# Managing CloudFormation Stacks at Scale with cfn-compose ## Overview As infrastructure grows more complex, managing multiple CloudFormation Stacks becomes a challenge. Typically, actions such as creating, updating, or deleting stacks are performed on a single stack at a time. Inaddition deleting stacks in a development or testing environment can be cumbersome because we usually want to destroy the whole environment and to do that stacks must be deleted in the reverse order of creation. `cfn-compose` offers a solution to this problem by providing a way to manage multiple, related stacks using a declarative `yaml` language, making the process easier and more streamlined. For more details please go through the rest of the Readme. ![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1677805678366/8ed8429f-67b1-4ed8-9042-dd38b7a4d14b.png align="center") # cfn-compose(cfnc in short) A command-line tool for managing CloudFormation Stacks at scale. **Github Repo:** [https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose](https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose) ## Features * Create/Update/Delete multiple CloudFormation stacks in parallel or sequentially * Customize the CloudFormation stacks dependency using yaml config * Delete multiple CloudFormation stacks respecting the creation sequence * DryRun mode to plan the change * Generate/Validate/visualize configuration with ease * Supports Go Template for dynamic value substitution ## Limitations * Supports limited CFN attributes * No Retry Mechanism * No Configurable concurrency. One Go routine is spun for every flow. * One compose file can have maximum `50` flows and each flow can have up to `50 stacks`. This is by design, to limit stacks in a compose file. ## Installation Binary is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS (amd64 and arm64). Download the binary for your respective platform from the [releases page](https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose/releases). #### Using go cli ```shell go install github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose@latest ``` ## Usage ```shell ➜ cfnc --help Manage cloudformation stacks at scale. Design and deploy multiple cloudformation stacks either in sequence or in parallel using declarative configuration Usage: cfnc [command] Available Commands: completion Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell config Generate, validate and visualize the compose configuration deploy Deploys the stacks based on the sequence specified in the compose configuration destroy Destroys all the stacks in the reverse order of creation help Help about any command Flags: -c, --config string File path to compose file (default "cfn-compose.yml") -d, --dry-run Run commands in dry run mode -h, --help help for cfnc -l, --loglevel string Specify Log Levels. Valid Levels are: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR (default "INFO") -v, --version version for cfnc Use "cfnc [command] --help" for more information about a command. ``` #### Examples ```shell ## Deploy cfnc deploy ## Deploy in dry run mode cfnc deploy -d ## Destroy cfnc destroy ## Destroy in dry run mode cfnc destroy -d ## Generate Validate and Visualize compose configuration cfnc config generate cfnc config validate cfnc config visualize ``` ## Man | Command | Options | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | cfnc | \-h, --help, help | Get description of cfnc | | cfnc | \-d, --dry-run | enable dry run mode | | cfnc | \-l, --loglevel | Specify Log Levels. Valid Levels are: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR (default "INFO") | | cfnc | \-c, --config | File path to compose file (default "cfn-compose.yml") | | cfnc deploy | with no flag | deploys all the stacks | | cfnc deploy | \-f, --flow | Cherry pick specific flow to deploy | | cfnc destroy | with no flag | destroys all the stacks | | cfnc destroy | \-f, --flow | Cherry pick specific flow to destroy | | cfnc config generate | no flags | Generates compose template | | cfnc config validate | no flags | Validates the compose configuration | | cfnc config visualize | no flags | Visualize the stacks dependencies and creation order | | cfnc | \-v, --version | version for cfnc | ## Documentation **Sample Config File:** ```yaml Description: Sample CloudFormation Compose file Vars: Key1: Value1 Key2: Value2 Flows: Flow1: Order: 0 Description: Flow1 Description Stacks: - Stack1 - Stack2 Flow2: Order: 1 Description: Flow2 description Stacks: - Stack1 - Stack2 ``` A typical compose configuration contains: * Optional `Description` * Optional `Vars` section to define variables in `Key: Value` mapping. Only static variables are supported at the moment. eg: ```yaml Vars: ENV_TYPE: 'nonproduction' ENV_NAME: 'demo' AWS_PROFILE: 'demo' ``` * Mandatory `Flows:` section `Flow` is a collection of CloudFormation stacks that are deployed sequentially. `Flows` is the collection of flow which can be ordered using `Order` property. `Flows` can run in parallel or sequentially based on the Order property. * Optional `Order` can be any `unsigned` integer. Default `Order` is set to `0`. Flow with the lowest orders are deployed first. * Optional `Description` * Mandatory `Stacks` which is the collection of CFN stack. Below are the supported attributes of the stack object * mandatory `template_file` or `template_url` (only s3 url) * mandatory `stack_name` * optional `capabilities` * optional `parameters` * optional `tags` * optional `tags` **Sample:** ```yaml Description: Sample CloudFormation Compose file Vars: ENV_NAME: cfnc ENV_TYPE: nonproduction Flows: SecurityGroup: Order: 0 Description: Creates SecurityGroup Stacks: - template_file: stack_name: stack-name1 parameters: EnvironmentName: '{{ .ENV_NAME }}' EnvironmentType: '{{ .ENV_TYPE }}' tags: EnvironmentName: '{{ .ENV_NAME }}' EnvironmentType: '{{ .ENV_TYPE }}' EC2Instance: Order: 1 Description: Deploying EC2 Instance Stacks: - template_file: stack_name: stack-name2 parameters: EnvironmentName: '{{ .ENV_NAME }}' EnvironmentType: '{{ .ENV_TYPE }}' tags: EnvironmentName: '{{ .ENV_NAME }}' EnvironmentType: '{{ .ENV_TYPE }}' ``` Please consult examples for quick start [ec2-sg example](examples/ec2-sqs/Readme.md) and [demo ec2-sqs-rds example](examples/demo/Readme.md) ## Contributors ![](https://contrib.rocks/image?repo=rbalman/cfn-compose align="left") There exists ample opportunity for enhancement and you are welcome to make a valuable contribution. If you have any concerns, recommendations, ideas feel free to [create issues](https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose/issues) or [create PR](https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose/pulls). [Details Example](https://github.com/rbalman/cfn-compose/tree/main/examples/demo)