S3-Deployment-AWSnative.md

Deploying S3 Bucket Template Using Only AWS Native Tools

This document describes how to launch the S3 Bucket template using only native AWS tools

AWS CLI

The AWS CLI can be used to launch the template using either a locally-staged copy of the template or an S3-hosted copy of the template. In either case it will be necessary to supply template-parameters. While this can be done directly within the CLI, readability and repeatability are aided by using a parameters file. The parameters file will resemble the following:

[
    {
        "ParameterKey": "JenkinsBackupBucket",
        "ParameterValue": "my-s3-bukkit"
    }
]

Or

[
    {
        "ParameterKey": "JenkinsBackupBucket",
        "ParameterValue": ""
    }
]

Note that, in the second example, the ParameterValue is null. Specifying a name for the S3 bucket is optional. If this value is left as null, AWS will programatically determine a name for the bucket.

Done directly within the cli, the required parameters-enumerations would look like:

--parameters '[{"ParameterKey":"JenkinsBackupBucket","ParameterValue":"my-s3-bukkit"}]'

Or

--parameters '[{"ParameterKey":"JenkinsBackupBucket","ParameterValue":""}]'

While merely clunky for a simple template like the S3 Bucket template, it becomes progressively more clunky as the number of parameters in a template increases.

The following sub-sections assume:

• The template user has previously used aws configure to set a default region for their commands to run within. If this is not the case, it will be necessary to insert the --region <REGION_NAME> option to the CLI command
• The template user is not attempting to execute the command against a non-default account-profile. If this is not the case, it will be necessary to insert the --profile <PROFILE_NAME> option to the CLI command

Locally Hosted Template

When referencing a locally-hosted file, one uses the --template-body parameter. Depending on the OS type being launched from specifying the path to the template may require using the file:// URI. Similarly, if using a parameters file, one may need to use the file:// URI. The resulting command will look like:

aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json \
  --template-body file:///<FULLY_QUALIFIED>/<PATH>/<TO>/<TEMPLATE> \
  --parameters file:///<FULLY_QUALIFIED>/<PATH>/<TO>/<PARAMETER_FILE>

Or:

aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json \
  --template-body file://<RELATIVE>/<PATH>/<TO>/<TEMPLATE> \
  --parameters file://<RELATIVE>/<PATH>/<TO>/<PARAMETER_FILE>

The latter saves typing if the template- and parameter-files are either co-located or proximal to each other within the local filesystem. This can mean the difference between typing:

file:///home/myuser/GIT/cfn-jenkins/Templates/make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json

and typing:

file://make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json

S3-Hosted Template

When referencing a S3-hosted file, one uses the --template-url parameter. If using a parameters file, one may need to use the file:// URI. The resulting command will look like:

aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json \
  --template-url https://s3.<REGION>.<AMAZON_TLD>/<BUCKET_NAME>/<TEMPLATE_NAME> \
  --parameters file:///<FULLY_QUALIFIED>/<PATH>/<TO>/<PARAMETER_FILE>

Or:

aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name make_jenkins_S3-bucket.tmplt.json \
  --template-url https://s3.<REGION>.<AMAZON_TLD>/<BUCKET_NAME>/<TEMPLATE_NAME> \
  --parameters file://<RELATIVE>/<PATH>/<TO>/<PARAMETER_FILE>

AWS Web UI

(TBD)