Cloudformation Templates
Cloudformation turns a template json or yaml into a stack like the following figure shows.
Cloudformation templates. You can create templates for the service or application architectures you want and have aws cloudformation use those templates for quick and reliable provisioning of the services or applications called stacks. What is an aws cloudformation template. When deciding which format to use pick the format that you re most comfortable working in. We support all aws cloudformation features and functions for both formats including in aws cloudformation designer.
You can apply updates to an existing stack with an updated template. The template is stored as a text file whose format complies with the javascript object notation json or yaml standard. Never make manual changes to infrastructure managed by cloudformation. The aws quick starts use aws cloudformation templates to automate software deployments such as a chef server or mongodb on aws.
Aws cloudformation simplifies provisioning and management on aws. A template is a declaration of the aws resources that make up a stack. You can author aws cloudformation templates in json or yaml formats. You can use aws cloudformation designer or any text editor to create and save templates.
To provision and configure your stack resources you must understand aws cloudformation templates which are formatted text files in json or yaml. You can also easily update or replicate the stacks as needed.