Transitioning from AWS CodeCommit or Amazon S3 to External Configuration Repositories for Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS

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Organizations utilizing the Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS (LZA) often encounter difficulties in managing and versioning their configuration files. In this article, we will discuss how to leverage GitHub as a repository for configuration files related to the Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS, facilitating improved version control, collaboration, and automation for your LZA deployments.

You might wonder how the integration of GitHub with the LZA solution functions. GitHub acts as a centralized repository for the storage and management of LZA configuration files. This integration enables teams to harness Git’s version-control capabilities, allowing them to track changes, collaborate on configurations, and maintain a comprehensive history of modifications to their LZA setup.

The GitHub repository serves as the definitive source for LZA configurations, which can be deployed to your AWS environment during the setup or update processes.

Advantages of Using GitHub for LZA Configurations

Utilizing GitHub for LZA configurations offers several advantages:

• Version Control – Monitor changes and maintain a history of configuration updates.
• Collaboration – Enable team members to review and contribute to LZA configurations.
• Automation – Integrate with CI/CD pipelines for automated LZA deployments.
• Backup and Recovery – Easily restore previous configurations if necessary.
• Auditing – Maintain a clear record of who made changes and when.

Prerequisites

Before employing GitHub as your configuration repository for LZA, ensure you possess the following:

• An active AWS account with the necessary permissions to deploy and manage LZA.
• Existing LZA configuration files stored in either an Amazon S3 bucket or an AWS CodeCommit repository.
• A GitHub account that allows you to create and manage repositories.
• The Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS solution deployed in your AWS environment.
• AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) installed and configured on your local machine.
• A basic understanding of Git and GitHub operations.
• Knowledge of your organization’s security and compliance requirements for managing configuration files.

Solution Overview

The LZA solution enables organizations to swiftly establish a secure, multi-account AWS environment based on AWS best practices. It provides a framework for implementing governance, security, and compliance controls across your AWS accounts. However, as your environment expands, managing LZA configuration files can become increasingly complex.

Our approach utilizes GitHub as a centralized repository for LZA configuration files. By integrating GitHub with LZA, you can create a streamlined workflow that combines the power of Git version control with the flexibility of LZA. This integration allows teams to store their LZA configurations in a GitHub repository, monitor changes over time, collaborate on configurations, and automate the deployment process.

The solution comprises three primary components:

• The GitHub repository containing LZA configuration files.
• The LZA deployment pipeline.
• The AWS CodePipeline linking the two.

When changes are pushed to the GitHub repository, CodePipeline can automatically initiate a new LZA deployment, ensuring that your AWS environment consistently reflects the latest approved configurations.

Steps to Create a GitHub Repository for LZA Configuration Files

To transition to GitHub for managing your LZA configuration files, follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a new private GitHub repository

• Sign in to your GitHub account and navigate to the Repositories section.
• Click the New button to initiate the creation of a new repository.
• Select a descriptive name for your repository, for example, landing-zone-accelerator-config.
• Choose Private for the repository visibility.
• Optionally, initialize the repository with a README file.
• Click Create repository to finalize the process.
• Pull the repository contents to your local machine by executing git pull.

Step 2: Export existing configurations from the Amazon S3 bucket or AWS CodeCommit repository

To export from Amazon S3:

1. Log into the AWS Management Console and navigate to the Amazon S3 service.
2. Find the S3 bucket containing the Landing Zone Accelerator configuration.
3. Download the contents of the bucket as a .zip file.

To export from CodeCommit:

1. Log into the AWS Management Console and access the AWS CodeCommit service.
2. Locate the CodeCommit repository containing the LZA configuration.
3. Follow the steps described in Connect to an AWS CodeCommit repository.

Step 3: Import the configuration into the new GitHub repository

• Unzip the contents you downloaded from Amazon S3, keeping in mind that the structure from CodeCommit will be similar.
• Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the extracted folder.
• Initialize a new Git repository by running git init.
• Add the files to the repository using git add. The folder structure should be unzipped; there should not be a top-level folder—just the configuration files.
• Commit the changes with git commit -m "Initial commit of Landing Zone Accelerator configuration."
• Add the new GitHub repository as a remote using git remote add origin.
• Push the local repository to the new GitHub repository with git push -u origin main.

Step 4: Create the code connection

1. Go to the CodePipeline service and find the Connections section under Settings on the left pane.
2. In the Connections tab, click Create connection and select the GitHub option. Assign a unique name, such as LZA, and click Connect to GitHub.
3. After you select Install a new app, the external repository sign-in page will appear, allowing you to complete the connection process.

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