Declarative configuration

As explained in Amazon Web Services in Action, Third Edition: An in-depth guide to AWS

A blueprint is a declarative infrastructure specification that describes resources and their configuration.

Declarative configuration describes infrastructure as a blueprint: resources and their dependencies. An Infrastructure as Code tool compares that blueprint with the current system, then calculates the changes needed to create, update, or delete resources. section 1.7.4

Use declarative configuration to:

• Automate complex or numerous environments, such as a network and its virtual machines. section 1.7.4
• Reuse infrastructure definitions to build environments quickly and support deployment pipelines. section 4.1.1
• Keep detailed, repeatable documentation that coworkers can use to reproduce infrastructure changes. section 4.1.1
• Prefer blueprints over custom CLI or SDK code when dependency resolution, version updates, and error handling would otherwise be manual. section 1.7.4

WordPress infrastructure

A CloudFormation blueprint creates the resources for a WordPress installation. After the stack reaches CREATE_COMPLETE, its Outputs tab provides the installation URL. The resulting infrastructure includes load-balanced web servers, a network filesystem, and a MySQL database server. section 2.1

Figure 1.15 Infrastructure automation with blueprints

Follow the infrastructure automation flow from a blueprint to a running AWS system. section 1.7.4

How Amazon Web Services in Action, Third Edition: An in-depth guide to AWS covers it

How deep it goes

Defines blueprint reconciliation and its benefits, but stops short of blueprint syntax or Infrastructure as Code implementation details.

Examples

Uses a CloudFormation WordPress stack, network and virtual-machine setup, and reusable AWS blueprints for infrastructure automation.

What it assumes

Assumes basic AWS service awareness while introducing infrastructure automation, blueprints, and their relationship to CLI and SDK approaches.

What you can do after

Build it from scratch by describing AWS resources and dependencies in a reusable blueprint for repeatable infrastructure changes.

How it connects

Connects blueprints with Infrastructure as Code, AWS CLI, SDKs, CloudFormation, deployment pipelines, and automation.

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Also explained in

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  Infrastructure as Code, Patterns and Practices: With examples in Python and TerraformInfrastructure configuration is the declarative specification of the resources, properties, relationships, and metadata that make up an infrastructure system.
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  Automating API DeliveryDeclarative configuration specifies a system's desired state while leaving a tool or agent to determine and execute the commands needed to achieve it.
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  Google Anthos in ActionA declarative model specifies the desired configuration of resources, leaving the system to determine and perform the actions needed to reach it.
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  Acing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam, Second EditionA declarative approach specifies the desired end state while the system determines the operations needed to reach it.
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  Snowflake Data EngineeringDeclarative database change management specifies the desired state of database objects rather than describing only the sequence of operations needed to reach it.

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Related concepts

• imperative programmingcontrasts with · Imperative programming is a programming paradigm that expresses computation as an ordered sequence of instructions specifying operations, control flow, or changes to state.
• CloudFormation templateequivalent to · A CloudFormation template is a declarative JSON or YAML document that specifies AWS resources, their configuration, and their dependencies.
• configurationuses · A specification of settings, parameters, or component relationships that determines how a system, application, model, or process is structured or operates.
• CREATE OR ALTERuses · CREATE OR ALTER is a Snowflake SQL command that creates a database object if it does not exist or changes an existing object to match its supplied definition.
• Dockerfileincludes · A Dockerfile is a text file containing declarative instructions for building a container image and specifying its contents and runtime metadata.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Amazon Web Services in Action, Third Edition: An in-depth guide to AWS. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.