AWS CodeDeploy deployment types

Overview of CodeDeploy deployment types

CodeDeploy provides two deployment type options:

  • In-place deployment: The application on each instance in the deployment group is stopped, the latest application revision is installed, and the new version of the application is started and validated. You can use a load balancer so that each instance is deregistered during its deployment and then restored to service after the deployment is complete. Only deployments that use the EC2/On-Premises compute platform can use in-place deployments. 

    Note

    AWS Lambda and Amazon ECS deployments cannot use an in-place deployment type.

  • Blue/green deployment: The behavior of your deployment depends on which compute platform you use:

    • Blue/green on an EC2/On-Premises compute platform: The instances in a deployment group (the original environment) are replaced by a different set of instances (the replacement environment) using these steps:

      • Instances are provisioned for the replacement environment.

      • The latest application revision is installed on the replacement instances.

      • An optional wait time occurs for activities such as application testing and system verification.

      • Instances in the replacement environment are registered with one or more Elastic Load Balancing load balancers, causing traffic to be rerouted to them. Instances in the original environment are deregistered and can be terminated or kept running for other uses.

      Note

      If you use an EC2/On-Premises compute platform, be aware that blue/green deployments work with Amazon EC2 instances only.

    • Blue/green on an AWS Lambda or Amazon ECS compute platform: Traffic is shifted in increments according to a canarylinear, or all-at-once deployment configuration.

    • Blue/green deployments through AWS CloudFormation: Traffic is shifted from your current resources to your updated resources as part of an AWS CloudFormation stack update. Currently, only ECS blue/green deployments are supported.


Note

Using the CodeDeploy agent, you can perform a deployment on an instance you are signed in to without the need for an application, deployment group, or even an AWS account. 

Overview of an in-place deployment

Note

AWS Lambda and Amazon ECS deployments cannot use an in-place deployment type.

Here's how an in-place deployment works:

  1. First, you create deployable content on your local development machine or similar environment, and then you add an application specification file (AppSpec file). The AppSpec file is unique to CodeDeploy. It defines the deployment actions you want CodeDeploy to execute. You bundle your deployable content and the AppSpec file into an archive file, and then upload it to an Amazon S3 bucket or a GitHub repository. This archive file is called an application revision (or simply a revision).

  2. Next, you provide CodeDeploy with information about your deployment, such as which Amazon S3 bucket or GitHub repository to pull the revision from and to which set of Amazon EC2 instances to deploy its contents. CodeDeploy calls a set of Amazon EC2 instances a deployment group. A deployment group contains individually tagged Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon EC2 instances in Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups, or both.

    Each time you successfully upload a new application revision that you want to deploy to the deployment group, that bundle is set as the target revision for the deployment group. In other words, the application revision that is currently targeted for deployment is the target revision. This is also the revision that is pulled for automatic deployments.

  3. Next, the CodeDeploy agent on each instance polls CodeDeploy to determine what and when to pull from the specified Amazon S3 bucket or GitHub repository.

  4. Finally, the CodeDeploy agent on each instance pulls the target revision from the Amazon S3 bucket or GitHub repository and, using the instructions in the AppSpec file, deploys the contents to the instance.

CodeDeploy keeps a record of your deployments so that you can get deployment status, deployment configuration parameters, instance health, and so on.

Overview of a blue/green deployment

A blue/green deployment is used to update your applications while minimizing interruptions caused by the changes of a new application version. CodeDeploy provisions your new application version alongside the old version before rerouting your production traffic.

  • AWS Lambda: Traffic is shifted from one version of a Lambda function to a new version of the same Lambda function.

  • Amazon ECS: Traffic is shifted from a task set in your Amazon ECS service to an updated, replacement task set in the same Amazon ECS service.

  • EC2/On-Premises: Traffic is shifted from one set of instances in the original environment to a replacement set of instances.

All AWS Lambda and Amazon ECS deployments are blue/green. An EC2/On-Premises deployment can be in-place or blue/green. A blue/green deployment offers a number of advantages over an in-place deployment:

  • You can install and test an application in the new replacement environment and deploy it to production simply by rerouting traffic.

  • If you're using the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, switching back to the most recent version of an application is faster and more reliable. That's because traffic can be routed back to the original instances as long as they have not been terminated. With an in-place deployment, versions must be rolled back by redeploying the previous version of the application.

  • If you're using the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, new instances are provisioned for a blue/green deployment and reflect the most up-to-date server configurations. This helps you avoid the types of problems that sometimes occur on long-running instances.

