Automating application installation with AWS OpsWorks

Installing an application using AWS OpsWorks is simple -- just follow these four basic steps.

How do I install an application using AWS OpsWorks?

OpsWorks is an application deployment tool from Amazon Web Services that allows developers to automate and manage an application installation -- from creation through load balancing. This tool is free of charge; subscribers only pay for the computer, storage and other billable resources they use.

As with other AWS resources, you can run OpsWorks through either the AWS Management Console, a command-line interface or through an application using an SDK. The process for installing an application through OpsWorks includes four steps: creating a stack, defining layers of the stack, assigning instances to each layer and then deploying your applications.

  1. Creating a stack in the AWS console is straightforward. The wizard-like interface allows you to specify typical deployment information, such as the region to deploy your instances, the availability zone, an Identity Management role and a default SSH key.
  2. To create a layer, the management console prompts you to select a layer type (e.g., PHP or MySQL) and a load balancer specification.
  3. Once you have defined the layer, you are prompted to add and configure an instance for that layer. You can specify the instance size and a hostname when adding instances to layers. Starting instances can take a few minutes, but the console will update with status information as the instance moves through several states, including requested, pending, booting, running_setup, and online.
  4. Now you can deploy your application. OpsWorks runs deployment scripts to download your code and run startup commands. The AWS console prompts for configuration parameters, such as the name of your application, application type, repository type and a URL.

As stacks become more complex, there are additional application installation steps. If you're deploying a MySQL database, for example, you'll need to specify information about the database connection, such as a username, password and hostname.

About the author:

This was first published in April 2014

Dig deeper on AWS tools for development




Have a question for an expert?

Please add a title for your question

Get answers from a TechTarget expert on whatever's puzzling you.

You will be able to add details on the next page.



Forgot Password?


Your password has been sent to: