Managing Infrastructure Lifecycle using CloudFormation & AWS CDK

Business Scenario

Manager:
We have successfully automated the ContentSphere infrastructure using AWS CloudFormation. However, we also need an efficient way to manage the complete infrastructure lifecycle, including updates, modifications, and resource cleanup.

DevOps Engineer:
To achieve this, we can use AWS CloudFormation along with the AWS CDK. CloudFormation provisions the infrastructure, while AWS CDK allows us to define infrastructure using programming languages.

Manager:
How will this improve our infrastructure management?

DevOps Engineer:
It enables automated deployments, simplifies infrastructure updates, supports version control, and makes it easy to create, modify, and delete AWS resources.

Manager:
What is our implementation plan?

DevOps Engineer:
We will create AWS CDK applications, synthesize CloudFormation templates, deploy infrastructure, and manage updates and resource deletion through the infrastructure lifecycle.

DevOps Engineer to Team:
Team, we will build AWS CDK projects, deploy the ContentSphere infrastructure, perform stack updates, monitor deployment status, and safely destroy resources when they are no longer needed.

Team:
Understood. We will manage the complete ContentSphere infrastructure lifecycle using AWS CloudFormation and AWS CDK to ensure automated, consistent, and maintainable cloud deployments.

Pre-Lab Preparation

  • AWS Account is available.

  • AWS CLI is installed and configured.

  • Ubuntu EC2 instance is available.

  • Internet connectivity is available.

  • IAM permissions for CloudFormation and EC2 are available.

Task 1: Install Node.js and npm

1

Update system packages

sudo apt update

2

Install Node.js and npm

sudo apt install nodejs npm -y

3

Verify installation

node -v
npm -v

Task 2: Install AWS CDK

1

Install AWS CDK globally

sudo npm install -g aws-cdk

2

Verify installation

cdk --version

Task 3: Verify AWS Configuration

1

Verify AWS identity

aws sts get-caller-identity

Configure aws cli

Create directory for cartforfge application

Now need to initialize cdk in cartforge app directory

1

Bootstrap AWS CDK environment

cdk bootstrap

3

Verify project structure

ls

Task 4: Generate CloudFormation Template

2

Generate CloudFormation template

cdk synth

2

Review generated CloudFormation template

Task 5: Deploy Infrastructure

1

Deploy infrastructure

cdk deploy

2

Verify deployment status.

aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name ContentsphereCdkStack

Expected: CREATE_COMPLETE

3

Navigate to: AWS Console→ CloudFormation→ Stacks

Verify stack creation.

Task 6: Destroy Infrastructure

2

Delete deployed resources

cdk destroy

1

Confirm deletion : y

3

Verify stack deletion

Navigate to: AWS Console→ CloudFormation→ Stacks