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Lesson 1: The Multi-Region Mental Model

Multi-Region Platform Engineering: AWS, Kubernetes, and Aurora at Scale​

Episode 1 of 16 | Duration: 15 minutes

Target Audience: Senior platform engineers, SREs, DevOps engineers (5+ years experience)

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What You'll Learn​

  • Cost, Complexity, Capability (CCC) Triangle mental model - the fundamental trade-offs
  • True cost multiplier: 2.5x-7.5x (not the 2x vendors claim)
  • Single Points of Failure in "multi-region" AWS architectures that can bring down your entire system
  • Decision framework: Calculate actual downtime cost vs multi-region premium
  • Hidden costs: Engineering time (500-1000 hours implementation) plus ongoing operational complexity

Key Takeaways​

  • Multi-region costs 2.5-7.5x more (not 2x): Data transfer is the silent killer at $0.02/GB
  • The Cost-Complexity-Capability triangle: You can optimize for two vertices, never all three
  • Hidden SPOFs exist even in multi-region: Route53, IAM, ACM all depend on US-EAST-1 control planes
  • 80% of companies don't need multi-region: Do the math—$10M revenue = $1,140/hour downtime cost
  • Engineering time is the largest hidden cost
  • Decision framework: Calculate actual downtime cost vs multi-region premium to know if it's worth it

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