Deploying & Managing Infrastructure at Scale

AWS CloudFormation

A declarative way to define your AWS infrastructure as code using JSON or YAML templates.

Key Concepts

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) — define all your resources in a template file
• CloudFormation creates resources in the right order, with the right configuration
• Free service — you only pay for the resources created
• Each group of resources is called a Stack
• Supports almost every AWS resource

Benefits of IaC

• Reproducibility — create and destroy infrastructure on the fly, replicate across regions/accounts
• Version control — templates stored in Git, track changes over time
• Cost estimation — see costs of resources before creating them
• Automation — no manual resource creation, reducing human error
• Diagram generation — CloudFormation can generate architecture diagrams from templates
• Savings strategy — automate deletion of dev resources at 5 PM and recreation at 8 AM

AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit)

Define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages instead of JSON/YAML.

• Supports JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET
• Code is compiled into a CloudFormation template (JSON/YAML)
• Deploy infrastructure and application runtime code together
• Great for developers who prefer programming languages over writing YAML

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

A Platform as a Service (PaaS) for deploying applications. Developer-centric view of deploying an application on AWS.

What Beanstalk Handles

• Capacity provisioning and load balancing
• Auto-scaling and application health monitoring
• Instance configuration and deployment
• Uses CloudFormation under the hood

What You Control

• Full control over configuration of all components
• Your application code (you upload it)
• OS, platform, and environment settings

Key Features

• Free service — you pay for the underlying resources (EC2, RDS, ELB, etc.)
• Supports many platforms: Go, Java, .NET, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, Docker
• Three architecture models: single instance, ALB + ASG, worker tier (SQS)
• Health monitoring via a dashboard

AWS Developer Tools (CI/CD Pipeline)

AWS CodeDeploy

• Automate application deployments to EC2, Fargate, Lambda, or on-premises servers
• Works with any server/instance — hybrid service (AWS + on-prem)
• Servers must run the CodeDeploy Agent
• Supports in-place and blue/green deployments

AWS CodeCommit

• AWS-managed Git-based source control repository
• Private Git repositories, fully managed, highly available
• Secure (encrypted, access control via IAM)
• Alternative to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
• Note: AWS announced CodeCommit is no longer accepting new customers (2024)

AWS CodeBuild

• Managed CI (Continuous Integration) service
• Compiles source code, runs tests, produces deployable packages
• Serverless — fully managed, no servers to provision
• Scales automatically, pay per build time
• Uses buildspec.yml for build instructions
• Alternative to Jenkins

AWS CodePipeline

• Managed CD (Continuous Delivery) service
• Orchestrates the entire CI/CD pipeline: source → build → test → deploy
• Integrates with CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, Elastic Beanstalk, CloudFormation, GitHub, and third-party tools
• Fast delivery and rapid updates

AWS CodeArtifact

• Managed artifact repository service
• Store, publish, and share software packages
• Works with npm, pip, Maven, NuGet, etc.
• Developers and CodeBuild can retrieve dependencies from CodeArtifact

AWS CodeStar

• Unified UI to manage software development activities in one place
• Quickly set up CodeCommit, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, Elastic Beanstalk, EC2, and Lambda
• Project templates, team management, dashboard

AWS Cloud9

A cloud-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

• Code editor, debugger, and terminal — all in the browser
• Pre-packaged with essential tools for popular programming languages
• Enables pair programming (real-time collaboration)
• Runs on a managed EC2 instance

AWS Systems Manager (SSM)

Manage your EC2 and on-premises infrastructure at scale. A hybrid AWS service.

Key Features

Session Manager

• Start a secure shell on EC2 and on-premises servers
• No SSH access, bastion hosts, or SSH keys needed
• No port 22 needed (better security)
• Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Sends session log data to S3 or CloudWatch Logs

Patch Manager

• Automate the process of patching managed instances
• Supports OS updates, application updates, security updates
• Works with EC2 and on-premises servers
• Patch on schedule using Maintenance Windows

Parameter Store

• Secure, hierarchical storage for configuration data and secrets
• Store passwords, database connection strings, API keys, license codes
• Supports plaintext or encrypted (via KMS) parameters
• Serverless, scalable, durable — free for standard parameters
• Version tracking and notification via EventBridge

AWS OpsWorks

Managed Chef and Puppet service for automated server configuration.

• Use if you are already using Chef or Puppet for configuration management
• Alternative to AWS SSM
• Manage EC2 and on-premises VMs
• OpsWorks = managed Chef/Puppet; if you see either mentioned, think OpsWorks

Deployment & IaC Services Comparison