AWS CodePipeline Concepts

External

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/concepts.html
• CreatePipeline API Request Reference

Internal

• AWS CodePipeline

CodePipeline as AWS Service

CodePipeline is an AWS service, named "codepipeline.amazonaws.com".

Pipeline

Pipeline Structure

A pipeline is a top-level AWS resource that provides CI/CD release pipeline functionality. It consist in a set of sequential stages, each stage containing one or more actions. A specific stage is always in a fixed position relative to other stages. However, actions within a stage can be executed sequentially, according their run order or in parallel. Stages and actions process artifacts, which "advance" along the pipeline. A pipeline can be created the following CloudFormation sequence:

Resources:
  Pipeline:
    Name: !Ref AWS::StackName
    Type: AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline
    Properties:
      RoleArn: 'arn:aws:iam::777777777777:role/CodePipelineServiceRole-1'
      ArtifactStore
        Type: 'S3'
        Location: 'experimental-s3-bucket-for-codepipeline'
      ...
  Stages:
    ...

An example of a simple GitHub-based pipeline is available here:

Simple GitHub - Simulated Shell Build - Simulated Deployment Pipeline

Required Configuration

The pipeline requires a number of configuration properties:

RoleArn

The pipeline needs to be associated with a service role, which allows the codepipeline service to execute various actions required by pipeline operations.

ArtifactStore

The pipeline requires an artifact store, which provides the storage for transient and final artifacts that are processed by the various stages and actions. In most cases, the storage is provided by an Amazon S3 bucket. "Location" specifies the name of the bucket. When the pipeline is initialized, the codepipeline service creates a directory associated with the pipeline. The directory will have the same name as the pipeline. As the pipeline operates, sub-directories corresponding to various input and output artifacts declared by actions will be also created.

Optional Configuration

Optionally, a name can also be configured with a name:

Name

Optional parameter, that provides the physical ID for the pipeline. If not specified, a name will be generated based on the stack-name-Pipeline-24RCYXM52UE6A pattern. A recommended name is:

Name: !Ref AWS::StackName

Stage

A pipeline must have at least 2 stages, one-stage pipeline will be considered invalid. A stage contains one or more actions, which could be executed sequentially or in parallel.

Action

ActionDeclaration

An action is a task performed on an artifact, and it is triggered at a specific stage of a pipeline. The action may occur in a specified order, or in parallel, depending on their configuration. All actions share a common structure:

Action Name

An action name must match the regular expression pattern: [A-Za-z0-9.@\-_]+ The action name must not contain spaces.

Action Type Declaration (ActionTypeId)

ActionTypeId

The action type declaration specifies an action provider. Currently, six types of actions are supported:

• Source
• Build
• Test
• Deploy
• Approval
• Invoke

Custom actions can also be developed.

Input Artifacts

InputArtifact

An action declares zero or more input artifacts. These are actually files to be processed by the action. As an implementation detail, the name of an input artifact corresponds to the name of a sub-directory of the pipeline directory maintained in the artifact store of the pipeline.

Output Artifacts

An action declares zero or more output artifacts. These are actually files produced by the action. As an implementation detail, the name of an output artifact corresponds to the name of a sub-directory of the pipeline directory maintained in the artifact store of the pipeline.

Configuration

Configuration elements are specific to the action provider and are passed to it.

Available Actions

Source

Source Action Integrations

Resources:
  MyPipeline:
    Type: AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline
    Properties:
      ...
      Stages:
        - Name: Source
          Actions:
          - Name: 'github-pull'
            ActionTypeId:
              Category: Source
              Owner: ThirdParty
              Version: '1'
              Provider: GitHub
            InputArtifacts: []
            OutputArtifacts:
            - Name: 'sources'
            Configuration:
              Owner: 'novaordis-llc'
              Repo: !Ref GitHubRepositoryName
              Branch: !Ref Branch
              OAuthToken: '*****'
            RunOrder: 1

The action provider, which can be GitHub or other source repository provider, performs a repository clone and packages the content as a ZIP file. The ZIP file is placed in the artifact store, under the directory corresponding to the pipeline and the sub-directory named based on the "OutputArtifacts.Name" configuration element.

GitHub Authentication

GitHub Authentication for AWS CodePipeline

Build

External

• Build Action Integration
• Add an AWS CodeBuild Build Action to a Pipeline
• Use CodePipeline with AWS CodeBuild to Test Code and Run Builds

CodeBuild can be added as a build action to the build stage of the pipeline. Existing build projects can be used, or new ones can be created in the CodePipeline console.

Resources:
  MyPipeline:
    Type: AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline
    Properties:
      ...
      Stages:
        ...
        - Name: Build
          Actions:
          - Name: !Sub 'CodeBuild build driven by ${Buildspec}'
            ActionTypeId:
              Category: Build
              Owner: AWS
              Version: '1'
              Provider: CodeBuild
            InputArtifacts:
              - Name: 'sources'
            OutputArtifacts:
              - Name: 'build-files'
            Configuration:
              ProjectName: !Ref CodeBuildProject
            RunOrder: 1

CodePipeline-Driven CodeBuild Builds

CodePipeline-Driven CodeBuild Builds

Deploy

Resources:
  MyPipeline:
    Type: AWS::CodePipeline::Pipeline
    Properties:
      ...
      Stages:
        ...
        - Name: Deploy
          Actions:
            - Name: Deploy
              ActionTypeId:
                Category: Deploy
                Owner: AWS
                Version: '1'
                Provider: CloudFormation
              InputArtifacts:
                - Name: ContainerSrc
                - Name: ContainerBuild
              Configuration:
                StackName: !Join ['-', [!Sub '${AWS::Region}', !Join ['-', !Split ['.', !Ref GitHubRepositoryName]], 'deploy']]
                ActionMode: CREATE_UPDATE
                Capabilities: CAPABILITY_IAM
                TemplatePath: !Sub ContainerSrc::${SvcTemplate}
                TemplateConfiguration: ContainerBuild::overrides.json
                ParameterOverrides: !Sub '{ "ECRRepository": "${ECRRepository}", "EnvironmentName": "${CFEnvironment}", "Image": "${AWS::AccountId}.dkr.ecr.${AWS::Region}.amazonaws.com/${ECRRepository}", "DeploymentStackName": "${DeploymentStackName}", "GitHubRepo": "${GitHubRepositoryName}" }'
                RoleArn:
                  Fn::ImportValue: !Sub '${AWS::Region}-CloudFormationDeploymentRole'
              OutputArtifacts: []
              RunOrder: 1

Notes to organize:

• The parameters specified in the "ParameterOverrides" must match with the sub-template parameters.
• If "override.json" is declared as "TemplateConfiguration" and the previous build task does not create the override.json file, the deployment stage will fail with an S3 error.