grilla99 / enimapod

A multi tier web application deployed on AWS using Terraform and CircleCI.

enimapod

Architecture Diagram

Purpose

• To improve our AWS knowledge and Terraform writing skills using modules
• Gain a broader insight into components of a cloud native web application, interacting with all sections to understand how components fit together.
• Improve architectural design skills and security considerations of apps in the cloud.

What was built

• Multi-tier web Application
• Front end technologies:
  • HTML, CSS, JS, Nginx
• API written using Java with Spring Boot
• Backend used MySQL Hosted in RDS
  • 3 tables consisting of a 1 to many and 1 to 1 relationship.
• Using Terraform for deployment of all necessary infrastructure.
• CircleCI pipeline that runs the TF build and building / deployment of docker containers automatically on merging to master.

Method

• Created an initial 3 sprints worth of tickets using Jira and assign them to the 2 team members
• Refined these tickets as we discovered more about the architecture and requirements
• Documenting development steps and build processes using a Confluence page for smoother testing and picking up others work as and where was necessary.
• Reviewing architecture diagram and tickets at each sprint and refinwing these as necessary.

Learning Takeaways

During the build of this project we've had the chance to try out many new technologies that we'd never used previously including:

• Spring Boot and Java
• Nginx
• Docker
• AWS: Secrets Manager, RDS, ECS, ECR, R53
• CircleCI

New Concepts:

• Build pipelines
• Automated testing with build pipelines
• Creating a cloud native app
• Database administration (Schema design, provisioning infrastructure)
• Terraform Modules to keep the primary main.tf clear and concise

Soft Skills:

• Develop approaches to learning new technologies
• Problem decomposition
  • Breaking down an unknown task of 'a cloud native web app' into reasonable logical steps and then executing it.
• Iterative Development Process
• Take charge of sprint planning and documenting processes using Confluence

Improvements for next time:

• Architectural Design
  • Put all ECS tasks inside of the private subnet and use an API gateway to route requests to this. NAT gateway would be required also for updates.
• Spend less time on problems before asking for help, whilst it allowed for a lot of learning it was sometimes to excessive detriment to development time.