Why is AWS CloudFormation So Great for Development Teams?

It’s time to support all of your AWS resources together in one place

Does your development team use many different AWS tools in tandem or perhaps your team just loves the flexibility that AWS gives you between the building and deploying software. If you are already an AWS lover or your team is looking for new tools to support your process, it might be a good time to look at AWS CloudFormation.

Whether your team is building websites, creating integrations, or looking for solid storage, AWS has probably got a tool that can support your efforts. The great thing about the long list of tools available through AWS is that you can create the best set-up for yourself or your team without having to pay for extras you don’t need. AWS CloudFormation gives you the ability to control all related resources in your cloud environment using a single source of truth.

AWS CloudFormation

CloudFormation is an easy way to manage any set of related AWS resources, changing them and updating them as needed, with CloudFormation as the backbone, and figuring out the best way to connect tools and any associated dependencies or runtime parameters required to run your application for you. CloudFront does the bulk of the work for you by figuring out the best order for provisioning your AWS services and making everything work right. Once all your AWS tools are deployed and running, you have the ability to make updates in a predictable manner through a simple text file. Use this file to model and provision, in an automated and secure manner, all the resources and tools needed for your applications across all regions and accounts.

Features

Authoring with JSON/YAML

• Model your entire infrastructure in a text file.
• Use JSON or YAML to describe what AWS resources you want to create and configure.
• Use AWS CloudFormation Designer templates to help you get started.

Safety Controls

• Automate the provisioning and updating of your infrastructure.
• Use Rollback Triggers to specify the CloudWatch alarm that CloudFormation should monitor during the stack creation and update process.
• If an alarm goes off, CloudFormation rolls back the entire stack to a previously deployed state.

Preview Changes To Your Environment

• Preview changes to a stack and how it might impact your running resources using change sets.
• CloudFormation only makes the changes after you decide to execute the change set.

Dependency Management

• Automatically manage dependencies between your resources during stack management actions.
• CloudFormation determines the correct sequence of actions to use for each resource when performing stack operations.

Cross-Account and Cross-Region Management

• Provision a common set of AWS resources across multiple accounts and regions with a single CloudFormation template using AWS StackSets.
• StackSets takes care of automatically and safely provisioning, updating, or deleting stacks in multiple accounts and across multiple regions.

Extensibility

• Build custom extensions to your stack template using AWS Lambda.
• Write custom provisioning logic for tasks such as provisioning a third party resource or looking up the latest AMI IDs for use in your stacks.

AWS CloudFormation is a great resource for seasoned teams, as well as those just starting out with AWS tools. It gives you support and structure while still providing lots of flexibility and control throughout your AWS infrastructure.