Chapter 5. Automating deployment: CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, and OpsWorks
This chapter covers
- Running a script on server startup to deploy applications
- Deploying common web applications with the help of AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- Deploying multilayer applications with the help of AWS OpsWorks
- Comparing the different deployment services available on AWS
Whether you want to use software from in-house development, open source projects, or commercial vendors, you need to install, update, and configure the application and its dependencies. This process is called deployment. In this chapter, you’ll learn about three tools for deploying applications to virtual servers on AWS:
- Deploying a VPN solution with the help of AWS CloudFormation and a script started at the end of the boot process.
- Deploying a collaborative text editor with AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The text editor Etherpad is a simple web application and a perfect fit for AWS Elastic Beanstalk, because the Node.js platform is supported by default.
- Deploying an IRC web client and IRC server with AWS OpsWorks. The setup consists of two parts: a Node.js server that delivers the IRC web client and the IRC server itself. The example consists of multiple layers and is perfect for AWS OpsWorks.