Deployment automation for an AWS Serverless project: SAM vs CloudFormation vs Terraform
A presentation at AWS Community Summit UK 2019 in in Manchester, UK by Bruno Amaro Almeida
Deployment automation for an AWS Serverless project: SAM vs CloudFormation vs Terraform AWS Community Summit UK 02.04.2019 Bruno Amaro Almeida BERLIN · HELSINKI · LONDON · MUNICH · OSLO · STOCKHOLM · TAMPERE
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$ whoami Principal Architect & Technology Advisor @ Futurice ” native, based in # Architecture, Cloud, Security, DevOps & AI ! coffee, music, travel & indoor climbing Reach out on: @bruno_amaro BERLIN · HELSINKI · LONDON · MUNICH · OSLO · STOCKHOLM · TAMPERE @brunoamaroalmeida
Why is Deployment Automation Important? AUTOMATE AND DEPLOY (…) provisions your resources in a safe, repeatable manner, allowing you to build and rebuild your infrastructure and applications, without having to perform manual actions or write custom scripts. source: aws.amazon.com REASONS FOR AUTOMATING INFRASTRUCTURE • Repeatable re-deployable infrastructure • Documented maintainable infrastructure • Scalable solutions • Huge Architectures • Complex systems source: google cloud platform
[UNPOPULAR OPINION]: NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE AUTOMATED BERLIN · HELSINKI · LONDON · MUNICH · OSLO · STOCKHOLM · TAMPERE Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
A Serverless App • 1 x Static Website Allows the visitor to select an option. • 1 x API Process the chosen option and saves the result. Visit hello.devopssquad.com today ! BERLIN · HELSINKI · LONDON · MUNICH · OSLO · STOCKHOLM · TAMPERE
Architecture
Athena & QuickSight for Results
“ AWS CloudFormation provides a common language for you to describe and provision all the infrastructure resources in your cloud environment. CloudFormation allows you to use a simple text file to model and provision, in an automated and secure manner, all the resources needed for your applications across all regions and accounts. source: aws.amazon.com
CloudFormation (optional) Parameters Resources (optional) Outputs Other sections (optional): Transforms, Mappings, Conditions, etc
“ The AWS Serverless Application Model extends AWS CloudFormation to provide a simplified way of defining the Amazon API Gateway APIs, AWS Lambda functions, and Amazon DynamoDB tables needed by your serverless application.” source: aws.amazon.com
Serverless Application Model AWS::IAM::Role AWS::Lambda::Function AWS::Lambda::Permission AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi AWS::ApiGateway::Resource AWS::ApiGateway::Method AWS::ApiGateway::Deployment AWS::ApiGateway::Stage AWS::ApiGateway::Method AWS::ApiGateway::ApiKey AWS::ApiGateway::UsagePlan AWS::ApiGateway::UsagePlanKey AWS::ApiGateway::DomainName AWS::ApiGateway::BasePathMapping AWS::Route53::RecordSetGroup AWS::S3::Bucket AWS::S3::BucketPolicy AWS::Serverless::Api (*) AWS::Serverless::Function CloudFormation SAM
Serverless Application Model • Local debugging and testing • Zip the lambda dir & S3 upload • Outputs a new template file ( packaged.yaml ) • Allow publishing to public repository
“ Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. Terraform can manage existing and popular service providers as well as custom inhouse solutions.” source: terraform.io
Terraform • Open Source project from Hashicorp • Multi-Cloud support (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc) • Multiple providers and services to be combined and composed • Separation between planning and execution phase • Module Registry
Terraform Init Plan
Terraform (Optional) Generate resource graph Apply
CloudFormation vs SAM vs Terraform Serverless Application Model CloudFormation Pro Pro: Pro: Terraform • AWS Native • Extension of AWS CloudFormation • Open Source project from Hashicorp • Fully supported by AWS • Ability to local debugging and testing • Module Registry • Free of charge • Easier packaging • Multiple providers to be combined and composed • JSON or YAML • AWS Serverless Application Repository • Multi-Cloud support (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc) • Con Con: Con: Hard to troubleshoot • Only covers some AWS Resources • Not AWS Native and Support is paid • Couple of workarounds here and there ¯_( )/¯ • Not so easy to write templates • Documentation is not at a good level ¯_( • )/¯ You still end up writting the usual CF to workaround missing features ¯_( )_/¯ • Multi-Cloud support • Resource Graphs • Separate planning and execution phase • Remote state files (chicken or the egg)
Thank you! Kiitos! Danke! Tack! Bruno Almeida PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT & TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Cloud, Security, DevOps, Data Engineering & AI Reach out on: @bruno_amaro @brunoamaroalmeida BERLIN · HELSINKI · LONDON · MUNICH · OSLO · STOCKHOLM · TAMPERE
Automation is a key aspect of the DevOps culture. Yet, infrastructure as a code can still be daunting when so many options exist. In this talk I will create a Serverless project in AWS and then explain different strategies for deployment automation - between SAM, CloudFormation & Terraform.
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