  • If you're using the AWS Lambda compute platform, you control how traffic is shifted from your original AWS Lambda function version to your new AWS Lambda function version.

  • If you're using the Amazon ECS compute platform, you control how traffic is shifted from your original task set to your new task set.

A blue/green deployment with AWS CloudFormation can use one of the following methods:

  • AWS CloudFormation templates for deployments: When you configure deployments with AWS CloudFormation templates, your deployments are triggered by AWS CloudFormation updates. When you change a resource and upload a template change, a stack update in AWS CloudFormation initiates the new deployment. 

  • Blue/green deployments through AWS CloudFormation: You can use AWS CloudFormation to manage your blue/green deployments through stack updates. You define both your blue and green resources, in addition to specifying the traffic routing and stabilization settings, within the stack template. Then, if you update selected resources during a stack update, AWS CloudFormation generates all the necessary green resources, shifts the traffic based on the specified traffic routing parameters, and deletes the blue resources. 

    Note

    Supported for Amazon ECS blue/green deployments only.

How you configure a blue/green deployment depends on which compute platform your deployment is using.

Blue/Green deployment on an AWS Lambda or Amazon ECS compute platform

If you're using the AWS Lambda or Amazon ECS compute platform, you must indicate how traffic is shifted from the original AWS Lambda function or Amazon ECS task set to the new function or task set. To indicate how traffic is shifted, you must specify one of the following deployment configurations:

  • canary

  • linear

  • all-at-once

Blue/Green deployment on an EC2/on-premises compute platform

Note

You must use Amazon EC2 instances for blue/green deployments on the EC2/On-Premises compute platform. On-premises instances are not supported for the blue/green deployment type.

If you're using the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, the following applies:

You must have one or more Amazon EC2 instances with identifying Amazon EC2 tags or an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group. The instances must meet these additional requirements:

  • Each Amazon EC2 instance must have the correct IAM instance profile attached.

  • The CodeDeploy agent must be installed and running on each instance.

Note

You typically also have an application revision running on the instances in your original environment, but this is not a requirement for a blue/green deployment.

When you create a deployment group that is used in blue/green deployments, you can choose how your replacement environment is specified:

Copy an existing Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group: During the blue/green deployment, CodeDeploy creates the instances for your replacement environment during the deployment. With this option, CodeDeploy uses the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group you specify as a template for the replacement environment, including the same number of running instances and many other configuration options.

Choose instances manually: You can specify the instances to be counted as your replacement using Amazon EC2 instance tags, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group names, or both. If you choose this option, you do not need to specify the instances for the replacement environment until you create a deployment.

Here's how it works:

  1. You already have instances or an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group that serves as your original environment. The first time you run a blue/green deployment, you typically use instances that were already used in an in-place deployment.

  2. In an existing CodeDeploy application, you create a blue/green deployment group where, in addition to the options required for an in-place deployment, you specify the following:

    • The load balancer or load balancers that route traffic from your original environment to your replacement environment during the blue/green deployment process.

    • Whether to reroute traffic to the replacement environment immediately or wait for you to reroute it manually.

    • The rate at which traffic is routed to the replacement instances.

    • Whether the instances that are replaced are terminated or kept running.

  3. You create a deployment for this deployment group during which the following occur:

    1. If you chose to copy an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group, instances are provisioned for your replacement environment.

    2. The application revision you specify for the deployment is installed on the replacement instances.

    3. If you specified a wait time in the deployment group settings, the deployment is paused. This is the time when you can run tests and verifications in your replacement environment. If you don't manually reroute the traffic before the end of the wait period, the deployment is stopped.

    4. Instances in the replacement environment are registered with an Elastic Load Balancing load balancer and traffic starts being routed to them.

    5. Instances in the original environment are deregistered and handled according to your specification in the deployment group, either terminated or kept running.

Blue/Green deployment through AWS CloudFormation

You can manage CodeDeploy blue/green deployments by modeling your resources with an AWS CloudFormation template.

When you model your blue/green resources using an AWS CloudFormation template, you create a stack update in AWS CloudFormation that updates your task set. Production traffic shifts from your service's original task set to a replacement task set either all at once, with linear deployments and bake times, or with canary deployments. The stack update initiates a deployment in CodeDeploy. You can view the deployment status and history in CodeDeploy, but you do not otherwise create or manage CodeDeploy resources outside of the AWS CloudFormation template.

Note

For blue/green deployments through AWS CloudFormation, you don't create a CodeDeploy application or deployment group.

This method supports Amazon ECS blue/green deployments only.

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