BYTE the Cloud

Chris 0:00
Hey, everyone ready to really get our hands dirty with AWS?

Kelly 0:04
Let's do it

Chris 0:05
today. We're taking a deep dive into cloud formation.

Kelly 0:09
Yes, cloud formation, it's, it's a pretty powerful service, you know,

Chris 0:15
yeah, powerful, but sometimes a little intimidating, right? It

Kelly 0:18
can be, yeah. But honestly, once you get the hang of it, it can really change the way you work in AWS.

Chris 0:24
I've heard that. But before we get too far, can we just take a step back for a sec? Sure. I mean, what is cloud formation exactly like? How would you describe it to someone who's never used it before?

Kelly 0:35
Hmm, okay. Imagine you're building something big on AWS, like a web application. Okay? So

Chris 0:40
lots of moving pieces,

Kelly 0:41
exactly? You've got servers and databases and load balancers and all these things. Yeah, now you could go and click around in the console and set up each piece manually, right? That's how I usually do it, and that works, but it can be really time consuming and

Chris 0:55
error prone. I've definitely made a few mistakes that way. Oh, for sure. So that's where cloud formation

Kelly 0:59
comes in. So how does it help? Well, instead of clicking around, you write code a template that describes everything you want, right? All the resources, all the configurations, everything, and then cloud formation takes that template and sets up your entire infrastructure for you automatically.

Chris 1:15
Wow. Okay, so it's like automation, but on a much bigger scale, exactly, and that's just one of the benefits. So what are some others? I'm intrigued, but still trying to wrap my head around it. Well, for

Kelly 1:25
starters, it's way faster, like way faster, than doing everything manually, and it's more reliable because you eliminate the risk of human error, makes sense. And another big one is consistency. Every time you deploy your template, you know you're gonna get the exact same environment.

Chris 1:41
Ah, so that's super helpful for things like setting up dev environments, right? Oh,

Kelly 1:45
absolutely. You can spin up identical environments for your whole team just by deploying the same template. No more headaches trying to keep everyone in sync.

Chris 1:53
Okay, so CloudFormation is fast, reliable and consistent. That's starting to see why people love it, but I got to ask, how exactly does this all work like? What are the core components we're dealing with here?

Kelly 2:06
So the heart of CloudFormation is the template. It's basically a file where you define everything you want in your infrastructure. And what does that file look like? You can write it in JSON or yaml, whichever you prefer. And inside the template, you define your resources, things like EC2, instances, S3, buckets, security groups, all that good stuff,

Chris 2:26
okay? And cloud formation just reads that template and makes it

Kelly 2:29
happen. It's like magic, but code magic. And to keep things organized, these resources are grouped together into what's called a stack. A stack, yeah, think of it like a container for all the resources created from a single template. So

Chris 2:42
like, if I'm building a web application, I could have a stack from my web servers, a stack from my database and so on. Exactly.

Kelly 2:47
It helps keep things clean and manageable. Now, beyond just creating these resources, cloud formation has some pretty cool features that make it even more powerful. Okay, like, what

Chris 2:58
give me the good stuff? Well,

Kelly 2:59
one of my favorites is change sets. Let's say you want to make an update to your stack instead of just blindly applying the changes, you can use a change set to preview what's going to happen.

Chris 3:11
Ah, so you can catch any potential problems before they actually happen.

Kelly 3:15
Precisely. It shows you exactly what resources will be added, modified or deleted, so you can make sure everything looks good before you commit.

Chris 3:23
That sounds super helpful. What other tricks does CloudFormation have up its sleeve?

Kelly 3:27
Another one is drift detection. This is a way to check if your actual infrastructure still matches what's defined in your template.

Chris 3:36
Why would they get out of sync? Well, sometimes

Kelly 3:38
people make manual changes through the console, bypassing cloud formation. Oh, yeah, I could see that happening. Or maybe a script modifies something without cloud formation knowing about it, okay? And that could cause problems, right? Definitely, it's like your blueprint and your building no longer match up, gotcha.

Chris 3:55
So drift detection helps you find those discrepancies

Kelly 3:59
Exactly. It tells you what's different, so you can bring everything back into alignment.

Chris 4:03
Okay, I'm adding drift detection to my list of things to learn. So we've talked about features, but what about the benefits? Like, why should someone use CloudFormation in the first place?

Kelly 4:14
Well, besides being faster, more reliable and more consistent, it also makes collaboration much easier.

