Author: Steve Upkin

Steve is a product-marketer and Engineer at Cloudysave who works with Cloud Management and Adoption team. Over the past years, he has collaborated with multiple teams to provide a robust and cost-effective architecture patterns to influence business and engineering decisions. His key areas of interests include Cloud Costs Management, Security and DevOps Best-Practices.
What is the difference between OpsWorks and CloudFormation

What is the difference between OpsWorks and CloudFormation?

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

OpsWorks and CloudFormation – Overview

Amazon offers an incredibly powerful, efficient and swift cloud computing service through Amazon Web Services (AWS). For over a decade, AWS has become the leading choice of small and large enterprises for their application development and deployment needs around the world.

It has also become the platform of choice for many renowned entertainment and broadcasting brands to provide a swift and smooth online experience to viewers. AWS has been regularly releasing additional advanced cloud-based tools that make it easier and more efficient to manage app development.

AWS OpsWorks and AWS CloudFormation are two such tools that enhance the efficiency of app development on cloud servers.

What is AWS OpsWorks?

OpsWorks from AWS is classified as a “Server Configuration and Automation” tool. AWS OpsWorks helps users to create and manage their application databases and load balancers with the help of Chef and Puppet.

This tool provides templates for popular technologies, including Node.JS, Ruby, Java and PHP. In addition, users can create customized recipes using Chef to install software packs and perform tasks that can be scripted. OpsWorks from AWS is designed to scale user applications with the help of automated time-based or load-based scaling. It helps to maintain the quality of applications by identifying failed instances and replacing them promptly.

With AWS OpsWorks users finally have complete control over deployments and automation of every component of app development.

What is AWS CloudFormation?

CloudFormation from AWS is classified as an “Infrastructure Build” tool. AWS CloudFormation is designed to allow users to create and manage a variety of AWS resources.

CloudFormation provides users with sample templates and even provides an option to create customized templates for describing AWS resources, along with run-time parameters and related dependencies, which are needed to run your application.

CloudFormation from AWS is designed to increase the efficiency of app development. With CloudFormation, users do not have to worry about learning how to make these dependencies work or define the order in which their AWS services need to be provisioned.

What are the main differences between AWS OpsWorks and AWS CloudFormation?

Now that you know the individual properties of the two tools, it’s time to understand the main differences between AWS OpsWorks and AWS CloudFormation.

According to Amazon, its AWS OpsWorks is meant for:

  • Configuring and Managing – OpsWorks is a configuration management service that allows managing instances of Puppet and Chef. It does this by automating the server’s configuration, deployment and management of all EC2 instances and on-premise computing environments.
  • Chef Automate – Lets users create AWS-related Chef servers and use the Chef DK and other tools to manage them efficiently.
  • Puppet Enterprise – Let users use Puppet to automate the way nodes are configured, deployed and managed. Works for on-premise devices and EC2 instances.
  • OpsWorks Stacks – Let users create stacks that help to manage cloud resources in layers or specialized groups. A layer consists of a number of EC2 instances that are designed for a specific purpose. Layers require Chef recipes to handle tasks, such as deploying apps, installing packs on instances and running scripts.

On the other hand, the AWS CloudFormation tool is designed for:

  • Collecting and Provisioning – CloudFormation provides businesses and developers an efficient way to make a collection of relevant AWS resources and provision them in a well-organized and effective manner. This type of service is also called “Infrastructure as Code”.
  • Organizing Infrastructure – This tool is focused more on AWS infrastructure than the user applications. It provides two concepts, Template which is a YAML or JSON-format, a text file with a description of every AWS resource and configuration which users need to deploy for running applications successfully. The Stack concept is a set of AWS resources that are made and managed as s single unit when a template is instanced by AWS CloudFormation.
  • Restoring Template Versions – CloudFormation lets users get enhanced template version controls. This roll-back feature is extremely useful for restoring templates at such times when users attempt to update their stack but the deployment fails midway for some reason. AWS CloudFormation automatically restores the changes to their previous working state.
  • Creating and Managing Beanstalk Apps – CloudFormation is compatible with Elastic Beanstalk application environments, which allows users to create and manage applications hosted on AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and also lets you store the application data with an RDS database.

Conclusion

Overall, AWS OpsWorks is more focused on organizing and configuring software and not on how and what AWS resources are secured. On the other hand, AWS CloudFormation is focused on providing users with an easy way to create a list of AWS resources and distribute them in the best way possible.

See Also

AWS Opsworks Stacks vs Chef Automate

AWS Billing and Cost Management

Azure DevOps Personal Access Token

Azure DevOps Personal Access Token

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

Azure DevOps Personal Access Token – Overview

Azure DevOps uses various security measures to regulate user access to data, functions and features. User accounts are allowed to access the Azure DevOps platform after thorough verification of their security clearance and are cleared to access features and functions accordingly. As an administrator, you should be aware of the types of accounts, methods of authentication and authorization and the numerous policies that Azure uses to secure DevOps.

Azure is one of the most incredibly popular IaaS providers in the world, with vast Azure DevOps Cloud Services and efficient on-premise Azure DevOps Server.

Azure DevOps is designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners to get the power of the cloud and advanced server computing and storage in the most efficient and secure manner. The platform is the prime choice for administrators to make the software development project smoother, from development to deployment.

Advantages of Azure DevOps Personal Access Token (PAT)

Azure DevOps allows admins to add multiple user accounts to their project or organization, including service accounts, service principals, job agents and third party accounts. To manage these different types of user accounts, it is recommended to add them to ‘security groups’. Once you assign a user account to a particular security group, then the user needs to go through an authentication process before accessing features or functions on Azure DevOps.

In order to maintain top-notch security, Azure uses advanced authentication methods to verify the credentials and account identity whenever a user logs in to Azure DevOps. The Authentication process is handled by a combination of authentication security protocols, including:

  • Azure AD (Active Directory)
  • MSA (Microsoft Account)
  • AD (Active Directory)

MSA and Azure AD are compatible with cloud authentication. Software development experts recommend using Azure AD for administrators to manage large user groups with increasing efficiency. On the other hand, for admins of smaller groups of users, then it is recommended to use Microsoft Accounts (MA). In addition, Azure AD is highly recommended when managing a bigger user group on on-premise services.

Azure allows admins to integrate other services and applications with DevOps. To avoid having to go through a long credential verification process every time a user tries to log in to their accounts, Azure DevOps admins can employ other faster authentication methods, such as:

SSH Authentication

This is useful for generating encryption keys when on Windows, Linux or Mac OS, running Git for Windows. This is advisable when you are unable to use Git credential managers for HTTPS authentication.

OAuth

This is useful for generating tokens that allow access to REST APIs. In this, the Profiles and Account APIs are compatible only with OAuth.

Personal Access Token (PAT)

A personal access token allows access to specific activities, or resources, such as work items and builds. Additionally, PATs are an excellent alternative to using Xcode or NuGet clients which normally need usernames and passwords at least as credentials but are not compatible with Microsoft Account and Azure AD features such as multi-factor authentication. Also, PATs are extremely useful to access REST APIs in Azure DevOps.

How to Generate and Use Personal Access Token (PAT)?

A PAT, short for a personal access token, is an alternate log-in credential that authenticates users into Azure DevOps. Although Azure AD and Microsoft Account work well as authentication steps when working with the Microsoft tool, these are often not compatible with many third-party tools.

With personal access tokens, you can reduce the risk to your data and features when using third-party software on Azure DevOps.

Steps to Generate Personal Access Tokens (PATs)

Here’s a step-wise guide on how to generate personal access token (PAT):

  1. Log in to your organization in Azure DevOps
  2. On your home page, click on the User Settings icon on the toolbar on top and select the “Personal access tokens” option from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select “+New Token”
  4. On the pop-up form, fill in the relevant details, including the name of the token, and the organization to which the token will be assigned and then choose the duration of the token.
  5. Select the options under “Scopes” according to the specific task it is being generated for.
  6. Once the token is generated, make sure to copy the token because it will not be displayed again.

The token which is generated through the above-given process is yet another increasingly secure way to regulate user access for Azure DevOps functions, features and data. Users can use this token as authentication to access Azure DevOps from anywhere until the expiration limit is reached.

See Also

DevOps Toolchain

Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator

Azure Cost Calculator

AWS OpsWorks Stacks vs Chef Automate

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

AWS OpsWorks Stacks vs Chef Automate – Overview

Amazon’s Web Services platform offers a variety of services to developers and web users under one roof. If you are an application developer working on different development projects, then there are some essential tools available for you on AWS. AWS OpsWorks Stacks and Chef Automate are currently high in demand. Let’s check out the differences between these tools.

What is AWS OpsWorks Stacks?

The AWS OpsWorks Stacks is a must-have tool for application developers. It lets developers run multiple applications on different servers. You can model up an application development process in multiple layers.

What is AWS OpsWorks Stacks

What is AWS OpsWorks Stacks

The AWS OpsWorks Stacks can be categorized for the development process in different layers. You can layer them up with load balancing, databases, and servers. The developers work in a different phases of development and complete the process with the given layers.

What makes it more useful for application developers is it lets them add external resources to the servers. They can make use of AWS’s EC2 instances or add other third-party resources that make the development process much smoother.

AWS OpsWorks Stacks Features:

  • Easy-to-use configuration management service
  • Designed to automate multiple tasks for the developers on a separate server
  • Quick configurations of different resources
  • Compatible with software configuration
  • Supports Deployment of Apps and Codes
  • Built-in auto-healing feature to auto-heal your stack
  • Load base auto-scaling for the instances
  • Compatible with AWS AutoWatch Cloud to scale up the process
  • Works well with Linux and Windows EC2 Instances

Moreover, OpsWorks Stacks lets you schedule things to work automatically with no manual intervention. You can schedule up server traffic, response timing, and more using the given functions here. It is also compatible with Chef resources to make the process run automatically for you. This open-source tool is designed to streamline the application development process with automatic functions.

AWS OpsWorks Stacks Features

AWS OpsWorks Stacks Features

OpsWorks Stacks’s configuration is different for Chef Automate. This specialized service is designed for the app developers to categorize the app development process and work with each process automatically with the given tools and resources. Let’s collect some more information about AWS OpsWorks for Chef Automate.

AWS OpsWorks Stacks configuration

AWS OpsWorks Stacks configuration

What is Chef Automate?

As the name suggests, Chef Automate provides a suite of automated tools to accomplish your development process with no extra effort and tools. The service provides a fully managed Chef Automate server that works for your needs without manual intervention.

What is Chef Automate

What is Chef Automate

Chef Automate is a must-use service for every AWS user working with application development. This service automates the entire development process that has been layered up with AWS OpsWorks. It gives you a managed workflow that works for you for continuous deployment with automated tests.

Besides this, the same service helps developers in testing out the security features on the applications automatically. After testing out the security features, the next thing it handles is end-user views. The automated function also manages the end-user interface of the app.

Chef Automate Features:

  • Provides Chef Server to automate operational tasks on Amazon EC2 Instances
  • Supports multiple interface options to work with multiple tools
  • Handles development to the security of the app
  • Built-in server monitor to figure out the health of your server
  • Automatic backup of your server’s data
  • Automatic node registration through Chef nodes
  • Supports Chef agent to manage multiple on-premises resources

Unlike OpsWorks which needs manual intervention for layering up the development process, Chef Automate works automatically from the beginning. The service handles multiple operational tasks that manage software and operating system configurations.

Chef Automate Features

Chef Automate Features

When it comes to the security of an ongoing process, Chef Servers are the most reliable ones. They only send responses to trusted users. Chef Server uses SSL that encrypts the data and adds an extra layer of security. Users can set up user-based permissions that identify by the server automatically.

Chef Automate is designed to work with different tools and services. It can be integrated with different cloud-based services on the AWS platform. AWS clients can make use of different AWS services and can integrate them into the Chef Automate with ease.

