AWS Cloud Operations Blog

Category: Integration & Automation

¬Field Notes: Cross-account deployments in an AWS Control Tower environment

Field Notes: Cross-account deployments in an AWS Control Tower environment

AWS Control Tower helps customers put an orchestration layer on top of a multi-account strategy. When customers build applications, they often use separate accounts as part of a deployment pipeline so that they can validate changes before production. This best practice helps reduce blast radius should there be any issues with newer iterations. With AWS […]

Integrate across the Three Lines Model (Part 1): Build a custom automation of AWS Audit Manager with AWS Security Hub

The Three Lines Model developed by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) helps organizations identify structures and processes to facilitate strong governance and risk management. In that model, the first-line function manages risk, the second-line function oversees risk and the third-line function provides objective and independent assurance of risk management. According to a Deloitte analysis […]

Standardizing Database Migrations with AWS Database Migration Service and AWS Service Catalog

Companies and organizations are moving data and technology infrastructure to AWS to modernize their applications and gain access to cloud services. The move results in lower costs, increased productivity, and reduced downtime. Some customers are migrating data to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to take advantage of AWS AI and ML services, while others […]

Authorize different sets of interactive session commands for users using SSM documents

Limit interactive session commands by groups of users using AWS Systems Manager

Customers are looking for a way to limit the types of commands that can be run on their Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances when using AWS Systems Manager Session Manager interactive sessions. Allowed commands vary by group, meaning you need to allow different sets of commands based on the group of users. For […]

DevSecOps for auto healing PCI DSS 3.2.1 violations in AWS using custom AWS Config conformance packs, AWS Systems Manager and AWS CodePipeline

If you migrate your workloads to the cloud to modernize your applications or secure infrastructure and operations, you’ll find these migrations are increasingly performed with a DevOps methodology that incorporates continuous development, integration, and testing. It is always a best practice to incorporate security as code in your DevOps workflows to uncover security issues when […]

Handling Region parity with infrastructure as code

Handling Region parity with infrastructure as code

AWS CloudFormation allows you to create and manage resources with templates. AWS provides a number of Regions where its services and features are available. Although it can be beneficial to deploy the same AWS CloudFormation template in multiple Regions, customers who operate in multiple Regions face challenges due to parity differences among services and their […]

AWS CloudFormation StackSet Orchestration: Automated deployment using AWS Step Functions

We often use AWS CloudFormation StackSets to automatically deploy infrastructure into many different accounts. Whether they are managed by AWS Control Tower or AWS Organizations, StackSets provide a simple and automated way to handle the creation of resources and infrastructure right after provisioning a new account. You can automatically deploy StackSets to accounts that belong […]

Automated configuration of Session Manager without an internet gateway

Automated configuration of Session Manager without an internet gateway

Session Manager is a fully managed AWS Systems Manager capability that you can use to manage your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, on-premises instances, and virtual machines (VMs) through an interactive one-click browser-based shell or through the AWS CLI. Session Manager also provides secure and auditable instance management without the need to open […]

Use Systems Manager Automation documents to manage instances and cut costs off-hours

Cut costs by minimizing infrastructure when it’s not under heavy use, for example turning off EC2 and RDS instances nights and weekends. In this post you will learn how to do this using Systems Manager Automation Documents, State Manager, and CloudWatch Events.

Automatic drift remediation solution architecture

Implement automatic drift remediation for AWS CloudFormation using Amazon CloudWatch and AWS Lambda

“Stack drift” is a common occurrence for organizations using AWS CloudFormation, and remediating stack drift represents a persistent and tedious challenge for organizations managing critical infrastructure with CloudFormation stacks. Stack drift occurs when the actual configuration of an infrastructure resource differs from its expected configuration. Typically, this is caused by users editing resources directly by […]