This is Chapter 2 of the Infrastructure as Code with AWS CDK series. Four approaches to environment-specific configuration in CDK stacks - same use case throughout so the trade-offs sit side by side. Use case: An S3 bucket and Lambda function where bucket name, log level, and Lambda timeout vary per environment (dev, staging, prod). Quick comparison Approach Version controlled Supports secrets Change without redeploy Shared across stacks Static config (cdk.json) Yes No No No Dynamic config No Partial Yes No Secrets Manager No Yes Yes Yes CI/CD context injection No No Yes No Local dev patterns Suitable for personal projects or local development. Neither is a good fit for CI/CD pipelines or shared team environments. ...

This is Chapter 1 of the Infrastructure as Code with AWS CDK series. Two things come before writing any stack code: initialising the CDK project and bootstrapping the AWS account. Prerequisites Python 3.9+ Node.js 18+ (CDK CLI is a Node package) AWS CLI v2 configured with valid credentials - see Connect to AWS SSO and SSH into EC2 Instance An AWS account with permissions to create IAM roles, S3 buckets, and CloudFormation stacks Install the CDK CLI globally: ...

EC2 does not send memory or disk metrics to CloudWatch by default - only CPU, network and status checks. The CloudWatch agent runs inside the instance and collects system-level metrics and logs directly. Prerequisites EC2 instance running (Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu) SSH access to the instance - see Connect to AWS SSO and SSH into EC2 Instance Terminal Attach IAM role to the instance The agent needs permission to write metrics and logs to CloudWatch. In the AWS console: ...

I sat the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) back in 2024 and passed. CLF-C02 is AWS’s foundational certification - broad rather than deep, covering cloud concepts, security, core services, and billing at a level anyone working around AWS should recognise. It is the most accessible AWS exam, so if you already work with AWS day to day, a lot of this will be familiar. Treat it as a breadth check rather than a deep technical exam, and calibrate the prep to what you already know. ...

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) lets you run a Linux environment directly on Windows - no VM, no dual boot. WSL2 runs a real Linux kernel in a lightweight managed VM, giving you full syscall compatibility and much better performance than WSL1. Prerequisites Windows 10 version 2004+ or Windows 11 Admin access to your machine PowerShell or Windows Terminal Install WSL From an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt: wsl --install This installs WSL2 and Ubuntu (the default distro) in one step. Restart when prompted. ...