To get started with AWS CloudFormation, you first need to have a foundational understanding of the services you intend to deploy. This blog aims at introducing you to the world of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) where we'll delve into managing cloud resources by simply writing code.

AWS CloudFormation is an indispensable tool to have in your arsenal as a cloud professional and by the end, we will explore foundational concepts, tools, and resources necessary to harness the power of CloudFormation effectively.

Prerequisites

As I stated earlier, there are a few prerequisites you'll need to fulfill before you start writing Infrastructure as Code:

Familiarity with AWS Services: You will need to understand how certain services work. Grasping various configurations applied on the services you intend to work with will help you design robust and efficient infrastructure configurations.

YAML or JSON Proficiency: You will need to format your CloudFormation templates using either YAML or JSON. I personally use YAML because it is more human-readable but familiarizing with the two formats is essential.

Resource and Property Reference: The Template and Property References act as a set of guidelines and definitions for anyone creating CloudFormation templates. The references provide detailed information about each AWS resource type and its properties.

Fundamental concepts: You will need to familiarize yourself with the basic CloudFormation concepts/sub-sections such as Resources, Metadata, Outputs, Parameters, Conditions. These building blocks will lay the groundwork for building complex infrastructure configurations.

I will delve deeper into these prerequisites in subsequent blogposts, equipping you with the knowledge necessary to start you off on your CloudFormation journey.