CFN is an Infrastructure as Code (IAC) product – you can create, manage, and remove infrastructure automatically.
CloudFormation (CFN)
Templates
A CFN template is JSON or YAML. It contains logical resources and configuration.
- A template can create up to 200 resources.
- The Resource section is mandatory.
- Optional sections: Metadata, Parameters, Mappings, Conditions, Transform, Outputs
Resources
Resources are identified with Resource type identifiers.
AWS::product::type
e.g.) AWS::EC2::Instance, AWS::IAM:Role, AWS::S3::Bucket
Stacks
Stacks are created and modified based on templates, which can be changed and used to update a stack.
- Stacks take logical resources from a template and create, update, or delete physical resources in AWS.
- If a stack is deleted, any resources it has created are also deleted.
- A stack can be updated by uploading a new version of a template.
- New logical resource -> New physical resource
- Removed logical resource -> causes the stack to delete physical resources.
- Changed logical resources -> some disruption or replace physical resources.
Template Files
- Structure
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "version date" # optional
Description: # optional
String
Metadata: # optional - additional information
template metadata
Parameters: # optional - input values at runtime
set of parameters
Rules: # optional - validate parameters
set of rules
Mappings: # optional - key/value pairs as lookup table
set of mappings
Conditions: # optional - controls resource creation
set of conditions
Transform: # optional - import snippets of code
set of transforms
Resources: # required - specify stack resources
# set of resources
{Logical Name}:
Type: {type name}
Properties:
set of properties
Outputs: # optional - return values
set of outputs
- Example – Create an EC2 instance and enable SSH
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: 2010-09-09
Description: Template to create an EC2 instance and enable SSH
Parameters:
KeyName:
Description: Name of SSH KeyPair
Type: 'AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName'
ConstraintDescription: Provide the name of an existing SSH key pair
Resources:
MyEC2Instance:
Type: 'AWS::EC2::Instance'
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0d5eff06f840b45e9
KeyName: !Ref KeyName
SecurityGroups:
- !Ref InstanceSecurityGroup
Tags:
- Key: Name
Value: My CF Instance
InstanceSecurityGroup:
Type: 'AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup'
Properties:
GroupName: MyDMZSecurityGroup
GroupDescription: Enable SSH access via port 22
SecurityGroupIngress:
- IpProtocol: tcp
FromPort: 22
ToPort: 22
CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
Outputs:
InstanceID:
Description: The Instance ID
Value: !Ref MyEC2Instance
Benefits
- Quick deployment and Easy cleanup
- Allows to prepare for disaster recovery
- Infrastructure version control
Error Handling
You can check the stack status in the CloudFormation console.
Common Errors
- IAM: Insufficient permissions
- Resource Limit: ex. 20 EC2 instances per region
- Failed Rollback
Pseudo Parameters
Pseudo parameters are predefined references to AWS objects. You can use them with the “Ref” function.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/pseudo-parameter-reference.html
- AWS::AccountId
- the AWS account ID of the account
- AWS::Region
- a string representing the Region
- AWS::NotificationARNs
- the list of notification Amazon Resource Names (ARNs) for the current stack
- AWS::StackId
- the name of the stack
Resources:
MyEc2Instance:
Type: "AWS::EC2::Instance"
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0b5eea76982371e91 # us-east-1
Tags:
- Key: "Name"
Value: !Join [ " ", [ "Instance", "for", !Ref AWS::Region ] ]
- Key: "Account"
Value: !Ref AWS::AccountId
Intrinsic Functions
CloudFormation provides a couple of built-in functions that help you manage your stack. Please refer to the following reference page.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/intrinsic-function-reference.html
!Join [ ":", [ a, b, c ] ] # a:b:c
!Split [ "|" , "a|b|c" ] # ["a", "b", "c"]
!Select [ "1", [ "apples", "grapes", "oranges" ] ] # grapes
# creates 6 CIDRs with a subnet mask "/27"
# inside from a CIDR with a mask of "/24"
!Cidr [ "192.168.0.0/24", 6, 5 ]
Mappings
Mappings associate input values to another values.
- Define the mappings inside the “Mappings” section
- Use the “FindInMap” function to retrieve the value in the map
!FindInMap [MapName, TopLevelKey, SecondLevelKey]
Mappings:
RegionMap:
us-east-1:
AMI: ami-0b5eea76982371e91
us-west-1:
AMI: ami-bf5540df
eu-west-1:
AMI: ami-3bfab942
Resources:
MyEc2Instance:
Type: "AWS::EC2::Instance"
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: !FindInMap ["RegionMap", !Ref AWS::Region, "AMI"]
Tags:
- Key: "Name"
Value: !Join [" ", ["My Instance for", !Ref AWS::Region]]
Input Parameters
- You can pass custom values into the template at run time.
- You can specify the default values.
- Parameters are defined in the top level “Parameters” section.
