Change Sets

Once we create a stack to provision resources, we might need to modify it. A change set provides a summary of proposed modifications to a CloudFormation stack.

In this lesson, we’ll explore a change set, when we need it, and how it is useful in updating or modifying a stack.

What is a change set?

Once we’ve created a stack, we may want to go back and update the stack to create new resources, modify some resource configurations, or just delete any resources we no longer require. This is often necessary to adapt to changing requirements, improve performance, maintain security, or optimize costs.

When updating an existing stack, CloudFormation will automatically generate a set of changes in the stack based on the modified template we provide. This set of changes is known as a change set.