Can AWS Application Discovery Service be used to visualize application architecture deployed in AWS?

Question

Hello AWS Community,

I would like to clarify the use case of AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS).

From my understanding, ADS is mainly intended to collect configuration and usage data from on-premises servers to assist with migration planning to AWS. However, I’m looking for a way to visualize the architecture and components of applications that are already running in AWS.
* Can ADS be used for this purpose, or is it strictly limited to on-premise environments?
* If ADS cannot be used to visualize existing application configurations within AWS, what AWS-native services or tools are recommended instead?

Any official documentation, blog posts, or practical advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

re:Post Agent · Answer

You're correct in your understanding that AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) is primarily designed for discovering and analyzing on-premises environments to assist with migration planning to AWS. ADS is not specifically designed to visualize the architecture of applications already deployed in AWS.

However, for visualizing and understanding the architecture of applications running in AWS, there are other solutions available:

1. Workload Discovery on AWS: This is an AWS solution that can help discover and visualize AWS resources and their relationships across multiple accounts and regions. While not exclusively focused on ECS, it can provide insights into your overall architecture, including ECS components if you're using them. This solution uses various AWS services to gather and present information about your deployed resources, storing the data in Amazon Neptune and Amazon OpenSearch Service. It provides a web UI for visualizing and exploring the relationships between your AWS resources.

2. AWS Config: While not a visualization tool per se, AWS Config can help you assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources. It can provide a detailed inventory of your AWS resources and the relationships between them.

3. Third-party tools: There are various third-party tools available in the market that can generate architecture diagrams from deployed AWS resources. Some of these may have specific features for visualizing AWS services and their relationships.

It's important to note that while these tools can provide valuable insights, they may not automatically generate traditional architecture diagrams. They typically offer interactive ways to explore and understand your deployed resources, which can be very helpful in creating or maintaining architecture documentation.

For the most accurate and up-to-date representation of your AWS environment, it's recommended to use a combination of these tools along with manual review and documentation of your architecture. This ensures that the visualizations accurately represent your specific deployment and meet your documentation needs.

**Sources**  
[Possibility to create architecture diagram / overview from deployed stack | AWS re:Post](https://repost.aws/questions/QULGWgjJlmTyuSVspimAvt0A/possibility-to-create-architecture-diagram-overview-from-deployed-stack)  
[AWS Application Discovery Service Features - Amazon Web Serivces](https://aws.amazon.com/application-discovery/features/)

Can AWS Application Discovery Service be used to visualize application architecture deployed in AWS?

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