AWS CloudFormation Templates
CloudFormation is a great way to to automate AWS infrastructure and service setup. One of it's best features is that it is extensible using AWS Lambda as describe here. This technique is used in places with these templates.
The templates follow CloudFromation best practices.
Configuration
These CloudFormation templates are designed to be used in multiple accounts, in multiple "environments", and are designed with the ability to be launched multiple times in the same environment and/or VPC where appropriate. To accomplish this some extra variables are stored in the ~/.aws/config using the aws configure set command. For example to set the current environment aws configure set env Default could be used. A complete config for building with these templates might therefore look like:
[profile zollie]
region = us-east-1
output = json
name = test
mnemonic = zollie
env = Default
This means the Default environment in the test account with mnemonic zollie in the us-east-1 region. The mnemonic is used in a naming standard. Parameters can be stored in JSON files correspinding to this config. For example: zollie-test-Default-us-east-1.json
Makefile
All templates have a Makefile with some common tasks. This is a non-exhaustive list.
To list all targets:
make or make list
To validate stack:
make validate
To create stack:
make create
To delete stack:
make delete
To update stack:
make update
To estimate the cost of the stack using the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator:
make estimate-cost
To describe stack:
make describe
To list the resources created by the stack:
make resources
To list the events that have happend on stack create/delete/update:
make events
Service Catalog
The AWS::StackName variable is avoided where possible. This makes it easier to use these templates as services in AWS Service Catalog.
Note
In some cases, one stack may depend on another. For example, you need to setup a VPC before launching an SSH/NAT instance.