AWS CodePipeline tutorial | Build a CI/CD Pipeline on AWS

Summary

This tutorial guides viewers through building a simple CI/CD pipeline on AWS using AWS CodePipeline. It demonstrates automating the deployment process of a sample Node.js application from GitHub to production on AWS Elastic Beanstalk, which abstracts the use of EC2 instances. The video covers setting up Elastic Beanstalk, creating a CodePipeline, and testing the deployment with a live code change, showcasing the efficiency of automated deployment workflows.

Takeaways

• 😀 The tutorial is about building a simple CI/CD pipeline on AWS using AWS CodePipeline to automate the code release process from local development to production.
• 🔧 The deployment pipeline uses a sample Node.js application located in a GitHub repository and triggers the AWS CodePipeline instance upon commits to the repository.
• 🌐 AWS CodePipeline will deploy the application to a target web server set up on AWS Elastic Beanstalk, which manages EC2 instances behind the scenes.
• 📝 The tutorial provides a link to the 'Musician App' repository, which is a Node.js application with read, write, and delete functionality for a list of musicians.
• 🛠️ Elastic Beanstalk simplifies the deployment of resources to AWS by abstracting the underlying EC2 instances and handling the provisioning of resources.
• 🔄 The process is automated, including the running of 'npm install' if a 'package.json' file is found in the application root.
• 🔑 The tutorial guides through setting up AWS CodePipeline with permissions to access a GitHub account and selecting the appropriate repository and branch.
• 🔍 The use of GitHub webhooks is recommended for an event-driven model where code commits trigger the pipeline, as opposed to a check-and-pull mechanism.
• 🚀 The tutorial demonstrates creating a pipeline named 'Musician App Pipeline' and configuring it to deploy to the same region as the Elastic Beanstalk environment.
• 🔄 After the initial setup, the tutorial shows how to make changes to the application, commit them to GitHub, and verify that the changes trigger a new deployment through the pipeline.
• 🔧 The tutorial concludes with the addition of a health check URL to the application, which returns a 200 OK message, and demonstrates the pipeline's ability to update the production environment with the new code.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the tutorial in the provided transcript?

The tutorial focuses on building a simple CI/CD pipeline on AWS using AWS CodePipeline to automate the code release process from local development to production.

What type of application is used as a sample in the tutorial?

The sample application used is a Node.js application located in a GitHub repository, which provides read, write, and delete functionality for a list of musicians.

How does the AWS CodePipeline trigger the deployment process?

The AWS CodePipeline is set up to trigger the deployment process whenever there are any changes committed to the application in GitHub.

What AWS service is used to deploy the application in this tutorial?

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is used to deploy the application, which means the code will live on EC2 instances behind the scenes.

What is the initial setup of the Elastic Beanstalk environment in the tutorial?

The initial setup involves creating a new Node.js environment in Elastic Beanstalk and deploying a sample application into that environment without uploading any custom code at that point.

How does Elastic Beanstalk handle the deployment of resources?

Elastic Beanstalk handles the provisioning of resources such as EC2 and S3 instances behind the scenes, abstracting the complexity from the user and providing a high level of automation.

What is the role of AWS CodePipeline in the CI/CD process described?

AWS CodePipeline automates the deployment process by triggering the pipeline whenever there is a code commit or merge in GitHub, leading to a deployment to Elastic Beanstalk.

What is the significance of setting up a health check URL in the application?

The health check URL provides a simple way to verify that the server or service is up and running by returning a 200 OK message when accessed.

How does the tutorial demonstrate the effectiveness of the CI/CD pipeline?

The tutorial demonstrates the pipeline's effectiveness by making a small change to the application, committing it to GitHub, and then showing how the pipeline automatically triggers a new deployment to Elastic Beanstalk.

What is the final step in the tutorial to verify the deployment of the changes?

The final step is to access the health check URL in the deployed application to ensure that the changes have been successfully deployed and the application is functioning as expected.

What does the tutorial suggest for future enhancements to the CI/CD pipeline?

