How to Build a CI/CD Pipeline with AWS?

In evolving software development, the implementation of continuous Integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines has become essential at the enterprise level for automated, optimized reliable deployment processes. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery are the backbone of this approach for ensuring a seamless collaboration of software delivery updates among developers.

AWS Code pipeline in the cloud services provides the automation of developing, testing and releasing of code updates. In this article, you are going to understand AWS CI/CD pipeline workflows and their implementation effectively.

What Are The AWS CI/CD Pipeline Components

AWS pipeline is a set of processes for delivering software updates seamlessly. It automates the software releases integrating with AWS services such as CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodeCommit, etc… AWS CI/CD streamlines the software development enhancing efficiency and reliability. Popular terminologies of AWS CI/CD are listed and discussed in short as follows:

• Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment ( CI/CD ): A CI/CD is a process of automation of stages with the offering of continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment of software with efficiency.
• Continuous Integration (CI): CI brings together all the developers working copies to a shared main line. All the developers working on parallel branches of a certain upgrade of an application merge their changes into one main branch.
• Continuous Deployment (CD): It is about the processes that have to happen after the code is integrated for the app to be delivered to the users. These processes involve testing, staging and deploying the code.
• AWS CodePipeline: AWS Codepipeline provides CI / CD services by automating Build, Test, Deployment stages effectively.
• AWS CodeBuild: It is a fully managed service for building and then compiling source code, runs tests producing ready-to-deploy software artifacts.
• AWS CodeDeploy: It simply automates code deployments to Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises instances, or serverless Lambda functions.

What Is CI/CD On AWS?

AWS DevOps is a methodology of using DevOps principles and practices within the AWS Cloud Network. The software development life cycle is fully automated and coordinated by AWS DevOps through the use of several cloud services and technologies, including AWS Codepipeline, AWS CodeBuild, and AWS CodeDeploy. Teams can now easily develop, test, and launch apps on the AWS cloud thanks to this. To improve consistency and scalability, AWS encourages teams to use code (IaaC) for infrastructure provisioning and management. For more dependable and rapid software releases, AWS introduces services like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) methodologies.

How Does AWS CI/CD Works?

AWS CI/CD works by improving the combination of AWS services and practices the automation of software development lifecycle from code integration to deployment. The Operations of AWS CI/CD is breakdown as follows:

AWS CodePipeline

• Orchestration: CodePipelines acts as an orchestrator in defining the workflows and stages of the CI/CD process.
• Integration With Source Control: It provides a seamless integration with source code repositories like Github, AWS CodeCommit, Bitbucket for knowing changes in the source code.

Continuous Integration (CI)

• AWS CodeBuild: When any changes are detected in the source code CodePipeline notifies it to the CodeBuild. Then CodeBuild build and compile the changes in the source code.
• Artifacts Generation: CodeBuild uses the build process to generate deployable artifacts, such as binaries or packages. It helps in deploying the artifacts to the specified deployment targets may include Amazon EC2 instances, on-premises servers, or Lambda functions.

Continuous Deployment (CD)

• AWS CodeDeploy: After once Build and Test stages are successful then CodePipeline will triggers CodeDeploy to automate the deployment process.
• Deployment Configurations: CodeDeploy facilitates users in defining deployment configurations. Users can specify how they want to proceed the deployment such as canary deployments for gradual rollouts.
• Rollback Mechanism: CodeDeploy facilitates easy rollbacks to previous code applications, In case of any issues arises during deployment.

Continuous Monitoring

• CloudWatch: AWS CloudWatch offers monitoring features for users in creating alerts on the functionality and health of their deployed applications.
• Log And Metrics: Services like CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy helps in generating logs and metrics for supporting in troubleshooting and performance analysis of the CI/CD pipeline.

Collaboration And Visibility

• Integration With AWS Services: AWS CI/CD tools supports integration with other AWS services such as AWS CodeCommit, Amazon S3, Elastic Beanstalk, and more for providing a complete platform.
• Dashboard And Notifications: AWS comes with providing a user-friendly dashboard for visualizing the pipeline stages and notifications for pipeline events.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• AWS CloudFormation: AWS allows users in defining and provisioning of infrastructure with Infrastracture as Code scripts using the services such as CloudFormation for ensuring consistency across the environments.

AWS CI/CD facilitates with automation of building, testing, and deployment phases of software application providing an optimized and efficient workflow. It promotes collaboration, visibility, and reliability in the software development process. The combination of AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy services makes a powerful CI/CD solution within the AWS ecosystem.

What Is CI/CD Pipeline?

The CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline is a practice in software development that used for automating the process of integrating code changes into a shared repository (Continuous Integration ) and Deploying them it into production environments (Continuous Deployment ). It comes with involving several stages as listed follows:

• Source Control Management: Developers uses version control systems like Git to share their code changes in common shared repository.
• Continuous Integration: The Continuous Integration phases deals with building and testing of the code, everytime a new code pushed into the repository. This ensures that new code doesn’t break the existing codebase.
• Automated Testing: Various type of automated tests included unit tests, integration tests and end-to-end tests are executed to verify the functionality and quality of the code.
• Monitoring And Feedback: Continuous Monitoring of application performance and feedback from users helps in detecting the issues and making the improvements in the application enhancing the application quality.

