What is AWS CDK(Cloud Development Kit)? Learn with a example.

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What is AWS CDK anyway?

AWS CDK is a high-level object-oriented abstraction that simplifies the process of defining cloud infrastructure in AWS. It allows developers to use familiar programming languages to define cloud infrastructure as code, which can then be easily deployed to AWS. AWS CDK supports a wide range of AWS services and makes it easy to create and manage complex infrastructure.

Why use AWS CDK?

AWS CDK provides several benefits for developers:

  1. Familiar programming languages: AWS CDK allows developers to use familiar programming languages like TypeScript, Python, and Java to define cloud infrastructure. This makes it easier for developers to learn and use AWS CDK.

  2. Code reuse: Developers can reuse code across different projects and AWS accounts, reducing the amount of code they need to write and maintain.

  3. Easy to maintain: AWS CDK automatically manages dependencies and keeps the infrastructure up-to-date, reducing the need for manual updates and maintenance.

  4. Quick deployment: AWS CDK automates the deployment process, making it quick and easy to deploy infrastructure changes.

In this tutorial we'll be doing a TypeScript demo to see it's application.

TypeScript: TypeScript is a popular programming language that provides static typing and object-oriented programming features on top of JavaScript. AWS CDK supports TypeScript, making it easy to define cloud infrastructure in a strongly-typed, object-oriented manner.

Let's take a look at an example of using AWS CDK with TypeScript to create a simple S3 bucket.

index.ts
import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import * as s3 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-s3';

export class MyStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.App, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new s3.Bucket(this, 'MyBucket', {
      versioned: true,
      encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.KMS_MANAGED,
      removalPolicy: cdk.RemovalPolicy.DESTROY
    });
  }
}

const app = new cdk.App();
new MyStack(app, 'MyStack');
  • This code defines an S3 bucket with versioning and KMS encryption. The cdk.App object represents the AWS CDK application, while cdk.Stack represents the stack that contains the infrastructure resources. The s3.Bucket object defines the S3 bucket and its properties.

  • AWS CDK uses the construct concept to represent cloud infrastructure components. Each construct is a reusable building block that represents an AWS resource or a set of resources. In the example above, we create a new instance of the s3.Bucket construct, passing in the cdk.Stack object as the first parameter, followed by the name of the bucket and its properties.

  • The removalPolicy property specifies what should happen to the bucket when the stack is deleted. In this case, the DESTROY policy will remove the bucket and all its contents when the stack is deleted.

Deploying with AWS CDK

Once we have defined our infrastructure using AWS CDK, we can deploy it to AWS with just a few commands.

cdk bootstrap
cdk deploy

The cdk bootstrap command sets up the AWS CDK environment in our AWS account, while cdk deploy deploys the infrastructure defined in our AWS CDK code.

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