Convert an existing application AWS stack over to CloudFormation

Question

I have a web site hosted in AWS that makes use of a number of AWS services. The environment was created manually using a combination of the web console and the AWS CLI. I'd like to start managing it using CloudFormation. I've used the CouldFormer tool to create a template of the stack but I can't find a way to use it to manage the existing environment. It will allow me to create a duplicate environment without too many problems but I don't really want to delete the entire production environment so I can recreate it using CloudFormation.

Is there a way to create a template of an existing environment and start updating it with CloudFormation?

Answer 1

@Sailor is right... unfortunately, I can't quote a credible source either - it's just a combination of working with Cloud Formation for an extended period of time and knowing enough about it. (Maybe I'm the credible source)

But what you could do is use your Cloud Former stack, and roll your existing production infrastructure into it.

For example, if you've got some EC2 images and a scaling group - roll that out, and then start terminating the others. How you'd do it would depend on your environment, but if it's architected for the cloud, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Answer 2

Currently there is not way to do that.