The tutorial suggests that future enhancements could include adding a build stage and possibly other stages to make the pipeline more robust and sophisticated.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to Building a CI/CD Pipeline on AWS

This paragraph introduces the tutorial's goal of creating a simple CI/CD pipeline on AWS using AWS CodePipeline. The process will automate the deployment of a sample Node.js application from GitHub to production on AWS Elastic Beanstalk, which manages the application on EC2 instances. The tutorial promises to cover the basics for those unfamiliar with the services involved.

05:01

🌐 Setting Up AWS Elastic Beanstalk Environment

The speaker guides viewers through setting up an AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment for a Node.js application. The process involves naming the application, choosing the platform, and leveraging Elastic Beanstalk's automation to handle the deployment and resource provisioning, including EC2 and S3 instances. The speaker also demonstrates testing the initial deployment and mentions the convenience of Elastic Beanstalk in running build scripts automatically.

10:02

🔧 Configuring AWS CodePipeline for Automated Deployment

This section details the creation of an AWS CodePipeline to automate deployments. The pipeline is named and configured to connect with a GitHub repository, where changes will trigger the pipeline using webhooks. The speaker skips the build stage for now, focusing on the deployment to Elastic Beanstalk, ensuring both services are in the same region. The pipeline is reviewed and created, with the deployment process shown to be successful.

15:04

🛠 Testing the CI/CD Pipeline with Live Code Changes

The final paragraph demonstrates the pipeline's functionality by making a live code change in the application to add a health check URL. The change is committed and pushed to GitHub, which triggers the CodePipeline. The speaker shows the deployment process in AWS and verifies the change by accessing the new health check endpoint in the application, confirming the pipeline's successful automation of the deployment process.

🎉 Conclusion and Future Tutorials on CI/CD with AWS

The speaker concludes the tutorial by reflecting on the successful setup of the CI/CD pipeline and the ease with which code changes are deployed to production. They express intentions to create follow-up videos to expand on the pipeline with additional stages, making it more robust. The paragraph ends with an invitation for viewers to subscribe for more content, highlighting the value of the tutorial series on AWS CI/CD.

Keywords

💡CI/CD Pipeline

A CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline is a development practice that automates the steps of building, testing, and deploying code changes. In the video's context, the CI/CD pipeline is built on AWS using AWS CodePipeline to automate the release process from local development to production. The script describes setting up a pipeline that triggers deployment to AWS Elastic Beanstalk whenever changes are committed to a GitHub repository.

💡AWS CodePipeline

AWS CodePipeline is a service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables automation of the software release process. It is integral to the video's tutorial, where the presenter uses it to create a pipeline that automatically deploys updates to a Node.js application hosted on GitHub to AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

💡AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a service for deploying and scaling web applications and services developed with Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, and Docker on familiar servers such as Apache, Nginx, Passenger, and IIS. In the video, it is used as the target for deploying the Node.js application, abstracting the underlying infrastructure such as EC2 instances.

💡Node.js

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment that executes JavaScript code outside a browser. The video script refers to a sample Node.js application that will be automated through the CI/CD pipeline. This application is used to demonstrate the deployment process on AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

💡GitHub

GitHub is a web-based hosting service for version control using Git. It allows developers to manage and store their code in repositories. In the script, GitHub is where the sample application's source code resides, and it is also the trigger point for the AWS CodePipeline to initiate the deployment process upon code commits.

💡EC2 Instances

EC2, which stands for Elastic Compute Cloud, is a web service from AWS that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is implicitly mentioned in the script as the underlying infrastructure that AWS Elastic Beanstalk uses to host the deployed application.

💡Automation

Automation in the context of the video refers to the process of setting up systems to perform tasks without manual intervention. The entire CI/CD pipeline is an example of automation, where code changes are automatically built, tested, and deployed to production with minimal human effort, as illustrated by the script's tutorial.

💡Build Stage

A build stage in a CI/CD pipeline is a phase where the code is compiled and packaged into a format that can be deployed. The script mentions that the current tutorial will skip the build stage but suggests adding it in future videos to create a more robust pipeline.

💡IAM Service Role

An IAM (Identity and Access Management) service role in AWS is a type of AWS identity that you can use to allow AWS services to pass permissions from one service to another. In the script, the presenter creates a new service role for AWS CodePipeline to enable it to access and perform actions on the necessary AWS resources.