Implementation Of AWS CI/CD Pipleline: A Step-By-Step Guide

Lets now build a CI/CD Pipeline with AWS by detailing step by step as follows:

Step 1: Create IAM Role for EC2 and AWS CodeDeploy

• Navigate to IAM service.
• Then go to roles and create a new role.
• Select trusted entity type as AWS Service and use case as EC2

Step 2: Add permissions To IAM Role

• Select AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess permission. It will allow our EC2 instance to access stored artifacts from the Amazon S3 bucket.

Step 3: Creating The Role For AWS CodeDeploy

• Provide the Name, review and Click on Create for creating the Role.
• Select an appropriate role name and click on create role.

Step 4: Creating New Service Role For CodeDeploy

• Create a new service role for CodeDeploy and attach AWSCodeDeployRole policy which will provide the permissions for our service role to read tags of our EC2 instance, publish information to Amazon SNS topics and much more task.
• Repeat the Above 3 steps again with trusted entity type AWS Service, use case CodeDeploy.

• Add AWSCodeDeployRole permissions to this creating Role

• Provide the Name, review and create the role.

Step 5: Launch An Linux EC2 instance

• Select the instance with AMI such as “Amazon Linux” and connect to CLI Console.
• Switch to root user from ec2-user to gain admin access power by using following command “sudo su” in Linux.

sudo su

Step 6: Update The Packages

• The command “sudo yum update” is used in Amazon Linux, CentOS, and Red Hat Linux distributions to update installed packages on your system to their latest available versions.

sudo yum update

Step 7: Install The Ruby And Wget Software

• The command ‘sudo yum install ruby’ is used to install the Ruby programming software using the YUM package manager.

sudo yum install ruby

• The command sudo yum install wget is used to install the “wget” package on a system running Amazon Linux, CentOS, or other Red Hat-based Linux distributions that use the YUM package manager.

sudo yum install wget

Step 8: Download CodeDeploy Agent Script

• Downloading the AWS CodeDeploy agent installation script from the AWS S3 bucket is an essential step in setting up AWS CodeDeploy for your infrastructure.
• The CodeDeploy agent is a lightweight, scalable software component that enables AWS CodeDeploy to deploy and manage applications on your EC2 instances or on-premises servers.

wget https://aws-codedeploy-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/install

Step 9: Run Installation Script

• The command chmod +x ./install is used to make a file executable in a Unix-like operating system, including Linux.

chmod +x ./install

The command ‘sudo ./install auto’ is likely used to run an installation script with superuser (administrator) privileges and pass the “auto” argument to the script.

sudo ./install auto

Step 10: Check CodeDeploy Agent Status

• The command sudo service codedeploy-agent status is used to check the status of the AWS CodeDeploy agent running on your system.

sudo service codedeploy-agent status

Step 11: Modifying IAM Role

• After running the following commands, select the instance and click on “Actions”, then click on “Security” and click on “Modify IAM Role”. Then choose the above created IAM Role and click on “Update IAM Role”.
• After this step, your EC2 instance gets attached with your above created IAM Role.

• Modify the IAM role by clicking on the button Update IAM role as shown in the figure.

Step 12: Finalizing The Configuration

After this process, go to the console where your instance is connected and run the command “exit” to exit from the root folder and go back to the EC2 folder. Make a directory on the EC2 folder named “server”, this is the directory where my source code will be deployed.

• Then after doing the above process, come back to the running instances list.
• Select your currently created running instance and go to the “Security” section present at the end of the page.
• Click on the link present under the “Security Groups”. After redirecting to the required page, click on “Edit Inbound rules” under the section of “Inbound rules” present at the end of the page.
• Then add a rule, select a port range of your choice and select the source as “Anywhere-IPv4” from the dropdown menu and then click on “Save rules”.
• Basically, let me give you a overview what we are actually doing here. In brief, when you add an inbound rule to a security group for an instance with port range (in my case, it was 4000) and set the source to “Anywhere-IPv4,” you are allowing any computer or device on the internet to connect to your instance through port 4000.
• This is like opening a door (port 4000) on your server and letting anyone from anywhere access the service or application running on that port.

Step 13: Create A New Pipeline

• Create a CodePipeline using Github, CodeBuild and CodeDeploy
• Firstly Create CodePipeline navigate to CodePipeline via AWS Management Console and click on Create pipeline.

Step 14: Choose Github In Code Source

• After selecting GitHub as the source provider, click on the Connect to GitHub button. You’ll then be prompt to enter your GitHub login credentials.
• Once you grant AWS CodePipeline access to your GitHub repository, you can select a repository and branch for CodePipeline to upload commits to this repository to your pipeline.

Step 15: Configure CodeBuild (Optional)

• If you haven’t created a project prior to creating your pipeline, then you can create a project directly from here by clicking Create project button.
• Note: Buildspec file is a collection of build commands and related settings, in YAML format, that CodeBuild uses to run a build. For my project, I created a buildspec.yaml file and added it in the root of my project directory.

