AWS server deployment options

Pick which crew of robots to build your servers

Overview

Manually configure component services
Elastic Beanstalk
- Beanstalk Settings
Opsworks Chef
Ansible using CloudFormation
More on Amazon
More on DevOps

This tutorial describes the options AWS provides to automate setup of multi-stage (dev+QA+prod) enterprise environments within EC2.

NOTE: Content here are my personal opinions, and not intended to represent any employer (past or present). “PROTIP:” here highlight information I haven’t seen elsewhere on the internet because it is hard-won, little-know but significant facts based on my personal research and experience.

The options:

Manually configure the various components using the AWS Management Console at http://aws.amazon.com/ on internet browsers. See my AWS On-boarding for a tutorial on the AWS Management Console and Consoles on mobile devices.
Elastic Beanstalk for developers to quickly bring up standard server configurations with no SSH capability.
Opsworks “configuration as code service” which sets up servers by running Chef recipies obtained from a Chef Cookbook repository.
CloudFormation for sysadmins to create JSON template files which configure ALL AWS services.
Ansible using CloudFormation.
Value-added services outside Amazon, such as Terraform (and licensed Atlas) from HashiCorp.

Manually configure component services

Each environment within AWS for enterprise use requires several services. Here is the sequence of dependencies:

VPN
VPC
NAT
DNS
ELB
AMI by Region, with Auto-scale

Elastic Beanstalk

Before doing this, setup default VPC, subnets, and Security Groups.

Services > Compute > Beanstalk

NOTE: You can’t SSH into individual servers.
Specify an Application Name.

PROTIP: Define a convention that applies to apps, such as a project, feature, and version number, such as PS1-bean2-node-v01.

PROTIP: Include in the name a code for the platform being used.
Select a Platform.
Click Configure more options.

Beanstalk is considered a “Platform-as-a-Service” (PaaS), that does the “heavy lifting” to get infrastructure online, with load balancing, autoscaling, and health monitoring.

The Virtual Machine is for the Platform chosen in the previous step.

The Low cost configuration preset is the default.

In the Scaling section, the Environment type is single instance.
Click the Highly available configuration preset.

Notice the Environment type changed to “loadbalancing, autoscaling” with Scale instance: 1-4.

Beanstalk is free to use. You only pay for servers deployed by it.
Click Modify in the Notifications section and input your email address.
Switch temporarily to your email to confirm the subscription.
Since this is a tutorial, select the Low cost single instance.
Scroll down to click Create app.

Beanstalk Settings

Configuration information stored in the .ebextensions folder containing:

a dynamodb.config

The file contains functions definitions such as Fn::GetOptionSetting: with parameters.
a options.config files.
The .elasticbeanstalk folder ???

Opsworks Chef

Opsworks is a higher level tool than CloudFormation, offering more customization than Elastic Beanstalk.

Services > Management Tools > Opsworks
Click Add your first stack.

NOTE: You cannot mix and match Windows with Linux servers.

Opsworks is called a “configuration as code service” because it sets up servers by running Chef recipies obtained from a Cookbook repository.

NOTE: There is no equivalent for Puppet.

Each “layer” is a blueprint and container for instances. (JSON) defining stacks:

OpsWorks
ECS
RDS

A different Chef recipie for each event within the lifecycle :
- Setup
- Configure
- Deploy
- Undeploy
- Shutdown

Opsworks Cookbooks from @Danilop.

NOTE: Each server has a Chef agent installed.

The lack of agents is why Ansible is becoming more popular.

Ansible using CloudFormation

My tutorial on AWS High-Availability using CloudFormation, which is the current rage (June 2016).

More on Amazon

This is one of a series on Amazon:

More on DevOps

This is one of a series on DevOps:

Wilson Mar