Skip to content

Top 5 reasons to use the AWS CloudFormation Custom Resource Provider

Thomas Bouron

I think one of the most interesting announcements from re:Invent was the Custom Resource Provider for AWS CloudFormation because it lets you: 

  1. Unify infrastructure-as-code

    Nowadays, a number of systems exist to automate provisioning and management of IT resources: AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Ansible, Chef/Puppet, etc. By using the AWS Custom Resource Provider to create bridges between all of these systems and AWS CloudFormation this brings everything into a unified view  that you can easily reference and manage. 

  2. Manage on-prem resources
    Chances are, your on-prem resources have an API to manage them, i.e. start/restart, order a new machine, etc. Creating an AWS Custom Resource Provider will help you bridge the gap between your Cloud and on-prem resources, to manage all in one place. 

  3. Manage SaaS resources the same way you manage AWS resources

     SalesForce, GitHub, Cloudbees — as long as an API is available, a Custom Resource Provider can be created to manage anything through CloudFormation. 

  4. Upgrade your CMDB
    Custom Resource Provider can use AWS Config to record their activity, giving a powerful, scalable, modern CMDB hosted by AWS.

  5. Compliance with AWS Config Rules

    Once you're using AWS Config with your Custom Resource Provider, you can define AWS Config Rules for anything they manage. No longer do you need to have compliance split across many different environments: compliance rules can be enforced in one place, across all your environments.

It’s not difficult to write a Customer Resource Provider: AWS makes it easy with development kits for a range of environments with helpful "getting started" examples.

Of course, if you want help developing them, or defining a resource provider strategy, there are many AWS partners who can help.

Cloudsoft are an Advanced AWS Consulting Partner and authors of the Visual Composer for CloudFormation. We are intimately familiar with the bleeding-edge of custom resource building and the complexities of large, hybrid and legacy customer estates.

Want to learn more about Integration-as-a-Service?

Learn more

 

Related Posts