Infrastructure as Code - Crash Course

Introduction

This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Pulumi and AWS. By following this guide, you'll learn the fundamental concepts of IaC, set up your environment, and complete hands-on labs that involve provisioning cloud infrastructure. This practical experience will help you understand how to automate and manage your infrastructure efficiently.

Step 1: Understanding Infrastructure as Code

• Infrastructure as Code allows you to manage and provision infrastructure using code instead of manual processes.
• Key benefits of IaC include:
  • Consistency: Ensures environments are identical.
  • Version Control: Infrastructure configurations can be tracked and versioned.
  • Automation: Streamlines the deployment process, reducing human error.

Step 2: Installing Pulumi and Setting Up AWS

1. Install Pulumi

   • Visit the Pulumi installation page and follow the instructions specific to your operating system.

2. Create an AWS Account

   • If you don’t have one, sign up for a free AWS account here.

3. Install AWS CLI

   • Follow the installation instructions for the AWS CLI found here.

4. Configure AWS Credentials

   • Obtain your AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key by following the guide here.
   • Run the following command to configure your AWS CLI:

     aws configure
     

   • Enter your Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, region, and output format.

Step 3: Lab 1 - Provisioning Infrastructure with an S3 Bucket

1. Create a New Pulumi Project

   • Run the command:

     pulumi new aws-typescript
     

   • Follow the prompts to set up your project.

2. Define the S3 Bucket in Code

   • Open the index.ts file in your project and add the following code:

     import * as aws from "@pulumi/aws";
     
     const bucket = new aws.s3.Bucket("my-bucket", {
         acl: "private",
     });
     
     export const bucketName = bucket.id;
     

3. Deploy the S3 Bucket

   • Run the command:

     pulumi up
     

   • Confirm the changes to create the S3 bucket.

Step 4: Lab 2 - Provisioning EC2 Virtual Machines

1. Add EC2 Instance Code

   • In the index.ts file, add the following code to provision an EC2 instance:

     const server = new aws.ec2.Instance("my-server", {
         ami: "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0", // Example AMI ID
         instanceType: "t2.micro",
     });
     
     export const publicIp = server.publicIp;
     export const publicHostName = server.publicDns;
     

2. Deploy the EC2 Instance

   • Run the command:

     pulumi up
     

   • Confirm the deployment of the EC2 instance.

Step 5: Lab 3 - Deploying Docker Images to ECS and Fargate

1. Create a Docker Image

   • Write a Dockerfile for your application and build the image using:

     docker build -t my-app .
     

2. Push the Docker Image to a Repository

   • Use Amazon ECR to create a repository and push your Docker image.

3. Define ECS and Fargate Configuration

   • In your index.ts, define the ECS cluster and task:

     const cluster = new aws.ecs.Cluster("my-cluster");
     
     const taskDefinition = new aws.ecs.TaskDefinition("my-task", {
         family: "my-task-family",
         networkMode: "awsvpc",
         requiresCompatibilities: ["FARGATE"],
         containerDefinitions: JSON.stringify([{
             name: "my-app",
             image: "my-app-image-url",
             memory: 512,
             cpu: 256,
             essential: true,
         }]),
     });
     

4. Deploy the Docker Image to Fargate

   • Run the command:

     pulumi up
     

   • Confirm the deployment of your application on ECS.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned the basics of Infrastructure as Code and completed practical labs using Pulumi to provision AWS resources. You set up an S3 bucket, launched EC2 instances, and deployed a Docker application to ECS. As a next step, consider exploring more complex IaC projects or integrating IaC into your existing workflows to automate infrastructure management further. For additional resources, check the links provided in the introduction.