AWS CloudFormation Fundamentals and Key Concepts

Automating infrastructure provisioning is a critical aspect of deploying any application. Before diving deep, we must first learn the terminology and concepts. Let’s start by looking at how AWS CloudFormation works. It starts with a developer writing a script called a template in AWS.

AWS CloudFormation template

A template is similar to an architect’s blueprint for building a house. It contains the list of resources to be provisioned, their parameters, conditions, and metadata. A template can be written in either JSON or YAML format. Just like a blueprint is an essential artifact in building a home, the template is crucial in provisioning the infrastructure. AWS enables a CloudFormation designer to create this template graphically. This template is saved into an S3 bucket or committed into a version control system.