What is AWS CI/CD with CodePipeline?
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This question targets practical, hands-on experience with AWS / Cloud Computing. Interviewers want to see if you've worked with these concepts in real projects, not just read about them. Strong answers include concrete examples.
Answer
AWS provides native CI/CD services as an integrated pipeline: AWS CodeCommit: private Git repositories — similar to GitHub but managed by AWS. Integrates natively with other AWS services. (Being deprecated — GitHub/GitLab recommended instead.) AWS CodeBuild: fully managed build service. Compiles code, runs tests, produces artifacts. Configured via buildspec.yml: define build phases (install, pre_build, build, post_build), environment variables, artifact paths. Scales automatically. Pay per build minute. Supports Docker builds (no Docker daemon needed in privileged mode). AWS CodeDeploy: automates application deployments to EC2, Lambda, ECS. Deployment configurations: In-place (rolling, rolling with additional batch, one at a time), Blue/Green. AppSpec file (appspec.yml) defines deployment hooks. Rollback on failure. AWS CodePipeline: orchestrates the end-to-end CI/CD pipeline. Stages: Source → Build → Test → Deploy. Triggers on code changes. Example pipeline: GitHub push → CodeBuild (test + build Docker image + push to ECR) → CodeDeploy (deploy to ECS) → Manual approval → Production deploy. GitHub Actions + AWS: many teams use GitHub Actions (or GitLab CI) with AWS CLI/CDK for a simpler, widely adopted approach. Integrations: CodePipeline → S3 (artifact store), ECR (container images), CloudFormation (infrastructure deploy), Elastic Beanstalk, Lambda, ECS. Notifications: CodeStar Notifications → SNS/Slack. Best practices: deploy to dev/staging first, automated tests at each stage, manual approval gates before production, rollback capability.
Pro Tip
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