Chris 4:21
Oh, how so well, your

Kelly 4:23
templates are just code files, right, right? So you can share them with your team, version control them just like any other code. It's a great way to ensure everyone's working with the same infrastructure. Blueprints. That's a

Chris 4:35
game changer for teamwork. And of course, there's

Kelly 4:36
the whole error reduction thing, right? Because you're not manually configuring everything exactly. Less human error, more automation. Sounds like a win,

Chris 4:44
win to me, but every tool has its limitations, right? What are some of the things we need to watch out for with cloud formation?

Kelly 4:53
Well, for one, there is a bit of a learning curve. You need to learn the syntax, understand how the different resources work. That's. Sort

Chris 5:00
of thing. So it takes some time to get up to speed, yeah. But once you

Kelly 5:03
get the basics down, it's pretty straightforward. Okay, good to know. What else? Another thing is that managing dependencies between resources can get tricky sometimes, oh, yeah, dependencies can be a pain. You need to make sure things are created and updated in the right order, or you could run into problems.

Chris 5:19
Makes sense. Anything else to watch out for? Hmm, well,

Kelly 5:23
CloudFormation is really focused on AWS resources, right? So if you need to integrate with external systems or manage resources outside of AWS, it can be a bit more challenging, okay,

Chris 5:34
that makes sense. So CloudFormation is powerful, but we need to be aware of its strengths and limitations Absolutely,

Kelly 5:41
and it's important to understand how it fits into the larger AWS ecosystem. Okay,

Chris 5:46
yeah, tell me more about that. How does CloudFormation play with other AWS services? Oh, it integrates

Kelly 5:50
with pretty much everything. I am, S3 EC, two, you name it.

Chris 5:56
So you can use it to manage permissions, store your templates, launch virtual machines, all that good stuff.

Kelly 6:01
Yep, it's all connected, and you can even integrate it with CICD tools like code pipeline.

Chris 6:06
Oh, that's cool. So you can automate your entire deployment pipeline

Kelly 6:09
exactly from code changes to infrastructure updates. It's all seamless. Okay,

Chris 6:15
that is super powerful. Well, we've covered a lot of ground in this first part of our deep dive, we've explored what cloud formation is, why it's so important, and how it fits into the AWS ecosystem.

Kelly 6:27
We've barely scratched the surface. There's still so much more to discover, but this is a good starting point for anyone who wants to learn more about this service. All

Chris 6:35
right, so for those of you who are especially interested in the AWS Solutions Architect exam, be sure to stick around for part two. We'll be

Kelly 6:42
tackling some exam style questions and diving deeper into the concepts that are likely to show up on the test. It's going to

Chris 6:49
get real technical, so get ready to level up your cloud formation skills and ace that exam. See you soon. Welcome back. Everyone. Ready to get into the nitty gritty of cloud formation? Let's do it. In this part, we're going to focus on the stuff that's really gonna help you on the AWS Solutions Architect exam, right?

Kelly 7:05
Because passing that exam, it's not just about memorizing definitions, yeah, it's

Chris 7:09
about understanding how to actually use cloud formation in real world scenarios.

Kelly 7:14
Exactly. So are you ready for some exam style questions hit me with your best shot. Okay, here's one that often comes up. You're deploying a complex application with multiple tiers, lots of dependencies. How would you use nested stacks and change sets to make sure that deployment goes smoothly?

Chris 7:34
Ooh, okay, that's good one. Can we break that down a bit? What are nested stacks? Exactly, sure.

Kelly 7:40
So nested stacks let you split up your big cloud formation template into smaller, more manageable pieces. Why would you want to do that? Well, think about it, if you have a huge template with hundreds of resources, it can get really hard to manage. Yeah, that makes sense. So with nested stacks, you can create separate templates for different parts of your application, like you could have a stack for your web servers, a stack for your database and so on.

Chris 8:03
So it's like breaking a big project into smaller modules, exactly, and

Kelly 8:07
then you can combine those nested stacks into a main stack that orchestrates everything.

Chris 8:12
Okay, I'm starting to see how that would be helpful. But what about change sets? Where do they fit in?

Kelly 8:16
So change sets give you a preview of what's gonna happen when you update your stack, okay?

Chris 8:21
So you can catch errors before they cause problems in your live environment, right?

Kelly 8:25
And you can use change sets with both nested stacks and the main stack, so you have that safety net at every level of the deployment process. Okay,

Chris 8:34
so nested stacks help you organize complex templates and change sets help you preview and control your updates. You got

Kelly 8:40
it? Those are two key concepts to remember for the exam. All right, ready for another one? Bring it on. Okay, explain the concept of drift in cloud formation and why it's important.

