InfraScale

This project deploys a scalable web application infrastructure on AWS using Terraform. It includes key AWS services and uses LocalStack for local testing to avoid AWS costs during development. A GitHub Actions pipeline automates deployment to dev, staging, and prod environments.

Project Overview

The project sets up:

• VPC: Custom network with public and private subnets.
• EC2 Instances: Run NGINX web servers (using Docker NGINX image).
• Application Load Balancer (ALB): Distributes traffic to EC2 instances.
• Auto Scaling Group: Scales EC2 instances based on CPU utilization.
• SQS: Queues messages for asynchronous processing.
• Lambda: Processes SQS messages, e.g., writing to DynamoDB.
• DynamoDB: Stores data processed by Lambda.
• SNS: Sends notifications for scaling events or errors.
• IAM Roles/Policies: Secures service access.

AWS Services Covered

This project covers DVA-C02 exam topics, including:

• EC2, ALB, Auto Scaling
• SQS, Lambda, DynamoDB, SNS
• IAM, VPC
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
• CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Prerequisites

• Terraform (>= 1.5.0)
• AWS CLI (>= 2.0)
• LocalStack (for local testing)
• awslocal (Wrapper around AWS CLI for local testing with LocalStack)
• Docker (for LocalStack and NGINX)
• Node.js (for Lambda function packaging)
• GitHub Account (for CI/CD pipeline)
• AWS Account (for staging/prod deployment)

Setup Instructions

1. Install Dependencies

2. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/MartinLupa/infrascale.git
cd infrascale

3. Project Structure

infrascale/
├── terraform/
│   ├── main.tf           # Core infrastructure
│   ├── variables.tf      # Environment variables
│   ├── outputs.tf        # Output values
│   ├── dev.tfvars        # Dev environment config
│   ├── staging.tfvars    # Staging environment config
│   ├── prod.tfvars       # Prod environment config
├── lambda/
│   ├── index.js          # Lambda function code
├── .github/
│   ├── workflows/
│   │   ├── deploy.yml    # GitHub Actions pipeline
├── README.md

4. Configure LocalStack

Ensure LocalStack is running:

localstack status

Set environment variables for Terraform to use LocalStack:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=test
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=test
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
export TF_VAR_localstack_enabled=true

5. Initialize Terraform

cd terraform
terraform init

6. Deploy Locally with LocalStack

terraform apply -var-file=dev.tfvars

Access the NGINX web server at http://localhost:4566 (LocalStack endpoint).

7. Deploy to AWS

Update dev.tfvars, staging.tfvars, or prod.tfvars with your AWS account details. Disable LocalStack:

export TF_VAR_localstack_enabled=false

Apply for a specific environment:

terraform apply -var-file=staging.tfvars

8. GitHub Actions Pipeline

The pipeline (deploy.yml) automates deployment to dev, staging, and prod based on branch pushes:

• dev: dev branch
• staging: staging branch
• prod: main branch

Setup:

1. Add AWS credentials to GitHub Secrets:
   • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
   • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
2. Push changes to trigger the pipeline:

   git push origin dev

Pipeline Snippet:

name: Deploy Infrastructure
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - dev
      - staging
      - main
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v2
      - run: terraform init
      - run: terraform apply -var-file=${{ github.ref_name }}.tfvars -auto-approve
        env:
          AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

9. Testing

• LocalStack: Check NGINX at http://localhost:4566.
• AWS: Get ALB DNS from Terraform outputs:

  terraform output alb_dns_name

• SQS/Lambda: Send a message to SQS and verify Lambda updates DynamoDB.

10. Cleanup

Destroy resources to avoid AWS charges:

terraform destroy -var-file=dev.tfvars

Example Terraform Code

main.tf (simplified):

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
  endpoints {
    ec2 = var.localstack_enabled ? "http://localhost:4566" : null
  }
}

resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block = "10.0.0.0/16"
}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-12345678" # Update with valid AMI
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  user_data     = <<-EOF
                  #!/bin/bash
                  docker run -d -p 80:80 nginx
                  EOF
}

Notes

• Replace placeholder AMIs and configurations in .tfvars files.
• Ensure LocalStack is running for local testing.
• Monitor AWS costs for staging/prod environments.
• Refer to DVA-C02 Exam Guide for additional topics.

For issues, open a GitHub issue or check Terraform AWS Provider Docs.