letuschop

prerequisites

Install docker-toolbox and ensure you're able to run docker.
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID & AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY need to be in your enviroment.

usage

make to see all options
make build to complete challenge

what make build does

• ensures terraform remote config bucket is created

• builds:

  • vpc
  • public subnet
    • bastian host
    • application elb
  • private subnet
    • letuschop autoscale group

• When make build completes the new elb will be in stdout.

• Browse to the elb dns and you'll see "Automation for the People" printed on the homepage.

fun stuff

Browse to the elb on port 8080, click "KEY/VALUE", create a key called "homepage_text" and enter any text you want. Return to the elb on port 80 and you'll see the text you entered.

technologies used

• docker
• docker-machine
• docker-compose
• packer
• terraform
• consul

why

I followed AWS best practices by building a VPC with pubic and private subnets, placing the application inside a of a private subnet, and the elb and bastian host inside the public subnet. The instances are immutable and in autoscale groups therefor if one instance gets removed a new one will take its place with. The addition of consul was just for demonstration purposes.

postmortem

I like this infrastructure model and having built it before it went smoothly. One issue that surfaced was the fact that Ubuntu Xenial Xerus uses systemd which I am less familiar with then upstart. The biggest issue was the constraint that one command had to launch everything. Placing all the tools inside of a docker container assured me that I would be able to run this anywhere with little to no issues. I'd implement a production ready version of this.

errors

Sometimes AWS will rate limit the number of API requests and Terrform will get the error You are not authorized to perform this operation. If this happens re-run the Terrform portion by running make terraform