On this page
Overview
An enterprise customer needed an advanced multi-account AWS landing zone with defined identity, networking and security services. I took over technical ownership after the original architect left and carried the engagement from pre-sign-off through implementation and operational handover.
Challenge
The design was already in progress, but the account model and network address plan needed to be finalized before deployment. The customer also needed more than an as-built document: the operations team required practical procedures and a firewall runbook.
My role
I finalized the design, simplified the account model, completed the network plan, implemented the landing zone, provisioned the contracted EC2 infrastructure, ran knowledge-transfer sessions and produced the as-built, operations guide, network runbook and requested knowledge base.
Architecture & approach
Key components: AWS Control Tower, AWS Organizations, Amazon VPC, Amazon EC2, IAM Identity Center, FortiGate, CloudTrail, CloudWatch.
What I implemented
- Completed the multi-account, identity, network and security design.
- Implemented the advanced AWS landing zone and core accounts.
- Provisioned the final EC2 infrastructure required by the statement of work.
- Documented the deployed state and recurring operating procedures.
- Created a FortiGate network runbook and customer knowledge base.
- Delivered two knowledge-transfer sessions and resolved remaining close-out items.
Key decisions
- Simplified the account model where additional complexity did not serve an operational need.
- Completed the address plan before build to avoid later routing conflicts.
- Expanded handover documentation to match how the customer’s operators would actually support the environment.
Security & reliability
The multi-account model separated workloads and shared services, while identity and network controls were defined before deployment. The handover package documented both configuration and day-to-day operations.
Technologies
Outcome
The customer received a deployed advanced landing zone, the required compute infrastructure, completed design and as-built documents, operational guidance, a firewall runbook and knowledge transfer.
Lessons & takeaways
Key takeaway
Taking over a project midstream requires a clear inventory of signed-off decisions, open assumptions and contractual deliverables. That inventory allowed the remaining design, build and handover work to close without restarting discovery.