Title An Introduction to AWS CDK (and why you should be using it!)

Infrastructure as Code on AWS
AWS CDK, or Cloud Development Kit, is a new offering from AWS that helps you manage your AWS infrastructure. In this video, I talk about what CDK is, its precursor technology, and why its such an incredible piece of technology. Finally, I walk you through how to get started by installing CDK and creating a S3 bucket.

The AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) is an open-source software development framework to define cloud infrastructure in code and provision it through AWS CloudFormation. It enables developers to define cloud resources using familiar programming languages like TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, and more, rather than writing CloudFormation templates directly.

CDK provides a higher-level abstraction over CloudFormation, making it easier to create and manage AWS resources. With CDK, you define a cloud application using classes and objects in your chosen programming language. These constructs map to AWS resources like Amazon S3 buckets, Amazon DynamoDB tables, AWS Lambda functions, Amazon EC2 instances, etc.

CDK Getting Started Guide - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/v2/guide/getting_started.html

Key features of the AWS CDK include:

Familiar programming languages: You can use languages you're already familiar with to define your infrastructure, which can make it more readable, maintainable, and easier to work with than raw CloudFormation templates.

Abstraction with constructs: CDK uses constructs to represent AWS resources. These constructs are reusable building blocks that encapsulate the configuration and behavior of resources. AWS maintains an extensive library of official and community-contributed constructs.

Automatic generation of CloudFormation: When you define your infrastructure using CDK constructs, the CDK toolkit automatically generates CloudFormation templates based on your code. This allows you to leverage the full power of CloudFormation while writing in a higher-level language.

Integrated development experience: The CDK toolkit includes tools like cdk init, cdk synth, and cdk deploy that streamline the process of developing, testing, and deploying your infrastructure.

Cross-stack referencing: CDK supports creating stacks that reference resources from other stacks, enabling modular and manageable application architectures.

Custom constructs: You can create your own custom constructs to encapsulate best practices, reusable components, and organizational policies.

To get started with AWS CDK, you typically need to:

Install the CDK CLI: You can install the CDK CLI using npm (Node Package Manager) if you're using JavaScript/TypeScript, or pip (Python Package Installer) if you're using Python.

Create a CDK application: Use the CDK CLI to create a new CDK application in your chosen programming language.

Define your infrastructure: Write code using CDK constructs to define the AWS resources you need.

Synthesize and deploy: Use the CDK CLI to synthesize CloudFormation templates from your code and deploy them to AWS.

Keep in mind that while AWS CDK can make working with infrastructure more convenient, it's still important to understand the underlying AWS services and best practices for architecture and security.

SKILLS YOU WILL GAIN

AWS Cloud Development Kit ( CDK )
Ability to create your own CDK constructs and understand the concepts behind them.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Understand AWS Cloud Development Kit ( CDK )
Understand AWS CDK core concepts such as Constructs, Stacks and Apps

#AWS
#CDK
#InfrastructureAsCode