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Manage resources with AWS CloudFormation

Cloud Shaper

Article from ADMIN 32/2016

By Oliver Arafat

CloudFormation lets you describe and manage a collection of Amazon Web Services resources. Defining associated dependencies and run-time parameters is quite easy with CloudFormation. We show you how to create a simple WordPress blog and delete it again.

The cloud has changed where and how companies invest their IT budgets. Instead of spending money on data centers and servers, without really knowing how they will be used, the customer only pays for the computing resources needed. Infrastructure can thus be provisioned quickly then disabled when no longer needed, thus reducing costs.

The cloud also serves the ever more comprehensive automation of development processes advocated by the DevOps movement. Infrastructure as code is a way to simplify the development process, reducing the dependency of developers on infrastructure teams to provide the environment they require. To allow companies to benefit from the concept of infrastructure as code, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has developed the AWS CloudFormation service.

AWS CloudFormation templates describe IT resources and the related dependencies or run-time parameters necessary for applications to run. AWS CloudFormation handles time-consuming and error-prone work such as dependency management and the correct order of resource provisioning. Once the AWS resources are provisioned, companies can modify and update them, thus keeping full control of their cloud infrastructure. The service itself is free, meaning users pay only for the underlying AWS resources.

Stacks and Templates

As a first step, you need an AWS account [1]. Once you have an account, you can log in to the AWS console and choose the CloudFormation service, which you will find in the Deployment & Management service category.

Once there, you can access a template to create a stack. A template is a high-level description of the resources that you will be using and their mutual relationships. A stack is a collection of logically related resources described by a template and managed as a unit. In other words, you create, update, or delete a set of resources

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