Deploying a Full Stack AWS Architecture Using Terraform: Ensuring High Availability in AWS
Tags: terraform, architecture, aws, githubactions
Published: 2024-04-15 03:36:18

In this blog, we will learn how to deploy autoscaling group with an application load balancer,EFS, RDS, Route 53, ACM , WAF  and Cloudwatch  using step-by-step guides

- GIT Link: [https://github.com/ravindrasinghh/Zero-to-Hero-Deploying-a-Full-Stack-AWS-Architecture-Using-Terraform/tree/master]

we'll delve deeper into the benefits, provide troubleshooting advice, and share insights for an advanced HA setup on AWS.


## Overview of the Architecture
Our target architecture, designed for high availability, comprises various AWS services, each with a specific role in the stack:


**1. DNS Configuration with AWS Route 53**
Begin with setting up your DNS using AWS Route 53. It will direct traffic to your application, ensuring that the domain name is resolved to the right resources.

**2. Load Balancing with High Availability**
Implement the AWS ALB for distributing the traffic evenly across your EC2 instances. The ALB also checks the health of the instances and only routes traffic to the healthy ones.

**3. Securing the Transmission**
Utilize AWS Certificate Manager to handle the SSL/TLS certificates. This is crucial for encrypting data in transit and providing a secure channel for your users.

**4. Protecting Your Application**
Configure AWS WAF to protect your application from common web exploits that could affect availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources.

**5. Elasticity with Auto Scaling**
Use Auto Scaling to maintain application availability and allow the number of Amazon EC2 instances to scale up or down automatically according to conditions you define.

**6. Persistent Storage Across Instances**
Employ Amazon EFS, which provides a simple interface that allows your application to access shared file storage.

**7. Database with High Availability**
Set up Amazon RDS with a master and a replica in different Availability Zones to ensure that your database is highly available and resilient to infrastructure failures.

**8. Monitoring and Alerting**
With AWS CloudWatch, keep an eye on your application's performance and set up alerts for any anomalies that might indicate issues with availability.

**9. Streamlined Development Workflow**
Leverage a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions to enable your developers to integrate and deliver code changes more rapidly.

**10. Infrastructure as Code with Terraform**
Finally, use Terraform to script the creation of all these services in AWS. Terraform will allow you to deploy this entire architecture in a repeatable and predictable manner.



## Advanced Architecture Benefits
**Resiliency and Redundancy:** By distributing resources across multiple Availability Zones, you create a fault-tolerant system that mitigates the risk of a single point of failure.

**Scalability:** Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing respond dynamically to traffic fluctuations, maintaining performance during demand spikes without manual intervention.

**Security:** AWS WAF and AWS Shield provide advanced protection layers against DDoS attacks and unexpected traffic patterns.
Automation: Terraform’s infrastructure as code (IaC) approach allows for repeatable builds and simplifies the process of applying changes to the infrastructure with minimal human error.

## Troubleshooting Tips

**Health Checks:** Regularly monitor the health of EC2 instances via ALB health checks. Unhealthy instances should be investigated for issues like configuration errors, depleted resources, or failed deployments.

**Database Failovers:** RDS failover events can be triggered by instance or AZ failures. Always monitor your RDS dashboard for failover events and configure alarms to alert you immediately.

**Latency:** High latency can indicate misconfigured Auto Scaling or issues with your database. Tools like AWS X-Ray can help in tracing requests and diagnosing the bottlenecks.


If you prefer a video tutorial to help guide you through the setup of deploying a Full Stack AWS Architecture Using Terraform
{% youtube 4C1Kle5MIo8 %}