Apart from this, the same service handles database setups, installations of different packages within the layers, continuous compliances, and more. What makes the entire process run automatically for you is the Chef Server. This server schedules things for the user and implements them one by one.

This service is compatible with the available tools and resources on the AWS platform. Users can get more information about the latest implementations through the Chef Community.

See Also

Serverless AWS Function

Posted in AWS
What are AWS Savings Plans

How Do AWS Saving Plans Work?

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

AWS Saving Plans

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leading provider of advanced cloud computing services in the world. AWS has well over 1 million active enterprise users who are provided top-class but extremely affordable cloud computing and storage services.

The company maintains an impressive global cloud network spanning over 190 countries and collaborates with more than 8,000 network partners and 1,800 third-party software products for the best cloud computing service in the world.

Thanks to its incredibly innovative and excellent services, AWS has a list of clients with the who’s who of the business world. Netflix, BBC, ESPN, etc are just some of the top clients of Amazon Web Services from around the globe. Apart from the excellent quality of services, another major reason why AWS enjoys such popularity is because of its considerably lower and heavily-discounted rates.

The AWS Savings Plans have enabled clients to get even more significant cuts in the hourly rates for AWS cloud computing services.

What is an AWS Saving Plan?

Originally, AWS used to provide Reserved Instances (RIs) to implement cost savings by making users commit to the usage of a specific type of instance and OS with a single AWS Region.

However, things have changed drastically ever since AWS launched its Savings Plans. The AWS Savings Plans is a flexing pricing model for Amazon’s cloud computing services. Lowered rates under the AWS Savings Plans are applicable for Fargate and EC2 instances for the duration of the term plan (1 or 3 years). The rates are measured in dollars per hour of usage. When users sign up for the AWS Savings Plans, they are charged the discounted price for the entire duration of the chosen term plan.

There are two different types of Savings Plans offered by AWS:

Compute Saving Plans

AWS Compute Savings Plans are the most flexible and can get discounts of up to 66% and are automatically applied to EC2 and Fargate usage. This pricing model is significantly simple and easier than the earlier RIs pricing model. Under this, users get the discounted rate irrespective of the type of instance, family, tenancy, Region, Zone, or size of the instance.

The AWS Compute Savings Plans saves the time and effort otherwise wasted in calculating and predicting the configuration required for the remainder of the term plan.

AWS EC2 Instance Saving Plans

The AWS EC2 Instance Savings Plans offer the lowest possible rates and get users a discount of up to 72% in exchange for committing to use an instance family in the specific Region. Thus, this AWS plan automatically lowers the cost of the chosen instance family and also allows users to change configurations, such as the tenancy, size, operating system, AZ, etc.

How to Buy AWS Savings Plans?

Users can directly purchase the AWS Savings Plans directly from the AWS Cost Explorer management console, or they can choose to use AWS API/CLI.

Amazon offers its Savings Plans through three different payment options:

  1. No Upfront – Under the no upfront payment option, the user is not required to make any initial payments but is charged monthly on the usage at an hourly rate.
  2. Partial Upfront – Under the partial upfront payment option, the users will have to pay at least 50% of the term plan amount upfront while the remaining half is charged on a monthly basis.
  3. All Upfront – Under the all upfront payment option, the users are required to pay the complete cost of services upfront at the time of buying the term plan. However, this provides users with incredibly low rates and higher savings in the long run.

Always remember to consider the balance of Financial Operations while choosing to buy any of the AWS Savings Plans.

Conclusion

The AWS Savings Plans are incredibly efficient and simple solutions to get the best cloud-based computing and storage services anywhere. The impressive discounted rates and flexibility of features offered by Amazon make AWS Saving Plans a must for small enterprises and startups.

This is especially true for those enterprises where developing, operating and maintaining in-house IT infrastructure is not feasible.

See Also

AWS Convertible Reserved Instances

What you need to know about AWS Convertible Reserved Instances

How AWS Convertible Reserved Instances Works?

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on How AWS Convertible Reserved Instances Works?

Cloud computing is the next big step in revolutionary technology, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominates the global market currently. 

