Bootstrapping means running commands when a machine starts. The script is run only once when the machine starts and never again. It is done by running EC2 user data scripts. It is run when a machine is booted, hence the name bootstrapping.
What kind of tasks can we automate with an EC2 user data script:
- install updates
- install software
- download files from the Internet
- other tasks you require it to execute
AWS (Amazon Web Services) provides a number of tools and services to help you bootstrap your applications and infrastructure on their platform. Here are some common steps to bootstrap an AWS environment:
- Create an AWS account: The first step is to create an AWS account if you haven’t already. This will give you access to the AWS Management Console where you can manage your services.
- Set up IAM (Identity and Access Management): IAM allows you to manage access to your AWS resources. You can create users, groups, and roles with specific permissions. It’s a best practice to set up IAM before creating any resources.
- Choose a region: AWS has multiple regions around the world where you can deploy your resources. Choose the region closest to your users or where you want to store your data.
- Choose a compute service: AWS has several compute services to choose from, including EC2, Lambda, and Elastic Beanstalk. EC2 is a virtual machine that you can configure and manage. Lambda is a serverless compute service where you write code and AWS manages the underlying infrastructure. Elastic Beanstalk is a managed platform that deploys and scales your applications automatically.
- Choose a storage service: AWS provides several storage services, including S3, EBS, and EFS. S3 is an object storage service that allows you to store and retrieve files. EBS is a block storage service that provides persistent storage for EC2 instances. EFS is a network file system that you can mount to your EC2 instances.
- Set up networking: AWS provides several networking services, including VPC, Route 53, and CloudFront. VPC is a virtual private cloud that you can configure to isolate your resources. Route 53 is a DNS service that you can use to route traffic to your resources. CloudFront is a content delivery network that caches your content at edge locations around the world.
- Automate deployment: AWS provides several deployment services, including CodeDeploy, CodePipeline, and CloudFormation. CodeDeploy allows you to deploy your applications automatically to EC2 instances. CodePipeline is a continuous delivery service that automates your release pipeline. CloudFormation is a service that allows you to create and manage AWS resources using templates.
By following these steps, you can bootstrap your AWS environment and start building your applications and infrastructure.