Automating AWS Infrastructure and CI/CD with Terraform and GitHub Actions

We dive into the world of infrastructure automation and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) using Terraform and GitHub Actions. This post will guide you through the process of setting up IAM rules in AWS with Terraform and building and deploying Docker images to AWS using GitHub Actions.

Using Terraform for AWS IAM Rules

What is Terraform?

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that enables you to manage and provision resources on cloud platforms like AWS. It uses a declarative configuration language to describe your cloud resources’ desired state.

Managing AWS IAM with Terraform

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) controls who is authenticated and authorized to use resources. Terraform allows you to write scripts (.tf files) that define your AWS infrastructure, including IAM rules. These scripts are crucial for ensuring that your resources are managed securely and efficiently.

The Process

# Example Terraform Script for IAM
provider "aws" {
  region = "us-west-2"
}

resource "aws_iam_role" "example" {
  name = "example_role"

  assume_role_policy = <<EOF
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": "ec2.amazonaws.com"
      }
    }
  ]
}
EOF
}

The above is a basic example of how you can define an IAM role using Terraform.

Using GitHub Actions for CI/CD

Introduction to GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is a CI/CD platform that allows you to automate your build, test, and deployment pipelines within your GitHub repository.

Building and Deploying with GitHub Actions

You can define a workflow in a .github/workflows YAML file. This workflow automates the process of building a Docker image of your application and pushing it to AWS.

Workflow Example

name: Deploy to AWS

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Build Docker image
      run: docker build -t my-application .

    - name: Push to AWS ECR
      run: |
        aws ecr get-login-password --region us-west-2 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin <account_id>.dkr.ecr.us-west-2.amazonaws.com
        docker tag my-application:latest <account_id>.dkr.ecr.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-application:latest
        docker push <account_id>.dkr.ecr.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-application:latest

This YAML script is an example of how you can define a GitHub Action to build and push a Docker image to AWS.

Integrating Terraform and GitHub Actions

Integrating Terraform with GitHub Actions ensures that any changes to your infrastructure as code, such as updating IAM rules, are automatically applied in AWS. Similarly, changes to your application codebase can trigger automated deployments, keeping your application up-to-date in AWS.