to your requirements.
High-Level HA Architecture for VPN Instances 2
The AWS architecture diagram below is of an HA design for the VPC component of the network. Like in the 3rd diagram, this one also shows the setup and the configuration of VPN instances, although there are only 2 instances here. In order to create a fully redundant VPN connection, these two instances need to be monitored so as to keep track of the health of the VPN connection. Click on the image to edit this online.
Varnish behind the Reverse Proxy
This is another AWS use case of the deployment architecture of Varnish on Amazon Web Services cloud. Here the Varnish Page Cache is placed behind the Reverse Proxy. Click on the image to start editing it as you want.
How to Choose the Right AWS Architecture Diagram
The right AWS architecture diagram depends on what you need to explain. A leadership review may only need a high-level architecture diagram, while an engineering handoff may require subnet-level detail, security groups, routing, and service dependencies.
| Goal | Best Diagram Type | What to Show |
| Explain the overall system | AWS cloud architecture diagram | Main services, users, data flow, external systems |
| Design a secure network | AWS network diagram | VPCs, subnets, gateways, route tables, VPNs, security boundaries |
| Document deployed resources | AWS infrastructure diagram | EC2, databases, storage, load balancers, IAM, monitoring |
| Start from a proven pattern | AWS reference architecture | Recommended AWS service combinations and workload patterns |
| Plan a web application | AWS web app architecture diagram | DNS, load balancer, compute, app layer, database, storage |
| Map serverless workflows | AWS serverless architecture diagram | API Gateway, Lambda, events, queues, storage, databases |
| Review reliability or scalability | High-availability AWS diagram | Multi-AZ design, failover, Auto Scaling, load balancing |
