Skip to main content

Building AWS Infrastructure with Python (+ Learning the Code)

Follow along with more DevOps stuff!

It's not only CloudFormation and YAML we can use to build infrastructure in AWS - The ever-popular Python is here.

text: let's build devops infrastructure as code with python

I like how the docs say it should take around 6 minutes, and I'm here on maybe...minute 34 waiting for packages to finish installing. I'm sure it doesn't account for setup, but for a while, I was concerned I had misconfigured something.

No, there are just a ton of packages to download.

 Node.js had to not only open Powershell, but update my chocolatey and some VS Code components.

Importing Python packages happens in consoles/terminals. You have to import them each session. 

So, I open a terminal in VS Code to install this Pipenv Virtual Environment Package in theory. The hardest part is always installing Python packages, as I never remember what command works in Windows Terminal. 

It's never pip install or apt-get, but 'python -m pip install [package], when you are not in the Python prompt.


Now, into the cmd prompt (not Admin), everything seems okay

python for infrastructure as code

Adding AWS as a Terraform provider tripped me up just a touch; Had to be careful and put the additional segment into the file. JSON is a lot less touchy in VS Code than it was in CloudFormation.

Then, it began to download and generate providers...and modules, something I recently learned about.

It takes a really long time. 

Waiting is half the battle with this project, I see. 

But I'll take it, because it's going well.

Explicitly importing classes in Python makes sense; If you aren't using it, don't have it where it can interfere with your project. My trouble with importing is similar to installing packages - The commands - and their use (Within a Python shell, cmd) - varies.

I'm sure with Python, using it in cmd out of context would be silly, but opening a Python shell alone often doesn't work. So I pull up VS Code and open a terminal.

The cmd output does say 'hello-terraform' is initialized and planned; That's not in the code, so I'm guessing it's in one of these Terraform packages. 

python for infrastructure as code

Whoo hoo!

In doing all of that, I overlooked the region selection in the MyStack > def > AwsProvider header. So it showed up in the West.


The Instance (named hello in its Python context, but not in the AWS EC2 Manager) is successfully created in the California region.

 

 


The AMI is not the same as the sample code, but the IP address is.


Everything takes longer than using Terraform. Synthesizing? 3 minutes. Is that when you're supposed to go to the watercooler or whatever people who want us back in offices claim?

 Actually renaming the instance took seconds. So the watercooler will have to wait.

Is it Reconnecting with the AWS servers about my particular setup? It's a possibility.


But we're not done yet, as I want to get a greater understanding of the code (hint hint, employers, that's called 'Self Study'). 

class MyStack(TerraformStack):
  def __init__(self, scope: Construct, ns: str):
    super().__init__(scope, ns)

    AwsProvider(self, "Aws", region="us-west-1")

    helloInstance = ec2.Instance(self, "hello",
      ami="ami-01456a894f71116f2",
      instance_type="t2.micro",
      tags={"Name": "Pyth-Dem"}
    )

 

The entire code is, again, here. 

I want to focus on 4 things; def, __init__, self, tags

def is a function, and __init__ initializes it to itself (with self?). self is part of a naming convention (like how people use foo and bar). Things after 'self' in the argument brackets are optional. This helped me understand.

Tags:
Here, it's how instances get their names. In Terraform, it's for organization.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connecting IoT Devices to a Registration Server (Packet Tracer, Cisco)

 If you're seeing this post, I'm helping you, and you probably have LI presence: React and share this post to help me in return.   In Packet Tracer, a demo software made by Cisco Systems. It certainly has changed a lot since 2016. It's almost an Olympic feat to even get started with it now, but it does look snazzy. This is for the new CCNA, that integrates, among other things, IoT and Automation, which I've worked on here before. Instructions here . I don't know if this is an aspect of "Let's make sure people are paying attention and not simply following blindly", or an oversight - The instructions indicate a Meraki Server, when a regular one is the working option here. I have to enable the IoT service on this server. Also, we assign the server an IPv4 address from a DHCP pool instead of giving it a static one. For something that handles our IoT business, perhaps that's safer; Getting a new IPv4 address every week or so is a minimal step against an
Post a Comment
Read more

Create a Simple Network (Packet Tracer) + A Walkthrough

Again; I've done this, but now there's so many new things, I'm doing it again. The truly new portions were...everything on the right side of this diagram; The cloud needed a coax connector and a copper Ethernet connector. It's all easy to install, turn off the cloud (Weird), install the modules. Getting the Cable section of Connections was an unusual struggle - The other drop down menu had nothing within. It required going into the Ethernet options and setting the Provider Network to 'cable', which is the next step AFTER the drop-downs. The rest was typical DHCP and DNS setups, mainly on the Cisco server down there. The post is rather short - How about adding a video to it? Find out what A Record means - This site says 'Maps a name to an IP address', which is DNS. So it's another name for DNS? You can change them (presumably in a local context) to associate an IP address to another name.
Post a Comment
Read more

Securing Terraform and You Part 1 -- rego, Tfsec, and Terrascan

9/20: The open source version of Terraform is now  OpenTofu     Sometimes, I write articles even when things don't work. It's about showing a learning process.  Using IaC means consistency, and one thing you don't want to do is have 5 open S3 buckets on AWS that anyone on the internet can reach.  That's where tools such as Terrascan and Tfsec come in, where we can make our own policies and rules to be checked against our code before we init.  As this was contract work, I can't show you the exact code used, but I can tell you that this blog post by Cesar Rodriguez of Cloud Security Musings was quite helpful, as well as this one by Chris Ayers . The issue is using Rego; I found a cool VS Code Extension; Terrascan Rego Editor , as well as several courses on Styra Academy; Policy Authoring and Policy Essentials . The big issue was figuring out how to tell Terrascan to follow a certain policy; I made it, put it in a directory, and ran the program while in that directory
Post a Comment
Read more