AWS Scaffolding in Backstage

[nizarajroud]

As a DevOps Engineer, I want to scaffold AWS resources within Backstage so that I can streamline infrastructure deployment and standardize AWS service creation across teams.

- Description:

Backstage users should be able to create AWS resources (ECS , EKS, serverless, GenIA, etc..) using pre-configured scaffolding templates directly from the Backstage interface. - Acceptance Criteria:

1. Scaffolding Templates: Templates for commonly used AWS services (ECS , EKS, serverless, GenIA, etc..) are available in the Backstage scaffolder. The scaffolding should follow best practices (e.g., using CloudFormation, Terraform, or AWS CDK

2. Customization: The user can customize key parameters like instance types, storage configurations, or permissions during scaffolding.

3. Deployment:

   • AWS resources should be provisioned automatically via a CI/CD pipeline.

4. Permissions & Security:

   • Users must have the appropriate AWS credentials and permissions to scaffold resources.
   • Use Github for authentication and versionning of scaffolder repositories.

5. Documentation & Support:

• Each template should include documentation explaining what the template does, required input fields, and potential costs associated with the AWS resources. => use techdocs plugin and cost insights
• There should be guidance on how to manage, update, or delete the scaffolded AWS resources after creation.

- Technical Requirements:

• Backstage Plugins: Leverage Backstage's scaffolder plugin to allow users to choose and configure AWS templates.

• Secrets Management: Use AWS Secrets Manager or Backstage’s secret management to handle credentials securely.

• Auditing and Logging: Ensure that each scaffolding operation is logged for auditing and debugging purposes.

- Value: By allowing AWS scaffolding within Backstage, teams can speed up the process of infrastructure creation and ensure best practices are followed,

[nizarajroud]

Task List

What has been achieved so far:

• [ ] Integration of dotenv workspaces/aws/.env.vault
• [ ] Consolidating all variables into a single file workspaces/aws/app-config.yaml
• [ ] Authentication via GitHub
• [ ] Registration of processors for the Aws environment and Aws environment provider components on the backend
• [ ] Registration and configuration of actions in the scaffolder workspaces/aws/packages/backend/src/extensions/scaffolderActions.ts
• [ ] Review of the structure of the existing plugins (namely the two plugins alithya-oss/plugin-catalog-backend-module-aws-apps-entities-processor and scaffolder-backend-module-aws-apps) to make them accessible from package.json
• [ ] Testing the entire scaffolder creation flow and registration of the entity (kind: Aws environment provider) "My-First-ECS-EC2-Env-repo" in the catalog

What remains to be done:

• [ ] Refer to alithya-oss instead of my own organization harmonix-generated-environments
• [ ] Instantiate the created template Aws environment provider to create a full ECS environment on my AWS account
• [ ] Generalize instantiation across all Harmonix templates
• [ ] Deploy the Harmonix Backstage integration in the landing zone
• [ ] Add technical documentation backstage.io/techdocs-ref in harmonix/backstage-reference/templates/aws-ecs-ec2-environment-provider/content/.backstage/catalog-info.yaml