💡Webhooks

Webhooks are user-defined HTTP callbacks that allow one application to provide another application with real-time information. In the script, the presenter chooses to use GitHub webhooks for triggering the AWS CodePipeline, which makes the process event-driven and more efficient than periodic checks.

💡Health Check URL

A health check URL is an endpoint that returns a status code to indicate the availability of a service. In the video, the presenter adds a health check route to the Node.js application to provide a quick way to verify that the server is up and running. The script demonstrates this by adding a new route that returns a 200 OK status.

Highlights

Introduction to building a simple CI/CD pipeline on AWS using AWS CodePipeline.

Automating code release process from local development to production.

Using a sample Node.js application located in a GitHub repository.

Setting up a pipeline to trigger deployment on GitHub commits.

Deployment process managed by AWS CodePipeline.

Application deployment to AWS Elastic Beanstalk, utilizing EC2 instances.

Overview of a simple one-stage build pipeline with potential for future expansion.

Explanation of AWS Elastic Beanstalk for quick resource deployment.

Demonstration of the musician app, a Node.js application with CRUD functionality.

Instructions to fork or clone the musician app repository.

Step-by-step guide to navigate AWS Management Console for Elastic Beanstalk setup.

Creating a new environment and deploying a sample application in Elastic Beanstalk.

Automatic provisioning of resources by Elastic Beanstalk, including EC2 and S3.

Testing the initial deployment of the AWS Elastic Beanstalk Node.js application.

Transition to AWS CodePipeline for setting up the build pipeline.

Connecting AWS CodePipeline to GitHub for source code access.

Configuring pipeline triggers using GitHub webhooks for efficiency.

Skipping the build stage in this tutorial with plans to add it in future videos.

Setting up the deploy provider to target AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment.

Verification of pipeline creation and initial deployment to Elastic Beanstalk.

Demonstration of application deployment and functionality post-pipeline setup.

Making a code change, committing, and pushing to trigger the pipeline.

Observing the pipeline trigger and deployment process in AWS.

Verification of the updated application with a new health check route.

Discussion on the potential for future tutorials to expand the CI/CD pipeline.

Conclusion and call to action for subscription and further engagement.

