Creating a web app that is ready for production requires a lot of work. There are certain tools and techniques that you will need to follow to make a production-grade web app. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has become a preferred choice for most web app developers.
Many developers, particularly newbies, struggle with the concept of AWS. Most developers use third-party tools and frameworks to create their web apps and launch them on AWS. But it is always advisable to use AWS-based tools to launch your web-based applications.
AWS DevOps has gained momentum as a way to automate everything required to build, test, and deploy a web application. It is a way to deploy software in a production-grade setting safely. Even large companies, like Pinterest and Netflix, use AWS DevOps to build, test and deploy their web applications.
In this blog, we will look at the tools you can use and how you can use them to create a production-grade Web App.
What Is AWS?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a broadly deployed cloud service. It makes it easy for businesses to quickly and reliably deploy technology infrastructure. AWS provides compute, storage, database, and other services to power companies’ core applications and business functions.
AWS services are designed to handle the entire lifecycle of a user’s data, from storage to processing to serving it back out. That means storing your data in the cloud without worrying about maintaining physical servers.
You can also use the cloud to process your data. So, you don’t have to build expensive, custom-built systems for each piece of information you want to analyze or sell.
And when you’re ready for it all back into a single system again? That’s when AWS comes in handy. It can automatically take all your data and transform it into something consumable or usable by your customers.
What is DevOps?
DevOps, or development operations, is a way of thinking about building software. It’s not just about the tools you use to develop software but also about how you think about building software.
DevOps is a philosophy and approach to software development that emphasizes collaboration and automation. The idea is that you can build software faster and cheaper than your competition. It pays to spend time collaborating with your team on how to do it better.
DevOps is often used in the context of cloud computing, where it refers to the practice of managing and deploying cloud-based applications and services. In addition, devops as a service can help organizations improve software delivery speed while maintaining quality.
It reduces the risk of errors and delays in the lifecycle of the products. An example of DevOps as a service would be deploying a new application or service via automated means. This can include cloud deployment (AWS) or traditional on-site installation.
However, you should note that automation can be accomplished with non-automated means such as manual deployment scripts and manual processes.
What Is AWS DevOps?
AWS DevOps is a set of tools and services for provisioning and managing AWS resources, deploying applications, and automating tasks. AWS DevOps can help you save time and money by automating tasks that would require manual intervention.
For example, you can use AWS DevOps to automatically provision and configure AWS resources. You can deploy applications and run tasks such as database backups. In addition, AWS DevOps can help improve the quality of your software by providing various features. For example, continuous integration and delivery.
Tools Needed for Production of Grade-Web App
To create a production-grade web app, you must use several tools that work together. The tools are not mutually exclusive and can be used in any order or combination. For example, you could have one tool for setting up your CI/CD pipeline and another to deploy code into production. Or perhaps you want both of those things at the same time.
The best part about this approach is that it allows developers more flexibility than if they tried to use all these pieces separately. Each piece has its purpose, and there’s no reason why one should replace another (other than preference). Let’s check out important tools needed to build the grade-web application.
1. AWS EC2
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web service that provides virtual computing capacity. It allows you to run applications on EC2 and pay for the resources you use, rather than having to buy or rent hardware.
Amazon EC2 is designed for dynamic workloads that require high availability, scalability, and low latency. Its architecture is designed for high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. For example, scientific research and large-scale financial analysis.
2. AWS OpsWorks
AWS OpsWorks is a managed service that allows you to create and manage stacks. A stack comprises multiple virtual machines (VMs) running an application or database.
You can use AWS OpsWorks to deploy your applications and databases, monitor them, and scale them up or down as needed. You can also manage security updates and backups. This can be done without having to manage any servers yourself.
The main benefit of using AWS OpsWorks is its ability to deploy new applications into production easily. This might not be your tool if you want more control over how your applications are deployed in production.
However, if all you need is some automation around deployment decisions, then this could be just what anyone requires. It can increase efficiency when building their microservices architecture at scale.
3. Amazon Route 53
Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable DNS service that helps you connect to your customers. It’s one of the most popular cloud infrastructure solutions on AWS, with over 300 million domains served daily by Route 53.
Route 53 supports IPv4 and IPv6, making it ideal for connecting to any website or application (including mobile). The service also supports DNS failover. If something happens at your site and goes down temporarily, Route 53 will automatically fail over so new visitors can access this content without interruption.
4. AWS CodePipeline
CodePipeline is a continuous delivery service. It helps you automate code quality and testing and deploy code changes to your development, staging, and production environments. It’s one of the most powerful tools in AWS DevOps.
It allows developers to build applications faster using existing CI/CD pipelines. CodePipeline integrates with other AWS services such as Lambda functions or machine learning models through APIs. For example, it can combine with S3 buckets or DynamoDB tables so that you can use them in automated deployments.
5. Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) service. It accelerates the delivery of your websites, APIs, video content, or other web assets. Edge locations are a global network of data centers that CloudFront uses to distribute your content.
CloudFront uses multiple factors to determine which server should receive a request from the client: location, availability zones, and quality of service (QoS). This helps CloudFront optimize its caching strategy. Users can access the most appropriate version of your website when they visit it for the first time.
6. AWS CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation is a tool that helps you automate creating, updating, and deleting AWS resources. AWS CloudFormation templates are JSON or YAML files that contain the AWS resources you want to create, edit, or delete.
CloudFormation lets you define your infrastructure in terms of templates (or “stacks”). It describes creating and configuring your entire stack from scratch using declarative language. You don’t need any programming skills. You then choose which template(s) to use based on availability and cost.
Deployment Strategies for CI/CD Pipelines
The first step in building a CI/CD pipeline is to create the necessary build configurations for each stage of development. It includes code generation, unit testing, and integration testing. You can use existing tools such as Travis-CI or Jenkins as your continuous integration tool (CI).
For example, if you’re using AWS Lambda functions, there’s an option called CloudFormation. It will allow you to easily create complex stacks while keeping costs down by using pre-built templates instead of making them manually.
Now that you understand the components required to build a production-grade web app, let’s look at some deployment strategies for CI/CD pipelines.
AWS Lambda function (S3)
This is probably the most common automated deployment strategy many companies use today. It allows developers to write code in their programming language. They can run it on an EC2 instance using whatever containerized environment they choose from AWS Marketplace or third-party vendors like Docker + Amazon ECR (Elastic Container Registry).
The good thing about this model is that there’s no need for an additional server. All you need to do is write some code and then deploy it yourself.
Final Thoughts
In our experience, the AWS DevOps tools are a great way to start your journey into production-grade web applications. They provide a comprehensive suite of tools to help you build and deploy your application quickly and easily.
AWS manages the cloud infrastructure, so you don’t have to worry about running servers or managing hardware. You can also scale up or down as needed while maintaining an isolated environment where changes won’t affect other parts of your application.
But with the wrong combination of technologies and workflows, you might spend more time fighting bugs and patchwork architecture than building your product. Avoiding these pitfalls requires an intimate understanding of the available tools and the skills to wield them effectively.