Cloud computing is here to stay

According to various sources, Amazon Web Services has well over 1 million active enterprise customers. AWS has an extensive global cloud computing and storage network that spans across 190 countries, which is composed of over 52 AWS Availability Zones and more than 70 infrastructure services. AWS provides its excellent cloud computing and storage services to its million+ enterprise customers through 8,000+ partner network members and more than 1,900 third-party software products. 

The popularity of cloud computing, and AWS specifically, is clear when you take a look at some of the top brands that are AWS customers. There are thousands of globally renowned entertainment providers and big enterprises who are relying increasingly on cloud computing to provide their services. The biggest AWS enterprise customers, according to monthly spending, are Netflix (US$ 19 million), Twitch (US$ 15 million), LinkedIn (US$ 13 million), Facebook (US$ 11 million), Turner Broadcasting (US$ 10 million), BBC (US$ 9 million), Baidu (US$ 9 million), ESPN (US$ 8 million), Adobe (US$ 8 million) and Twitter (US$ 7 million).

What is a Convertible Reserved Instance?

Amazon Web Services offers “instances” which are virtual computing environments to users for deploying and testing applications on cloud servers. When users launch an instance, the type of instance will specify the hardware of the host computer. Each type of instance offers different levels of computing, memory and storage features. Instances which share similar computing configuration are classified under the same instance family.

Users can select the type of instance according to the application or software’s requirements. Amazon offers every instance with a fixed amount of CPU power, irrespective of the hardware being used. Hence, before making your choice, consider the following factors in making the decision:

  • Computing power required
  • Availability Zone or Region 
  • Memory needed
  • Networking prowess 
  • Storage capacity 
  • Price 

Amazon Web Service’s Convertible Reserved Instances (RIs) are immensely popular among the small, middle-sized and huge enterprises that use the AWS cloud computing services. AWS offers its RIs in two different classes, standard and convertible.

Let’s take a look at both:

Standard Reserved Instance (RI)

AWS offers the standard RI through the one-year or the three-year term purchase plans. AWS Standard RIs allow users to modify the scope, type of networking, Availability Zone and the type of instance (as long as the new instance is within the same instance type). Users can also choose to sell AWS Standard reserved instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace offered by AWS.

Convertible Reserved Instance (RI)

AWS offers the convertible reserved instances (RIs) through two plans – the one-year or the three-year term plans. AWS Convertible RIs allow users to replace one or more convertible reserved instances for another convertible RI. The two reserved instances can share the same configuration or have different instance families, tenancy and operating systems. 

There are no restrictions to the number of times that you can exchange the RIs, provided that the target convertible reserved instance has an equal or higher value than the original convertible RI which it replaces. 

What are the Benefits of using AWS Convertible Reserved Instances (RIs)?

There are several situations when purchasing an AWS convertible RI is useful, such as when:

  • The purchased reserved instances are in the payer account, and not in the sub-account. This allows you to easily alter Convertible RIs to meet the evolving requirements of your enterprise. 
  • You forecast changes in workloads. In such an event, a Convertible RI helps you to be prepared for the growing and changing requirements of your organization and provides the relevant discounts and capacity reservations. 
  • You wish to prepare for an inevitable drop in price in the future.
  • You wish to avoid consulting teams for your capacity planning and predicting. 
  • You believe your computing requirements to remain stable throughout the term plan.

 

How to exchange Convertible Reserved Instances?

Amazon allows users to exchange their Convertible RIs only under the following conditions:

  1. Customer is active
  2. The customer does not have a pending exchange request from earlier 

If you wish to exchange one Convertible RI for another, then you should be aware of the following rules:

  1. Convertible RIs can only be exchanged for another Convertible RI currently offered by AWS.
  2. Convertible RIs are limited to a specific region for the duration of the reservation. Convertible RIs cannot be exchanged for another from a different Region. 
  3. One convertible reserved instance can be exchanged for one or more Convertible RIs. 
  4. Users can also split a portion of Convertible RIs, modify it into multiple reservations and then exchange single or multiple reservations for a new Convertible RI. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, the article helped you to understand the basics of AWS Convertible RIs so you can make the best choice before buying an instance type from Amazon next. 

