What advice do you have for others considering AWS CloudFormation?

AWS CloudFormation is a great choice for managing infrastructure as code! It allows you to model, provision, and manage AWS resources using templates, making it easier to automate and scale your infrastructure.

Here are some key benefits you might want to consider:

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  Automation: You can automate the provisioning and updating of resources in a consistent and repeatable way.


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  Infrastructure as Code: With CloudFormation, you can manage your infrastructure using code, which enhances visibility and version control.


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  Consistency: By using templates, you can ensure that your environments are identical, reducing the chances of configuration drift.


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  Integration: It integrates well with other AWS services, making it a seamless part of your overall AWS ecosystem.

Of course, it also comes with challenges, such as managing complex dependencies and potential steep learning curves, but the benefits often outweigh these hurdles.

I'd rate AWS CloudFormation quite highly, probably around an 8 or 9 out of 10. This is because it provides a robust and flexible framework for managing your AWS infrastructure as code, which can significantly streamline operations and enhance consistency. Here are a few reasons for this high rating:

Pros:

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  Automation and Consistency: It automates the provisioning and updating of your AWS resources, ensuring consistency across your environments.


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  Infrastructure as Code: By using templates, you can version control your infrastructure changes, making it easier to track and revert changes if needed.


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  Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other AWS services, which can simplify your overall cloud management.


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  Scalability: Makes it easier to scale your infrastructure up or down as needed.

Cons:

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  Complexity: For large and complex infrastructures, managing dependencies can become quite challenging.


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  Steep Learning Curve: It can take time to fully understand and leverage all its features, especially if your team is new to AWS.

Tips and Advice:

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  Start Small: Begin with simple templates and gradually increase complexity as your understanding grows.


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  Use Modular Templates: Break down your infrastructure into smaller, reusable templates. This can help manage complexity and improve maintainability.


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  Leverage CloudFormation Linter: Use tools like cfn-lint to validate your CloudFormation templates for syntax and best practices before deploying.


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  Keep an Eye on Costs: Be mindful of the costs associated with the resources you're provisioning and regularly review and optimize your usage.

I've been really happy with it. It's not really let me down when I've needed to use it. It's there in my time of need if that's what the customer calls for. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten and would recommend it to others.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten and would recommend it to others.

I would recommend AWS CloudFormation to other users. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

With AWS CloudFormation, whenever we encounter an issue, we don't need to update it manually in the console. We use templates and can quickly deploy them to other regions. By deploying without manual intervention in the console, CloudFormation helps to minimize human error and mistakes Since numerous AWS services are available, if we ever find a particular feature missing, such as the CloudFormation service, we can explore alternative AWS services that offer that feature. Alternatively, if we don't see a feature available or need guidance, we can ask AWS support for advice on their solutions. I advise you to look for available documentation. There's a lot of information on how to set up the configuration and the template. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

If someone wants to use the product for the first time, they must learn the basics of cloud infrastructure. It's not easy for a beginner to learn. We must know the basic infrastructures, our requirements, how Amazon functions, and how the cloud functions. Cloud infrastructures have their own way of functioning. We must set EC2 instances and private virtual clouds. We must be aware of such things. As a tool, AWS CloudFormation is very good. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

If you need to launch an instance for a one-time test, and won't be repeating that process, it might be simpler to do it manually. Writing the CloudFormation code and handling potential deployment issues could be more effort than it's worth for a single use. However, if it's a task you'll repeat, CloudFormation is a great choice. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend using it.

I recommend AWS CloudFormation to any company that is heavily invested in AWS. However, for companies operating across multiple clouds or adopting a hybrid on-premise and cloud solution, I would not recommend it. I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.

In a recent project, we had to deploy over 500 resources on AWS. Without CloudFormation, this would have been a time-consuming process, likely taking several days to complete manually through the console. Additionally, if we needed to remove the deployment, it would have required a considerable amount of time and a team of ten people. However, by using this platform, we were able to streamline the entire process. It allowed us to deploy everything with just one click. The change set feature provides efficient management of updates. Suppose you've deployed 500 resources but only need to modify 100, you can leverage the change set functionality to identify and apply these modifications. It automatically detects the necessary changes, creates a distinct change set, and deploys only the required updates. I rate it a nine out of ten.