Chris 8:51
Hmm, drift. We talked about that a little bit in the last part we did,

Kelly 8:55
but it's a really important topic, so it's worth revisiting. Okay, so

Chris 8:58
remind me again what exactly is drift? So drift happens

Kelly 9:02
when your actual infrastructure resources no longer match what's defined in your cloud formation template,

Chris 9:09
and that happens when someone makes changes manually, right? That's

Kelly 9:12
one way it can happen, like if someone goes into the console and modifies a resource directly, yeah, or if a script changes something without cloud formation knowing about it,

Chris 9:21
right, right? And why is that a bad thing? Well, it

Kelly 9:24
can cause all sorts of problems, like, what, like, unexpected behavior, errors, failed updates, you name it. Ah.

Chris 9:31
So it's like your blueprint and your building no longer match up. That's

Kelly 9:35
a great way to put it, and that can lead to some serious headaches.

Chris 9:39
Okay, so how do we prevent drift from happening? Well, you can't

Kelly 9:43
always prevent it completely, but you can use drift detection to identify when it happens.

Chris 9:48
Right? CloudFormation has that built in feature exactly.

Kelly 9:51
You run a drift detection check, and it'll tell you which resources have drifted from their original configuration. So then you can go in and fix them precisely. Okay, and that's a key concept to understand for the exam. They want you to know how to identify and address drift. Okay,

Chris 10:06
got it. Let's talk about security. Now. That's gotta be a big deal with cloud formation.

Kelly 10:10
It is absolutely security is always top of mind in the cloud, and the exam will definitely test you on it. So

Chris 10:17
what are some of the key things we need to be careful about when it comes to cloud formation and security?

Kelly 10:21
Well, one of the biggest no nos is storing sensitive information directly in your templates. Oh, yeah, like passwords and API keys and stuff, exactly, never hard code that kind of information into your templates. It's just asking for trouble.

Chris 10:33
But why? What if, I'm sure my templates are stored securely,

Kelly 10:38
it's still a huge risk. How? So if someone gets access to your template, they'll have access to all your secrets. Ah, right.

Chris 10:45
So it's like leaving your house keys under the doormat, pretty

Kelly 10:48
much, instead of putting secrets in your templates, use a service like AWS, secrets manager.

Chris 10:54
Okay, so secrets manager is the way to go for storing sensitive information, exactly.

Kelly 10:58
Another important security concept is the principle of least privilege.

Chris 11:03
Oh, yeah, I've heard of that. What does it mean in the context of cloud formation

Kelly 11:08
it means you should only give your cloud formation stacks the bare minimum permissions they need to do their job,

Chris 11:14
so no more, no less. And how do you do that? In practice, you create

Kelly 11:18
IAM roles specifically for your cloud formation stacks, and you carefully define the permissions those roles have. So it's like

Chris 11:25
putting a fence around your cloud formation stacks to make sure they can't access anything they shouldn't. That's

Kelly 11:30
a good analogy, and the exam will probably ask you about how to set up those IAM roles and policies correctly.

Chris 11:36
Okay, so security is a big deal. No storing secrets and templates and use least privileged principles when setting up your IAM roles. Got it. You're getting it. Now, let's switch gears a bit and talk about resource deletion. Okay, this can be tricky when you have resources that are still being used by other parts of your application. Yeah. What

Kelly 11:56
happens if you try to delete a cloud formation stack and there are still resources in use. That's

Chris 12:00
where retain policies come in. Retain policies, yeah, it's a way to tell cloud formation not to delete certain resources, even when you delete the stack.

Kelly 12:09
Oh, so it's like putting a sticky note on a resource that says, don't delete me, I'm still important. Exactly that way you don't accidentally break something critical when you're cleaning up your cloud formation stacks.

Chris 12:19
Makes sense. So retain policies are like a safety net for your resources

Kelly 12:23
Exactly. Now let's wrap up this part with a question that's all about dependencies. How does cloud formation handle updates when you have resources that depend on each other? Oh, yeah, dependencies. Those can get complicated. They can but cloud formation is pretty smart about handling them. So how does it work? It uses the depends on clause in your template. Okay, so you can specify that one resource needs to be created or updated before another one.

