CloudFormer

CloudFormer is a tool that lets you create CloudFormation templates looking at preexisting resources. If you have a set of resources that you have already created on an ad hoc basis, as we have done so far in the book, you can use CloudFormer to group them under a new CloudFormation template. You can then customize the template that CloudFormer generates later using a text editor or even CloudFormation Designer and make it fit your needs.

Unlike most AWS tools and services, CloudFormer isn't completely managed by AWS; it's a self-hosted tool that you can instantiate on demand using CloudFormation. To do so, follow the given steps:

1. Open https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudformation in your browser.
2. Select the AWS region where the resources you are trying to templatize are.
3. In the Select a sample template drop-down menu, choose CloudFormer and click on Next.
4. On that screen, at the top, you can provide a stack name (feel free to keep the default name AWSCloudFormer) and in the bottom part, you are asked to provide two extra parameters: a username and a password. Those will be used later to log in to CloudFormer. Pick a username and a password, and click on Next.

1. On the next screen, you can provide extra tags and more advanced options, but we will simply continue by clicking on Next.
2. This brings us to the review page where we will check the checkbox to acknowledge that this will cause AWS CloudFormation to create IAM resources. Click on Create.
3. This will bring us back on the main screen of the CloudFormation console where we can see our AWS CloudFormer stack being created. Once the Status goes from CREATE_IN_PROGRESS to CREATE_COMPLETE, select it and click on the Output tab at the bottom.

At that point, you have created the resources needed to use CloudFomer. In order to create a stack with it, do the following:

In the Outputs tab (which illustrates the outputs section of CloudFormation), click on the website URL link. This will open up the CloudFormer tool. Log in using the username and password provided in the fourth step of the previous set of instructions. The following screen will appear:

1. Follow the workflow proposed by the tool to select the different resources you want for your CloudFormation template as far as the last step.
2. In the end, you will be able to download the generated template or save it directly in S3.

The CloudFormation template generated by CloudFormer will usually need a bit of editing as you will often want to create a more flexible stack with input parameters and an outputs section.