Transcripts

hey everyone how's it going and welcome

to another cloud path tutorial today

we're going to be building a simple CI

CD pipeline on AWS using AWS code

pipeline in order to automate our code

release process from local development

all the way out to production so if that

sounds interesting please stick around

and let's do this alright so let's take

a high-level look at what our deployment

pipeline is going to look like

first of all we'll be using a sample

node.js application located in the

github repository we'll set up our

pipeline so that whenever we commit any

changes to our application and github

it'll trigger our AWS code pipeline

instance to kick in and start the

deployment process finally code pipeline

will deploy our application to our

target web server which will be setup an

AWS elastic Beanstalk which essentially

means that our code will live on ec2

instances behind the scenes so that's it

very simple just a simple one stage

build pipeline and it's likely that in

future tutorials we'll add to this

pipeline and you know add a build stage

and possibly some other stages to the

pipeline alright so don't worry too much

if you're not familiar with elastic

beanstalk or code pipeline that's kind

of the point of this video we'll touch

on all those pieces as we go through the

process alright so before we actually

start to build out our pipeline I just

want us to take a quick look at the

sample app that we'll be using as our

target in this exercise so this is the

musician app and it just it's a node.js

application that provides read write and

delete functionality for a list of

musicians here's what it looks like in

the UI okay so we can you know delete

musicians can add a new one

just like that very basic all right just

to give us something to work with here

so in the description of this video I

will provide a link to the musician app

repository here so what I want you guys

to do is either either fork this

application into your own github

repository or you can clone and download

it and upload it to your own github but

whichever way you go about it just make

sure you have a copy of this application

in your own github account alright guys

so I think we're ready to start building

out our pipeline let's go ahead and

navigate to aws.amazon.com and go ahead

and sign into the management console

there we go alright now the first place

I want to go to is elastic Beanstalk so

if you don't have it under recently

visited just go ahead and type it into

the search here elastic Beanstalk there

it is alright so in a nutshell elastic

Beanstalk is just a way for us to deploy

resources to AWS so in this case it's

going to deploy resources to ec2

instances behind the scenes if this were

a real production grade application I

may go directly to ec2 and set it up

directly there just so I have a little

bit more control but at the expense of a

little bit of control this allows us to

deploy resources you know very quickly

so it's perfect for a demo like this now

depending on whether you've been here

before the splash page may look slightly

different I know in some cases you may

see a little drop down here prompting

you to choose your you know what kind of

environment you want to create right off

the bat and then you know you have a

call to action below so if you do see

that go ahead and choose nodejs and then

whatever it is create environment create

application in my case I'm just going to

go ahead and click on get started all

right now either way you should

basically end up at the same place

eventually so I'm gonna give this a name

musician app alright and for platform

I'm gonna choose nodejs since this is a

node.js application I'm going to leave

sample application highlighted I'm not

going to upload or deploy my code at all

at this point because I'm gonna allow

our build pipeline to actually do that

once that setup

all right so once you've made those

selections go ahead and click on create

application all right

now this will take several minutes to

you know provision so I'm gonna go ahead

and pause the video and come back as

soon as this is complete alright that is

now finished so just to recap what have

we actually done here so first we've

created a new environment a node.js

environment and then elastic Beanstalk

has also deployed a sample application

into that environment so we've used

things like ec2 and s3 instances behind

the scenes but you don't really see that

except for looking at the logs because

elastic Beanstalk basically takes care

of all that provisioning of resources

for us

all right now oh the other thing I want

to mention is you don't have to worry

about even adding any kind of build

scripts for for example for NPM install

basically elastic Beanstalk if it finds

it package dot JSON in the root of your

application it will run that for us so

everything about this process is very

automated and automatic which is where

the convenience factor comes in all

right so what we can do is just test to

make sure this is this is all working if

you see at the top of the page it gives

us a URL for the test application that's

been deployed so I'm gonna go ahead and

open that in a new tab and there we go

congratulations your first AWS elastic

Beanstalk node.js application is now

running yadda yadda yadda so our initial

deployment was successful great so now

the next step is going to be to actually

go over to AWS code pipeline and set up

our build pipeline so I'm going to go

ahead and close this for now and let's

see I don't think I need to do anything

else here so let's go back up to

services and I've got code pipeline here

in my history but if you don't you know

what to do just type it in here and it

should pop right up

all right so the first thing I'm going

to do here is go ahead and click on

create pipeline alright and let's make

the screen a little bit bigger here

alright so let's give our pipeline a

name so I'm going to say musician app

pipeline just to keep it consistent here

all right and I'm gonna pretty much

leave all my default set new service

role so this is saying yes please go

ahead and create this iam service role

that's needed so that'll do that behind

the scenes for us

artifacts tour I'll leave is the default

location so if any artifacts are created

as a result of this pipeline it'll

create an s3 bucket to store those in

alright so let's go ahead and click on

next source provider so I'm gonna go

ahead and click on github because that's

where our source code lives now you'll

need to allow AWS permissions to access

your github account so go ahead and

click on connect to github and you'll

probably have to enter in your password

I didn't because I've done this already

so it was pretty quick for me but just

enter in your github password and then

allow permissions to AWS once you've

done that we can select our repository

which is where is it musician app there

it is go ahead and select the master

branch and detect options so this is