Chris 12:49
Ah. So it's like giving CloudFormation a set of instructions precisely,

Kelly 12:52
and CloudFormation will follow those instructions carefully to make sure everything happens in the right order. That's

Chris 12:58
really helpful. So it's like cloud formation is a conductor making sure all the instruments in the orchestra play in harmony. All right? I think I'm starting to get a much better handle on all this cloud formation stuff

Kelly 13:10
that's great to hear and remember. The key to mastering cloud formation and passing that exam is practice,

Chris 13:17
practice, practice, practice. I know, I know, but I'm feeling a lot more confident now. That's what I like to hear. Welcome back everyone. We've covered a lot of ground already with CloudFormation, from the basics to some pretty in depth Exam Prep, but the journey doesn't stop there. That's right, there's always more to learn and explore. So in this final part, we're going to dive into some of the more advanced aspects of CloudFormation that can really take your cloud skills to

Kelly 13:43
the next level. All right, let's get advanced. Where should we start?

Chris 13:46
Let's talk about custom resources. Those always seem a bit mysterious to me. Yeah,

Kelly 13:49
they can be a bit tricky to wrap your head around at first. So

Chris 13:52
can we just back up a sec? What are custom resources exactly, and why would we ever need to use them? Okay?

Kelly 14:00
So imagine you're working with CloudFormation and you need to do something that's not supported by the built in resources. Okay, I can see that maybe you need to integrate with an external system that cloud formation doesn't have a pre built resource for, right, right? Or maybe you need to run some custom logic or a script as part of your deployment.

Chris 14:19
So that's where custom resources come in exactly. They basically

Kelly 14:23
allow you to extend cloudformations functionality beyond what's natively available.

Chris 14:29
Give me an example, like a real world scenario where I'd actually need to use a custom resource.

Kelly 14:33
Let's say you're migrating a legacy application to AWS, and as part of that migration, you need to do some custom data transformation or configuration, you could use a custom resource to trigger a Lambda function or script that handles that specific task. Oh, that's

Chris 14:49
pretty clever. So you're basically integrating your own code into the CloudFormation deployment process precisely,

Kelly 14:54
and that gives you a lot of flexibility to handle those unique situations that CloudFormation. And might not be able to handle out of the box. Now, another really cool thing about cloud formation is its automation capabilities. Oh

Chris 15:07
yeah, we touched on that earlier, but I'm always up for hearing more about automation. Think

Kelly 15:11
about all those repetitive tasks you do in your cloud environment. Don't

Chris 15:15
remind me, setting up development environments, configuring security groups. It never ends.

Kelly 15:21
I hear you. But the good news is that you can automate a lot of that stuff with cloud formation. Okay, how? So instead of doing those tasks manually every time, you can define them once in a cloud formation template, right? And then whenever you need to do that task again, you just deploy that template. Ah,

Chris 15:36
so it's like having a set of pre programmed actions that I can execute with a single command exactly,

Kelly 15:41
and that saves you a ton of time and effort in the long run, plus it reduces the risk of human error, always a

Chris 15:48
good thing. Now, before we wrap things up, let's talk about something that often trips up beginners, JSON or yaml. Which one should I use for my cloud formation templates? Yeah,

Kelly 15:59
yes. The age old debate. Honestly, both JSON and YAML are perfectly valid formats for cloud formation templates, so it's just a matter of personal preference. Pretty much, JSON is very strict in its syntax, okay? So it can help catch errors, but it can also be a bit more verbose. Yaml, on the other hand, is more human readable, right? But its syntax is a bit looser, which can sometimes lead to subtle errors that are harder to debug.

Chris 16:24
So if I'm a stickler for clean syntax, JSON might be the way to go, but if I prioritize readability, YAML could be a better choice.

Kelly 16:32
Exactly. Experiment with both and see what feels more natural to you, or, you know, just go with whatever your team is already using.

Chris 16:39
That's probably a good idea. Consistency is key. Yeah, well, I think we've covered just about everything there is to know about cloud formation, or at least

Kelly 16:46
everything we can squeeze into these three parts, true, true, but we've definitely

Chris 16:50
given our listeners a solid foundation to build upon,

Kelly 16:53
absolutely and more importantly, we've hopefully inspired them to dive deeper into cloud formation and discover its true power,

Chris 17:01
because at the end of the day, CloudFormation is all about making our lives as cloud engineers easier, more efficient, and, dare I say, a little bit more fun.

Kelly 17:11
I couldn't agree more. It's about taking control of our infrastructure, automating those tedious tasks, and ultimately freeing up our time and energy to focus on the things that really matter.

Chris 17:21
That's a great way to put it. So to all our listeners out there, thank you for joining us on this deep dive into AWS cloud formation. We hope you've learned a ton, and we encourage you to keep experimenting, keep learning and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the cloud,

Unknown Speaker 17:36
until next time you.