Amazon Web Services in Action

Chapter 4. Programming your infrastructure: the command line, SDKs, and CloudFormation

This chapter covers

• Understanding the idea of infrastructure as code
• Using the CLI to start a virtual server
• Using the JavaScript SDK for Node.js to start a virtual server
• Using CloudFormation to start a virtual server

Imagine that you want to create room lighting as a service. To switch off the light in a room with software, you need a hardware device like a relay that can break the circuit. This hardware device must have some kind of interface that lets you send it commands like on and off via software. With a relay and an interface, you can offer room lighting as a service. This also applies to virtual server as a service. If you want to start a ...