- Parameter Data Types
- String
- Number
- List
- CommaDelimitedList
- AWS-Specific Types such as AWS::EC2::Image::Id
Parameters:
InstanceName:
Description: Name of your new instance
Type: String
KeyName:
Description: Name of an existing EC2 KeyPair
Type: AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName
Resources:
MyEc2Instance:
Type: "AWS::EC2::Instance"
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0b5eea76982371e91
Tags:
- Key: "Name"
Value: !Ref InstanceName
KeyName: !Ref KeyName
Outputs
You can access information about resources in a stack.
- For example:
- public IP
- DNS name
Resources:
MyEc2Instance:
Type: "AWS::EC2::Instance"
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0b5eea76982371e91
Tags:
- Key: "Name"
Value: "My Public Instance"
Outputs:
PublicIp:
Value: !GetAtt ["MyEc2Instance", "PublicIp"]
EC2 User Data
Resources:
MyEc2Instance:
Type: 'AWS::EC2::Instance'
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0b5eea76982371e91
Tags:
- Key: 'Name'
Value: 'My httpd Server Instance'
SecurityGroupIds:
- !Ref MyHttpSecurityGroup
UserData:
!Base64 |
#!/bin/bash -xe
yum update -y
yum install -y httpd
service httpd start
MyHttpSecurityGroup:
Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
Properties:
GroupDescription: Open Ports 80
SecurityGroupIngress:
- IpProtocol: tcp
FromPort: '80'
ToPort: '80'
CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
Outputs:
Website:
Description: The Public DNS for the EC2 Instance
Value: !Sub 'http://${MyEc2Instance.PublicDnsName}'
Helper Scripts
CloudFormation provides Python-based helper scripts to optimize the process.
- Helper scripts are preinstalled on Amazon Linux images.
- cfn-init
- reads and execute Metadata
- defined in the “AWS::CloudFormation::Init:” section
- cfn-singal
- sends signal CFN when resources are ready
- cfn-get-metadata
- retrieve metadata based on a specified key
The following template will install and run the http service through the init script.
Resources:
MyEC2Instance:
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Metadata:
AWS::CloudFormation::Init:
config:
packages:
yum:
httpd: []
services:
sysvinit:
httpd:
enabled: true
ensureRunning: true
Properties:
InstanceType: t2.micro
ImageId: ami-0b5eea76982371e91
Tags:
- Key: 'Name'
Value: 'My httpd Server Instance'
SecurityGroupIds:
- !Ref MyHttpSecurityGroup
UserData: # call the init script
'Fn::Base64': !Sub |
#!/bin/bash -xe
/opt/aws/bin/cfn-init -v --stack ${AWS::StackName} --resource MyEC2Instance --region ${AWS::Region}
MyHttpSecurityGroup:
Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
Properties:
GroupDescription: Open Ports 80
SecurityGroupIngress:
- IpProtocol: tcp
FromPort: '80'
ToPort: '80'
CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
Outputs:
Website:
Description: The Public DNS for the EC2 Instance
Value: !Sub 'http://${MyEC2Instance.PublicDnsName}'
Change Sets
Updating a stack can be risky, especially for the production environment. For example, renaming an SQS queue will result in deleteing the old one and creating a new one.
Using Change Sets, we can preview how changes will impact to the resources.
Operations
- Create
- create a Change Set by updating existing template
- View
- check the proposed changes
- Execute
- apply changes to the existing stack
- Delete
- delete the Change Set without updating the stack
StackSets
A StackSet lets you create, update, and delete CloudFormations stacks across multiple AWS accounts and regions in a single operation.
You need to set up permissions using cross-account roles.
In your administrator account:
- Create a role: AWSCloudFormationStackSetAdministrationRole
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Action": [
"sts:AssumeRole"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iam::*:role/AWSCloudFormationStackSetExecutionRole"
],
"Effect": "Allow"
}
]
}
- Setup the Trust Relationship (Admin account)
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": {
"Service": "cloudformation.amazonaws.com"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
}
]
}
In each of your target accounts
- Create a role: AWSCloudFormationStackSetExecutionRole
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action":
[
"cloudformation:*",
"s3:*",
"sns:*",
"ec2:*"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
- Setup the Trust Relationship (Target account)
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": {
"AWS": "arn:aws:iam::{admin_account_id}:root"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
}
]
}
Best Practices
- Control access to CloudFormation using IAM
- Be aware of Service Limits
- Avoid Manual Updates – mismatch between your stack template and the current stack state.
- Use CloudTrail to track all changes
AWS CDK
AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit) enables Infrastructure as code through imperative programming.
- CDK models your application imperatively using programming languages.
- Write the CDK application using JavaScript, Python, Java, or C#.
- CDK applications define one or more stacks.
- CDK provisions resources with CloudFormation.
- AWS CDK Toolkit (CDK CLI) is a command line tool to convert CDK stacks to CloudFormation templates and deploy them to an AWS account.
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