Introduction
Automation is a best practice when it comes to designing architectures in the cloud. Automation allows common tasks to be repeated faster than doing them manually. These tasks can be simple and routine, such as installing the latest security patches on an EC2 instance running Linux. Or they can be complex, perhaps creating an entirely new and pristine AWS environment containing dozens of EC2 instances running a multitier, database-backed web application behind an application load balancer.
Whatever the task, whether simple or complex, automation confers several benefits, including the following:
- Rapid testing and experimentation
- Reducing expenses
- Minimizing human error
- Rolling back changes safely and completely
Some have a misconception of automation as replacing a human with a machine. But the truth is that automation requires a tremendous amount of human intelligence and ongoing effort. Ultimately, automation is about increasing the capacity of the people doing the work...