As developers, we create infrastructure once. After that, we only make changes. We use the solution during the start of our projects. For managing infrastructure across multiple AWS accounts, we create the CloudFormation templates and integrate the CI/CD process with them. When we started, there was no CloudFormation. We used to do everything manually. I recommend the solution if a person is using only the AWS environment. Otherwise, Terraform is a good option. Overall, I rate the tool a six out of ten.

Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

My advice to new users is to have some prior knowledge before using AWS services. It is important to understand these concepts to make the most of AWS. I love AWS because it makes resource provisioning easier, especially with the user-friendly dashboard for creating various things. Overall, I would rate it a ten out of ten.

It provides assurance and confidence in the deployment of the environment, due to its infrastructure as code mode. It allows easy tracking of the changes, reviewing configurations, and ensuring that it aligns with requirements and best practices. I would rate it nine out of ten.

I would suggest to read the documentation first before you start. Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten. You need to leverage AWS CloudFormation as much as possible to automate workflows.

This is a powerful tool and you are able to increase efficiency and return employee workloads. I rate AWS CloudFormation a nine out of ten.

I rate AWS CloudFormation a seven out of ten.

I rate the solution a seven out of ten. It loses three points because of the disadvantage of the naming convention and the stack. Regarding advice, I would be careful when creating the stacks. There should be a proper naming convention that needs to be followed. If there isn't, the stacks will be more painful using the AWS CloudFormation.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

It's important to be aware of the things this solution is appropriate for. We learned the hard way that for our more detailed needs we need to use Ansible. Don't expect CloudFormation to take care of everything. It sets things initially, and then Ansible runs local scripts to take care of the details.

I've been working with the latest version of AWS CloudFormation, as it's updated regularly. My company deploys AWS CloudFormation for multiple customers, and I can't give an exact figure in terms of how many people use the solution. My rating for AWS CloudFormation is ten out of ten. My company is a partner of AWS CloudFormation, in particular, an advanced consulting partner. My advice to new users of the solution is to go through the free online documentation and the video training on the AWS training site. This will help in evaluating and deploying AWS CloudFormation.

I would recommend the use of this solution. I would rate it an eight out of ten.

I would rate AWS CloudFormation an eight out of ten. It does what it is supposed to do, but there are certainly ways in which it could be extended, and there are certain ways using which it could be integrated earlier into their release cycle.

There's probably a lot of people that are trying to work around it. Or, to avoid it. My advice would be: use it when Amazon says so because it's probably the most straightforward approach to your problem. Afterwards, then you can become creative, for it's worth putting in the effort. On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven. That rating would, definitely, be higher if CloudFormation would be made available on other platforms, outside Amazon.

We are a solution provider and system integrator with AWS. We are also a solution provider with VMware. We don't personally use the solution. Instead, we deploy it for our customers. The companies we work with range from small companies to large enterprises. Our clients use the solution daily. I'd advise other organizations to definitely have an understanding of the AWS portfolio, and the product portfolio. It's also important to first understand the manual structure because it's basically automating manual tasks. It depends upon how repetitive those tasks are, because sometimes building a blueprint might take a sufficient amount of time and if those are not very repeatable and it's done once in a week or more, then it doesn't make sense to use CloudFormation to automate that. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

When it comes to this solution, there are a lot of things that happen. New features can come out every week and down the line, there are a lot of new things that come very fast. Keeping up with the innovations or product services that are being introduced is a taxing job. CloudFormation is not used on a daily basis. It is only used for specific purposes whenever there is a requirement. You use it to set up a certain environment. My advice for anybody who is considering using this solution to implement their environment is to consider the complexity of what they want to do. If you want to bring up a simple environment and are familiar with coding using JSON or YAML then try it on your own. Importantly, however, it is not enough to be familiar with the scripting language. You need to understand AWS architecture. The combination of these things is required for the template. If you do build it on your own then I would still suggest having it validated by AWS. If you are unfamiliar with coding or the infrastructure then I would suggest involving a third-party to assist. Not having the proper expertise internally will increase the time required for the project. I feel that it is not a bad idea to involve AWS, as well. Overall, this solution is good but there is always room for improvement. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.