Create new patterns from the Azure Well-Architected Framework Sustainability Pillar

[dubrie]

Describe the pattern you'd like to propose
Azure just released their well architected framework for sustainability with a lot of good options for green software patterns. The guidance all connects back to the green software foundation and the green software principles so there is already a lot of good alignment.

Describe specific emission impact from this pattern
Various, depending on the specific guidance.

References to this pattern
https://aka.ms/waf/sustainability/docs

Additional context
Will need to pull the detail from the Azure WAF page into pattern definitions

[dubrie]

I believe @yelghali was going to ingest at least some of these patterns

[markus-gsf-seidl]

I took the liberty to extract the headings (~~ patterns) from Azures page.

May still need some time to see if we have them already in the catalog (help needed!)
I do like their split, maybe this would be a good sub-split for the cloud part @aoifefitton ( Application design, platform, testing, ...)

Guide:

• No checkmark and/or bold text -> Candidate for new pattern
• Checkmark -> pattern already exists, links are provided

• Application design
  • Evaluate moving monoliths to a microservice architecture
    • From 10km away similar to adapt serverless, could use a pattern
  • Improve API efficiency
    • Interesting Idea --> Pattern
  • Ensure backward software compatibility to ensure it works on legacy hardware
    • Covered by Optimize impact on customer devices and equipment #56 #139
  • Leverage cloud native design patterns
    • Too general; also how does this reduce SCI?
  • Consider using circuit breaker patterns
    • Pattern needed --> Created Use circuit breaker patterns #218
  • Optimize code for efficient resource usage
    • Too general; not includable
  • Optimize for async access patterns
    • Too general; for Web there is already a pattern. Additionally it's not always true
    • Could be a pattern: Consider using async call patterns between applications (ex Queues, etc.)
    • Use Asynchronous Calls instead of sync when doing Network calls #76 #209
  • Evaluate server-side vs. client-side rendering
    • Pattern needed for Web
  • Be aware of UX design for sustainability
    • Pattern needed for Web
  • Update legacy code
    • Maybe pattern worthy?
• Application platform
  • Review platform and service updates regularly
    • Covered in review-platform-and-service-updates-regularly.md #154
  • Deploy to low-carbon regions
    • Covered in Choose sustainable region for workloads  #128
  • Process when the carbon intensity is low
    • https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/time-shift-kubernetes-cron-jobs
    • BUT: Could be done more generally; not k8s specific
  • Choose data centers close to the customer
    • https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/choose-region-closest-to-users
  • Run batch workloads during low-carbon intensity periods
    • Similar to "Process when the carbon intensity is low"
  • Containerize workloads where applicable
    • Unclear how this reduces SCI, but it's easier to run multiple apps on the same machine; other methods do exist however
  • Evaluate moving to PaaS and serverless workloads
    • PaaS = marketing hype
    • serverless is covered in Use serverless cloud services for running workloads #129
  • Use SPOT VMs where possible
    • Cost improvement, do not see any SCI improvement here. Otherwise it would be covered with serverless and time-shift patterns
  • Turn off workloads outside of business hours
    • https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/scale-down-kubernetes-workloads
    • Could use a more general pattern, instead of the k8s specific one above
    • Generalized with Replacement/generalization of "Scale down kubernetes applications when not in use" #220
  • Utilize auto-scaling and bursting capabilities
    • https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/scale-kubernetes-workloads-based-on-events
    • Could use a more general pattern, instead of the k8s specific one above
  • Match the scalability needs
    • A few hints in assumptions, like https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/match-utilization-requirements-of-vm but no pattern yet. Could use a pattern
  • Evaluate Ampere Altra Arm-based processors for Virtual Machines
    • Could use a pattern, I do think ARM offers better performance/watt in general (although Intel already knows that and tries to improve)
  • Delete zombie workloads
    • Covered in Eliminate creation and maintenance of unused assets #68 #141
• Testing - CI/CD
  • Run integration, performance, load, or any other intense testing during low-carbon periods
    • Could use pattern: Implement Carbon Aware SDK (!)
  • Automate CI/CD to scale worker agents as needed
    • We already have a few patterns about right sizing and scaling workloads in different environments, like https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/match-utilization-requirements-of-vm/ , https://patterns.greensoftware.foundation/catalog/cloud/minimizing-deployed-environments
  • Consider caching when using CI/CD agents
    • Interesting idea, we currently have no Build category.
  • Split large code repositories
    • Interesting idea, we currently have no Build category.
  • Assess where parallelization is possible
    • Azure has put this in the wrong category, this means parallelization inside the application. For Web we have something like this; otherwise it's not applicable for our Categories (there is no software development category)
  • Assess with chaos engineering
    • I don't see how this can reduce the SCI
  • Establish CPU and Memory thresholds in testing
    • Interesting idea, we currently have no Testing/Software category.
• Operational Procedures
  • The Emissions Impact Dashboard
    • Could be rephrased as: "Monitor the Carbon Emission reports of your cloud provider" Pattern needed
  • Define emissions target
  • Identify the metrics and set improvement goals
  • Cost optimization as a proxy
  • Defining policies
  • Create a sustainability community
  • Plan for learning
  • Share best practices across teams
  • Plan for incentives
• Networking and connectivity
  • Make use of a CDN
  • Follow caching best practices
  • Select Azure regions based on where the customer resides
  • Use managed audio and video streaming services with built-in compression
  • Enable network file compression
  • Maximize network utilization within the same cloud and region
• Storage
  • Enable storage compression
  • Optimize database query performance
  • Use the best suited storage access tier
  • Only store what is relevant
  • Determine the most suitable access tier for blob data
  • Reduce the number of recovery points for VM backups
  • Revise backup and retention policies
  • Optimize the collection of logs
• Security
  • Use cloud native log collection methods where applicable
  • Avoid transferring large unfiltered data sets from one cloud service provider to another
  • Filter or exclude log sources before transmission or ingestion into a SIEM
  • Archive log data to long-term storage
  • Use cloud native network security controls to eliminate unnecessary network traffic
  • Minimize routing from endpoints to the destination
  • Use network security tools with auto-scaling capabilities
  • Evaluate whether to use TLS termination
  • Use DDoS protection
    • Pattern needed --> Azure WAF Use DDoS Protection #222
  • Integrate Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
  • Tag security resources