Streamlining Deployment for Angular UI Project with AWS CDK
Project Overview:
The Angular UI project required an efficient deployment pipeline to manage both the application code and infrastructure across multiple AWS accounts. Challenges included:
- Complex Deployment Management: Managing deployments across multiple environments and AWS accounts was cumbersome and time-consuming.
- Multi-Account Environment Complexity: Bootstrapping new accounts and creating sandbox environments required manual intervention, leading to delays and inconsistencies.
- Developer Collaboration: Developers needed an easy and consistent way to deploy application and infrastructure code without deep knowledge of underlying AWS services.
Proposed Solution & Architecture:
Unified Technologies implemented a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CDK and TypeScript, tailored to deploy both the Angular application code and infrastructure components (e.g., S3 buckets, Lambda functions, CloudFront distributions). This solution included:
CI/CD Pipeline Flow Overview
Architecture:
- CI/CD Pipeline Creation:
- Tool: Bitbucket Pipelines and AWS CodeBuild
- Description: Unified Technologies set up pipelines in Bitbucket to manage the building and deployment of the Angular application. CodeBuild was used for the infrastructure deployment via AWS CDK.
- Infrastructure as Code with AWS CDK:
- Tool: AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit)
- Description: The use of AWS CDK allowed developers to define infrastructure in TypeScript, a language they were already familiar with. This enabled them to easily create and adjust resources like S3 buckets, Lambda functions, and CloudFront distributions directly within their codebase.
- Multi-Environment Management:
- Environment Flexibility: Developers could deploy code from any branch to any environment, making it easier to manage multiple AWS accounts and environments.
- Bootstrapping and Sandbox Creation: The pipeline automated the bootstrapping of new AWS accounts and facilitated the creation of sandbox environments, streamlining the process of setting up and managing multi-account architectures.
- Seamless Developer Workflow:
- Developer-Friendly Adjustments: Since the infrastructure was defined using AWS CDK in TypeScript, developers could easily adjust both application and infrastructure code, enhancing collaboration and reducing the learning curve.
Metrics for Success:
- Deployment Speed: Reduced deployment time by 60%, allowing developers to deploy code to any environment with minimal manual steps.
- Onboarding Efficiency: Enabled bootstrapping of new accounts and creation of sandbox environments in under 15 minutes, significantly improving the onboarding process for new environments.
- Developer Productivity: Enhanced developer productivity by 40%, as they could manage both application and infrastructure code within a familiar language (TypeScript).
- Reduced Errors: Minimized deployment errors by 80% through automated, consistent deployment processes using AWS CDK.
Lessons Learned:
- Unified Pipelines Simplify Complexity: Integrating application and infrastructure deployments into a single pipeline streamlined the deployment process and reduced operational overhead.
- Familiar Tools Enhance Developer Efficiency: Using AWS CDK with TypeScript, a language already known to the developers, made it easier for them to make necessary adjustments and manage infrastructure alongside application code.
- Automation is Key in Multi-Account Environments: Automating account bootstrapping and sandbox creation proved crucial for managing a scalable and flexible multi-account architecture.