Step 16: Add Deploy Stage

Note : Before going to configure Add Deploy Stage, Let’s make duplicate tab of current tab.

• Go to code deploy in the navigation, Select Application, then add create a deployment group.

• Create a deployment Group by clicking on the button “Create deployment group“, the following screenshot illustrates with practically.

• In deployment group Select EC2 instances and select Tag and Value

• Provide the Environment configurations such as select the Amazon EC2 Instances and provide the key and values to it.

• Uncheck Load Balancer Option

• Finally Come on Add Deploy Stage and select that created Application name & Deployment group

Step 17: Review And Create

• As a final step review and create it. By creating this we have successful the created a CI/CD pipeline in AWS.

UseCases And Benefits Of AWS CI/CD Pipelines

The following are the well known usecases and benefits of AWS CI/CD pipelines:

1. Frequent Software Releases

Use Case: Organizations look for frequent software releases for delivering new features or updates to end-users to be head in business competition.

Benefits: AWS CI/CD pipelines facilitates in automating the entire releasing process of the deployment rapid and reliable. It helps in business bringing agility responsive to market demands.

2. Microservices Architecture

Use Case: Development teams utilizes the microservices architecture which are independent services that require continuous integration and deployment.

Benefits: AWS CI/CD provides the automation for testing and deployment of each microservice. It helps teams in manage and release components independently with efficient scaling.

3. Implementation Of Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Use Case: Organizations implementing Infrastructure as Code practices to ensure dependable and repeatable infrastructure deployments rollouts.

Benefits: AWS CI/CD pipelines seamlessly integrate with AWS CloudFormation, automating the provisioning and updating of infrastructure. This ensures the changes that are applied consistently across different environments increasing efficiency and reducing manual errors.

4. Collaborative Devlopment Environments:

Use Case: Large development teams working collaboratively on a project, requiring efficient code integration and deployment processes.

Benefits: AWS CI/CD pipelines facilitate seamless collaboration by automating the integration of code changes from multiple developers. This provides a standardized and controlled approach to code releases, reducing the likelihood of integration issues and fostering a collaborative development environment.

Best Practices For Successful CI/CD On AWS

The following are the best practices for Successful CI/CD on AWS:

• Automate Infrastructure Setup: On usage of AWS CloudFormation or Terraform will helps in automating the infrastructure provisioning ensuring consistency and scalability.
• Integrate Automated Testing: On practising the implementation of automated testing such as Unit, Integration, end-to-end on using tools such as Jenkins or AWS Codepipeline helps in maintaining the code quality and reliability.
• Adopt Immutable Infrastructure: On adopting to the Immutable Infrastructure and blue-geen deployments helps in minimising the down time. Its usage with aws services such as Elastic Beanstalk and CodeDeploy helps in reducing the risk during updates.
• Continuous Monitoring And Feedback: Monitoring of application performance with AWS Services such as CloudWatch or third party tools helps in gathering the feedback for Continuous improvement of CI/CD processes and application performances.

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline can significantly improves your software development process. It brings automation, efficiency, and reliability to your deployments, allowing you to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. Embrace CI/CD as a mindset for constant improvement and innovation, and AWS CodePipeline as your trusted tool for this journey. Happy coding!

AWS CI/CD Pipeline – FAQ’s

What Is CI/CD Pipeline In AWS?

It is automated software development practice in AWS when new code is pushed into the shared repository in Cloud environments, It is moved into the Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment stages ensuring reliable software delivery.

How Do I Create A CI CD Pipeline In AWS EC2 Instance?

You can create the CI CD Pipeline in AWS using services such as AWS CodePipeline, AWS CodeBuild and AWS CodeDeploy. It helps in integrating your EC2 Instances in automating to build, test and deploying applications.

What Are AWS CodeBuild And AWS CodeDeploy? How Do They Fit Into A CI/CD Pipeline?

AWS CodeBuild is for building and testing code. AWS CodeDeploy automates deployments to EC2 instances, AWS Lambda functions, or ECS clusters. They work together to ensure code changes are built and deployed reliably.

Can I Use Third-Party Tools Like Jenkins Or GitLab In An AWS Based CI/CD Pipeline?

Yes, you can use third-party CI/CD tools within AWS pipelines. AWS services are flexible and can integrate with popular tools like Jenkins and GitLab to extend your pipeline capabilities.

What’s The Cost Of Running A CI/CD Pipeline On AWS, And How Can I Optimize It?

Costs vary based on usage. Use the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator to estimate costs. Optimize costs by choosing the right instance types, minimizing idle time, and considering reserved instances.

How Do I Troubleshoot Common Issues In My AWS CI/CD pipeline On AWS?

Use AWS CloudWatch Logs and CloudWatch Alarms for monitoring and debugging. Check CodePipeline logs and notifications for pipeline issues.

Are There Any Alternatives To AWS CodePipeline For Building A CI/CD Pipeline On AWS?

Yes, alternatives include Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, and Travis CI. These tools can be used alongside AWS services for building CI/CD pipelines.