AWS CodePipeline is a fully managed continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) service that automates the build, test, and deployment phases of your release process. It enables developers to model, visualize, and automate the steps required to release software efficiently and reliably.
…AWS CodePipeline is a fully managed continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) service that automates the build, test, and deployment phases of your release process. It enables developers to model, visualize, and automate the steps required to release software efficiently and reliably.
Key Features:
1. **Pipeline Structure**: A pipeline consists of stages (such as Source, Build, Test, and Deploy), and each stage contains actions. Actions represent tasks like pulling code from a repository or deploying to EC2 instances.
2. **Integration with AWS Services**: CodePipeline seamlessly integrates with AWS CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, Elastic Beanstalk, ECS, Lambda, and S3. It also supports third-party tools like GitHub, Jenkins, and Bitbucket.
3. **Source Stage**: This is where your pipeline begins. It monitors repositories for changes and triggers the pipeline when new commits are detected.
4. **Build Stage**: Typically uses AWS CodeBuild to compile source code, run tests, and produce deployment artifacts.
5. **Deploy Stage**: Uses services like CodeDeploy, Elastic Beanstalk, or ECS to push your application to target environments.
6. **Manual Approvals**: You can add manual approval actions between stages, requiring human intervention before proceeding to production deployments.
7. **Parallel and Sequential Actions**: Actions within a stage can run in parallel or sequentially, providing flexibility in workflow design.
8. **Artifacts**: CodePipeline uses S3 to store artifacts that pass between stages, ensuring consistency throughout the deployment process.
9. **Event-Driven**: Pipelines can be triggered by CloudWatch Events, webhooks, or manual starts.
10. **Security**: Integrates with IAM for fine-grained access control and supports encryption of artifacts at rest.
For the AWS Developer Associate exam, understand how to configure pipelines, troubleshoot failed stages, set up cross-region deployments, and integrate various AWS services within your CI/CD workflow. CodePipeline is essential for implementing DevOps practices on AWS.
AWS CodePipeline - Complete Guide for AWS Developer Associate Exam
What is AWS CodePipeline?
AWS CodePipeline is a fully managed continuous delivery (CD) service that helps you automate your release pipelines for fast and reliable application and infrastructure updates. It orchestrates the build, test, and deployment phases of your release process every time there is a code change, based on the release model you define.
Why is AWS CodePipeline Important?
CodePipeline is crucial for modern software development because it: - Automates the release process - eliminating manual steps and human error - Enables rapid delivery - code changes flow through the pipeline automatically - Ensures consistency - every release follows the same tested process - Integrates with AWS services - works seamlessly with CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and more - Supports third-party tools - GitHub, Jenkins, and other popular tools
How AWS CodePipeline Works
CodePipeline consists of the following key components:
1. Pipeline: A workflow that describes how software changes go through a release process
2. Stages: Logical units in the pipeline (e.g., Source, Build, Test, Deploy). Each stage contains one or more actions.
4. Artifacts: Files or changes worked upon by pipeline actions, stored in S3
5. Transitions: Links between stages that can be enabled or disabled
Key Features to Remember
- Parallel Actions: Actions within the same stage can run in parallel - Sequential Stages: Stages execute sequentially (one after another) - Manual Approvals: You can add manual approval actions for human verification before proceeding - Cross-Region Actions: Deploy to multiple AWS regions - Cross-Account Deployments: Deploy resources to different AWS accounts - Event-Driven: Pipelines can be triggered by CloudWatch Events or webhooks - Encryption: Artifacts are encrypted using AWS KMS
Common Integration Patterns
A typical pipeline flow: 1. Source Stage: CodeCommit detects a commit 2. Build Stage: CodeBuild compiles code and runs unit tests 3. Test Stage: Additional testing (integration, security) 4. Approval Stage: Manual approval for production 5. Deploy Stage: CodeDeploy deploys to EC2 or ECS
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on AWS CodePipeline
Tip 1: When asked about automating the entire CI/CD process, CodePipeline is the orchestration service that ties everything together.
Tip 2: Remember that CodePipeline orchestrates, it does not build or deploy - it calls other services like CodeBuild and CodeDeploy to perform those tasks.
Tip 3: For questions about manual approvals before production deployment, remember that CodePipeline supports manual approval actions.
Tip 4: If a question mentions running actions in parallel, this happens within a single stage. Stages themselves run sequentially.
Tip 5:Artifacts are stored in S3 - if asked where pipeline artifacts are kept, S3 is the answer.
Tip 6: For triggering pipelines, remember: CloudWatch Events (EventBridge), webhooks, or polling (not recommended).
Tip 7: When asked about stopping a deployment temporarily, you can disable transitions between stages.
Tip 8: CodePipeline integrates with CloudFormation for infrastructure as code deployments - look for this in questions about deploying infrastructure changes.
Tip 9: For cross-account deployments, remember that IAM roles and KMS key policies must be properly configured.
Tip 10: If a question asks about invoking custom logic during the pipeline, think Lambda invoke actions.