AWS DevOps — CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy

AWS DevOps — CI/CD on AWS

AWS provides a native set of DevOps tools that together form a complete CI/CD pipeline. They can also be combined with GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or any third-party tool.

In Azure terms: AWS DevOps tools ≈ Azure DevOps Pipelines (all-in-one)

The AWS DevOps Toolchain

Service	Role	Azure Equivalent
CodeCommit	Git repository hosting	Azure Repos
CodeBuild	Managed build service	Azure Pipelines (build stage)
CodeDeploy	Automated deployment to EC2, ECS, Lambda	Azure Pipelines (release stage)
CodePipeline	Orchestrates the full CI/CD workflow	Azure Pipelines (full pipeline)
CodeArtifact	Package repository (npm, Maven, NuGet, PyPI)	Azure Artifacts
CodeGuru	AI-powered code review and profiling	GitHub Copilot / Azure DevOps reviews
AWS CDK	Define infrastructure in code (TypeScript, Python…)	Bicep / ARM Templates
CloudFormation	Deploy infrastructure via YAML/JSON templates	ARM Templates

CodePipeline

CodePipeline is the pipeline orchestrator — it connects your source, build, test, and deploy stages:

Source (GitHub/CodeCommit)
    ↓
Build (CodeBuild)
    ↓
Test (CodeBuild or Lambda test runner)
    ↓
Deploy Staging (CodeDeploy / ECS)
    ↓ Manual Approval
Deploy Production (CodeDeploy / ECS)

Pipeline Stages and Actions

Stage	Example Actions
Source	CodeCommit, GitHub, Bitbucket, S3
Build	CodeBuild, Jenkins
Test	CodeBuild, AWS Device Farm
Deploy	CodeDeploy, ECS, Elastic Beanstalk, CloudFormation, S3
Invoke	Lambda function
Approval	Manual approval gate

CodeBuild

CodeBuild is a fully managed build service — no Jenkins servers to maintain. It compiles code, runs tests, and produces build artifacts.

buildspec.yml

Every CodeBuild project uses a buildspec.yml at the repo root:

version: 0.2

phases:
  install:
    runtime-versions:
      nodejs: 20
    commands:
      - npm install

  pre_build:
    commands:
      - echo "Running tests..."
      - npm test

  build:
    commands:
      - echo "Building application..."
      - npm run build
      - docker build -t my-app .
      - docker tag my-app:latest $ECR_URI:$CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION

  post_build:
    commands:
      - aws ecr get-login-password | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin $ECR_URI
      - docker push $ECR_URI:$CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION

artifacts:
  files:
    - imagedefinitions.json

Pre-built Environments

Runtime	Versions
Node.js	18, 20
Python	3.11, 3.12
Java	11, 17, 21
.NET	6, 8
Go	1.21
Ruby	3.2
Docker	Available in all environments

CodeDeploy

CodeDeploy automates application deployments to EC2, on-premises servers, Lambda, and ECS.

Deployment Strategies

Strategy	Description	Downtime
In-place	Update existing instances (stop, deploy, start)	Brief
Rolling	Update instances in batches	Minimal
Blue/Green	Shift traffic from old (blue) to new (green)	Zero
Canary	Route 10% traffic to new, then 100%	Zero
Linear	Gradually shift traffic over time	Zero

appspec.yml (for EC2)

version: 0.0
os: linux
files:
  - source: /
    destination: /var/www/html
hooks:
  BeforeInstall:
    - location: scripts/stop-server.sh
  AfterInstall:
    - location: scripts/start-server.sh
  ValidateService:
    - location: scripts/health-check.sh

GitHub Actions on AWS

Many teams use GitHub Actions as the CI/CD engine instead of AWS native tools. This is fully supported:

name: Deploy to AWS

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      id-token: write  # for OIDC
      contents: read

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Configure AWS credentials (OIDC — no stored secrets)
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/github-deploy-role
          aws-region: us-east-1

      - name: Login to ECR
        uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecr-login@v2

      - name: Build and push Docker image
        run: |
          docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:$GITHUB_SHA .
          docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:$GITHUB_SHA

      - name: Deploy to ECS
        uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-deploy-task-definition@v1
        with:
          task-definition: task-def.json
          service: my-service
          cluster: my-cluster

AWS DevOps vs Azure DevOps

Feature	AWS	Azure
Git repo	CodeCommit (or GitHub)	Azure Repos (or GitHub)
CI build	CodeBuild	Azure Pipelines build
CD deploy	CodeDeploy	Azure Pipelines release
Pipeline	CodePipeline	Azure Pipelines
Artifacts	CodeArtifact	Azure Artifacts
IaC	CloudFormation / CDK	ARM / Bicep / Terraform
Container registry	ECR	ACR
Secrets	Secrets Manager / SSM	Azure Key Vault