EC2 Reserved Instance Pricing

EC2 Reserved Instance Pricing

Key Aspects of EC2 Reserved Instance Pricing

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on Key Aspects of EC2 Reserved Instance Pricing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides Reserved Instance (RI) with an aim to cut back the cost of cloud computing and storage services without compromising on the immense scalability the Amazon EC2 RIs offer. As compared to the On-Demand pricing model, the Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (RIs) billing discount is remarkable. The RI discount is provided when On-Demand Instances are used from an account. However, the On-Demand Instances should match specific properties, such as the same type of Instance and Region, so as to avail of the heavily reduced billing benefit.

What are the factors that decide AWS EC2 Reserved Instance pricing?

There are several diverse factors that determine the AWS EC2 Reserved Instances (RIs) pricing, such as:

1 – Properties of Instances

There are four instance properties that determine the price of Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances. These are:

Instance type – The instance family and instance size, for example, in m4.large, the instance family is m4 while the instance size is large.

Tenancy – If your instance operates on the default shared server or dedicated (single-tenant) server.

Region – The particular Region where the Reserved Instance (RI) is bought.

Platform – The type of operating system (OS) required for running applications, such as Windows, Linux, etc.

2 – Purchase plan

AWS offers EC2 Reserved Instance (RI) to users through two types of commitment plans – a 1-year plan and 3 years plan. Remember, the 3-years plan comes at a lower price in comparison.

1 Year Plan – AWS defines a year as 365 days (or 31536000 seconds)

3 Years Plan – AWS defines 3 years as 1,095 days (or 94608000 seconds)

Users need to make sure that they are aware of the expiry date of their subscription plan because AWS does not provide automatic renewal. Although your services will not be interrupted, in such as event, the Billing automatically starts charging at the On-Demand rates.

3 – Choice of payment

Users can choose to pay for the heavily discounted AWS EC2 RI rate through three different types of payment options. These are:

No Upfront – The bill is generated at a discounted hourly rate for every hour within the term plan, irrespective of whether the Reserve Instance (RI) is in use or not.

Partial Upfront – The user has to pay a part of the total plan cost at the time of purchase/renewal while the charges for the hours being used are billed at a reduced rate, whether the RI is being used or not.

All Upfront – The full payment for the entire term plan is required to be paid at the time of purchasing EC2 RI. No other additional charges and hourly costs are included within the term of the plan, irrespective of the hours the cloud server was used.

4 – Offering class

In case your computing requirements vary significantly, AWS also allows users to modify or replace the Reserved Instance (RI), depending on the offering class being selected, from:

Standard RI (Reserved Instance) – This offering class provides the largest discount, but can only be modified and cannot be replaced.

Convertible RI (Reserved Instance) – This offering class provides less discount than Standard RI, but can be easily replaced/exchanged for another Convertible RI with different instance properties and can also be modified according to requirements.

Is there a limit on buying Reserved Instances (RIs)?

AWS restricts the number of Reserved Instances that can be purchased in a month through a single account.

Amazon allows users to purchase 20 additional regional RIs in a particular Region and also offers an extra 20 zonal RIs every month, in each Availability Zone.

For example, a Region with 3 Availability Zones offers up to 80 Reserved Instances (RIs) per month (20 x 3 +20 = 80).

What are the benefits of buying AWS EC2 Reserved Instances (RIs)?

There are two main benefits that users can avail when they choose to buy AWS EC2 Reserved Instances:

Heavily discounted rate – AWS offers its EC2 RIs specifically to make its cloud-computing web-services more affordable and feasible for small enterprises and startups as investment capital is a rare commodity in such cases.

Immense scalability – Apart from the significant rate-cut, the AWS EC2 RIs are incredibly flexible and can grow and shrink according to your current computing needs.

Conclusion

The Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance (RI) is an incredible solution for small enterprises and startups to save investing in an in-house IT infrastructure. The impressive discount and immense flexibility is another great reason to buy AWS EC2 RIs now.

AWS reserved instance vs savings plan

AWS EC2 Covertible RIs