CLOUD LABS
Provisioning Infrastructure as Code—From Zero to Hero
In this Cloud Lab, you’ll use IAC with AWS SAM, CloudFormation, and Terraform to create an app that interacts with AWS services.
beginner
Certificate of Completion
Learning Objectives
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) gives developers the power to build and deploy services using code, so they don’t have to do much manual work. To make this method work even better, developers break down big, complex architectures into smaller, more manageable pieces. They then write code to create these parts and ensure they connect smoothly with other services.
In this Cloud Lab, you’ll explore the power of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with AWS CloudFormation, AWS SAM, and Terraform. You will construct a comprehensive infrastructure on the AWS Cloud that includes AWS DynamoDB, Lambda function, and an API Gateway. With these cloud technologies, you will use a ToDo-list React application that interacts with your IaC-deployed infrastructure.
By the end of this Cloud Lab, you’ll be able to use Infrastructure as Code and develop an understanding of its principles and practical application of AWS CloudFormation, AWS SAM, and Terraform in constructing and managing cloud-based architectures.
The following is the high-level architecture diagram of the infrastructure you’ll create in this Cloud Lab:
Relevant Courses
Use the following content to review prerequisites or explore specific concepts in detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is provisioning infrastructure?
Provisioning infrastructure involves setting up and allocating the necessary IT resources, such as servers, storage, networks, and applications, to support a workload or application. Cloud computing often involves creating virtual machines, setting up databases, or configuring networking components using automation tools or scripts.
What is an example of infrastructure as code?
IaC is the set of instructions used to provision and configure resources. Examples of IaC tools are Terraform and AWS CloudFormation. These tools can be used to provision and manage cloud resources like VPCs, EC2 instances, and load balancers.
How to deploy infrastructure as code?
We can deploy IaC by first writing infrastructure specifications and instructions in code (using Terraform or CloudFormation), storing it in version control (like Git), and executing deployment commands (e.g., terraform apply or aws cloudformation deploy). The tool then automatically provisions the defined resources in our cloud environment.
What is an example of infrastructure provision?
An example of infrastructure provisioning is using AWS CloudFormation to deploy a fully configured VPC with subnets, internet gateways, and EC2 instances by defining the infrastructure in a YAML or JSON template. AWS automatically creates and configures the specified resources when the template is deployed, ensuring consistency and repeatability.
What is the difference between infrastructure provisioning and configuration?
Infrastructure provisioning is about setting up the foundation, like creating servers, storage, or networks essentially the physical or virtual resources. Configuration, on the other hand, is about customizing those resources by installing software, setting up applications, or tweaking system settings. For example, provisioning is like launching an EC2 instance, while configuration is installing and setting up an Apache web server.
What is the difference between infrastructure as code (IaC) and IaaS?
IaC and IaaS can be used together but they are two different concepts and should not be confused. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a cloud service model providing virtual computing resources over the internet. Infrastructure as code (IaC) manages and provides these resources through machine-readable definition files. For example, AWS EC2 is IaaS, while using Terraform to automate EC2 deployment is IaC.
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I prefer Educative courses because they have a nice mix of text & images. I find that with full video courses, it can often be too easy to go into passive learning mode.
Your method is simple, straight to the point and I can practice with it everywhere, even from my phone, that's something I have never had in other learning platforms.
I highly recommend Educative. The courses are well organized and easy to understand.
I prefer Educative courses because they have a nice mix of text & images. I find that with full video courses, it can often be too easy to go into passive learning mode.
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