basically saying how do you want your

pipeline to be triggered if I select AWS

code pipeline basically it's a kind of

check and pull mechanism or it'll say

have there been any changes know any

changes no any changes no any changes

yes go ahead and kick off the pipeline

but I think using git github web hooks

is much more efficient so it's more of a

event-driven model where anytime you

have a check-in or code commit or merge

it'll go ahead and kick off the pipeline

so let's leave all of our defaults here

selected and click on next build

provider we're actually going to skip

the build stage in this tutorial and

we'll add it in future videos but right

now I think we just want to focus on

getting the deployment complete the

deploy provider is going to be elastic

Beanstalk this is our target all right

and you want to make sure that your

elastic Beanstalk

and your code pipeline are both within

the same region and so make sure that's

selected here application name is going

to be music musician app environment

name is going to be a musician app E&V

it may be without the one for you just

I've done this a couple of times so it

may be slightly different for me all

right click on next so this is our

review page we're just verifying that

everything looks good and go ahead and

click on create pipeline alright so now

we can see that the pipeline has been

created and it is right now deploying to

elastic Beanstalk so the first stage

here was successful now we're deploying

so that should just take a minute or two

and then we can go ahead and verify that

our codes been deployed all right and it

looks like the deployment is complete so

let's go ahead and check that I'm gonna

open up this in a new window oh I think

I just have to click on it there we go

alright so this is our environment our

node.js environment I'm going to click

on that and here's our application

within that environment so there's a URL

up here that we've seen before so let's

just go ahead and open that in a new tab

and there we go there is our deployed

application so we're no longer seeing

that test sample application let's just

quickly make sure this works I'll delete

one and just add somebody ok good and so

cool everything's working alright so

with that that is basically our pipeline

is complete now so what I want to do now

is make a slight change to the

application commit that code and then

let's check and make sure that our

triggering works and that you know that

check in basically triggers another

deployment pipeline and that we finally

see our changes in production alright

alright so I've opened up visual studio

and what I want to do is just make a

small change in the musician app and

then push it and you know see if it

works so what I want to do is add a

health check URL that just returns like

a 200 ok message

so let's go ahead and open up so

underneath musician app underneath the

root folder I'm going to open up routes

and then musician J s and let me make

the font size a little bit bigger here

this is basically where our express

routes are defined oh yeah ctrl + there

we go well that's too big ctrl - alright

so hopefully this will work the first

time haven't actually tested this

beforehand so live coding here so we're

gonna do a get let's go ahead and copy

this first retrieve all and let's just

copy that whole block or sorry paste

that whole block right above it so I'll

just change the comment to say health

check alright and we want to change the

route endpoint to be let's just do

health like that so we don't need this

line musicians we don't need any of this

actually so let's just leave like one

response status just like this and then

so we're gonna send back 200 and let's

just send back a string message and

we'll say 200 okay just so that whenever

we hit this endpoint you know we have

some kind of indication that the server

the server or service is up and running

so I'm gonna go ahead and save that you

know let's just change this to say

status okay it doesn't matter anything

you want so save that alright so I'm

gonna open up a command line interface

here so I can check that in just make

this a little bit bigger here as well

I'm actually running this application

locally so I'm going to exit out of that

clear so I'm going to do a git status

get ad

routes and that should be enough to add

that file okay I'm gonna do a git commit

when I say add health check route okay

and I'm gonna say git push so I'm

pushing that change to the repository

directly to the master branch so

theoretically that should be kicking up

that should be kicking off our code

pipeline process alright so let's go

back to AWS and see what's happening

over there mmm great that looks like

it's working just fine I can see that

you know before I even got to this page

it looks like it already succeeded again

and it's deploying right now to elastic

Beanstalk so far so good I'm just gonna

let this run because it was pretty quick

last time and then what we can do is

just close some of these folders here

I've already got that up and running so

I can close elastic Beanstalk and so

once this finishes we can just do like a

slash health and expect to get back that

string that will be our verification all

right it'll take them I guess that's

gonna take a minute longer so let me

just stop this for now all right

deployment complete so now we can go

back to our application and check that

health check route let's pop open dev

tools just in case anything goes wrong

so we can kind of get some debugging

information here preserve log good

console

all right so actually since we created

this route in the musicians routes file

we have to do slash musicians slash

health you know I'd probably changed

this in a production app just to be

slash health but this is fine for now I

think that's right so let's try that no

it didn't like that for some reason hmm

a musician maybe it's

it's just musician not musicians maybe

cool status okay alright so as you can

see our code changes you know that's

just awesome like I just committed that

to github and it's already in production

so I didn't have to do take any further

action or anything like that

code pipeline just kicked in and worked

it's magic and our code is already alive

so great well you know obviously we're

just scratching the surface here with

what's possible with CI CD and AWS so I

think you know if there's any interest

in this video I'll probably follow up

with a couple of more where we'll

actually add like a build stage and

possibly some other kind of stages into

our pipeline make it a little bit more

robust and sophisticated so but for now

I think this is a good exercise to get

our feet wet here cool well if you guys

enjoyed this video and enjoy my content

in general please consider subscribing

to the channel that helps me out a lot

really appreciate we'd love to have you

and otherwise I will see you in the next

video alright guys take care

[Music]

you