Best 14 AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools

AWS has revolutionized data storage and access, bringing about numerous advantages like a cost-free tier option and a flexible pay-per-use pricing system. 

Despite these benefits, the complexity of setting up and monitoring cloud infrastructure poses challenges for many organizations. The imperative to rapidly adopt new applications is crucial for staying relevant, necessitating the ability to adjust and deploy swiftly This need is met through AWS infrastructure automation tools. 

Our blog explored the fundamentals of AWS infrastructure, underscoring the importance of automation. Additionally, it provides  insights into 14 AWS infrastructure tools designed to effectively manage  AWS infrastructure.

Renowned for its widespread popularity, AWS offers a diverse array of on-demand services encompassing computing power, data storage, and content delivery. This comprehensive suite empowers businesses to scale and grow effectively,providing scalable and cost-efficient cloud computing solutions.

With a portfolio of over 200 fully featured services, AWS operates globally from multiple data centers, establishing itself as the most extensive and universally accessible cloud platform. Organizations leveraging AWS gain access to a robust infrastructure, effectively meeting their diverse computing needs. 

However, configuring AWS infrastructure poses challenges, given complexities related to configuration management, regulatory compliance, and service updates. This necessitates urgent attention to address these issues.

Implementing an AWS infrastructure automation tool emerges as a solution, streamlining the setup and monitoring of AWS infrastructure effortlessly. These tools, whether native or third-party, assist users in efficiently provisioning, configuring, and managing their cloud resources. 

Before delving into various AWS infrastructure tools, it is crucial to gain clarity on the intricacies of AWS infrastructure, providing a foundational understanding of how AWS infrastructure automation tools prove beneficial.

Introduction To AWS Infrastructure

The AWS infrastructure is constructed on a worldwide network of data centers. It encompasses extensive services covering computation, storage, database management, networking, machine learning, security, and other functionalities. Let us look at the different components that make up an AWS infrastructure.

Compute services: Compute services enable users to execute applications and conduct computational assignments in the cloud. Such services offer users the advantage of scalable and adaptable computing resources, enabling the provisioning of virtual servers, utilization of serverless functions, and efficient management of containers. Following are the types of compute services in AWS:

• Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): This cloud-based solution provides virtual servers that empower users to run their applications smoothly.
• AWS Lambda: Offering a serverless compute service, AWS Lambda enables the execution of code in response to events, removing the need for server provisioning and management.
• Amazon Lightsail: Lightsail is a user-friendly computing service designed for individuals seeking a hassle-free solution to launch and oversee virtual private servers (VPS). With its simplified interface and fixed monthly pricing model, Lightsail offers a seamless experience for setting up instances.
• Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service): ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service that extends support to Docker containers. It enables users to run, stop, and manage Docker containers within a cluster of EC2 instances.
• Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service): EKS acts as a managed Kubernetes service, streamlining the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications powered by Kubernetes. Furthermore, EKS seamlessly integrates with various AWS services while providing impeccably high availability.
• AWS Batch: Batch empowers users to execute batch computing workloads within the AWS Cloud environment. Batch optimizes the overall computational process by intelligently provisioning the most suitable quantity and computing resources based on the workload's unique requirements.

Storage services: AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers diverse storage services tailored to meet various requirements, spanning from scalable object storage to managed databases. Here are some essential storage services AWS provides:

• Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): Amazon S3 is a flexible object storage service meticulously designed for storing and retrieving any volume of data from any online location. It is widely used for data storage and backup purposes and hosting static files for websites.
• Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store): Amazon EBS delivers storage volumes at the block level that can be easily attached to EC2 instances. It is particularly suitable for serving as the primary storage solution for data requiring frequent updates, such as databases and operating systems.
• Amazon Glacier: Amazon Glacier is an affordable storage service for archiving and securing data for extended periods. It offers robust and secure archival storage with retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours, providing a cost-effective option for long-term backup needs.
• Amazon EFS (Elastic File System): EFS is a fully managed file storage solution for EC2 instances, providing scalability and simplicity. It supports the Network File System (NFS) protocol, enabling multiple EC2 instances to access the same file system effortlessly.
• Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): RDS is a managed database service that supports many relational database engines, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. It streamlines and automates database administration tasks, simplifying the setup, operation, and scaling of relational databases.
• Amazon DynamoDB: DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service that delivers high-performance and predictable data access capabilities. It is an ideal choice for applications that demand low-latency access to data and require seamless scalability.
• Amazon S3 Glacier Storage Classes: Within Amazon S3, S3 Glacier provides storage classes specifically designed for long-term data archiving. These classes offer a range of retrieval times and costs, allowing users to optimize their storage solutions while ensuring data durability and availability.

Database services: AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers a comprehensive range of managed database services to cater to the diverse requirements of users. These services encompass a variety of databases, from traditional relational databases to NoSQL and in-memory databases. The following are the prominent AWS database services:

• Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): Amazon RDS is a managed service for relational databases, supporting multiple database engines such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. It simplifies setting up, operating, and scaling databases, enhancing productivity.
• Amazon DynamoDB: Considered a fully managed NoSQL database service, Amazon DynamoDB provides users with reliable and rapid performance and effortless scalability. It is designed for applications requiring quick access to flexible, semi-structured, or unstructured data.
• Amazon Aurora: Amazon Aurora is a fully managed relational database engine compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL. It offers exceptional performance and availability while ensuring the ease of use typically associated with Amazon RDS.
• Amazon Neptune: It is a comprehensive graph database service provided by Amazon. It offers complete management capabilities for property and RDF graph models, enabling efficient storage and retrieval of highly interconnected data.
• Amazon ElastiCache: It is an in-memory caching service that Amazon offers. It fully manages and supports two widely used open-source caching engines, Redis and Memcached. By storing frequently accessed data in memory, ElastiCache significantly enhances application performance.
• Amazon Redshift: Amazon Redshift is an ideal solution for users with large datasets and complex queries. It is a fully managed data warehouse service that facilitates the execution of intricate queries on massive data sets. Offering superior performance and scalability, Redshift ensures efficient data analysis.
• Amazon DocumentDB: It is a fully managed NoSQL document database service designed to be compatible with MongoDB. It guarantees high performance, scalability, and availability for applications built using MongoDB, meeting the diverse needs of users.
• Amazon Keyspaces: It is a fully managed database service compatible with Apache Cassandra. It employs a serverless approach, enabling users to build applications effortlessly. 

Networking: AWS offers a range of networking services that assist users in constructing, managing, and optimizing their cloud infrastructure. These services include establishing virtual private clouds (VPCs), content delivery, domain management, and more. Look at some of AWS's critical networking services:

• Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): Amazon VPC empowers users to generate a logically segregated portion of the AWS Cloud to deploy resources within a virtual network. Users have complete control over IP address ranges, subnets, route tables, and network gateways.
• Amazon Route 53: Amazon Route 53 is a scalable domain name system (DNS) web service that facilitates the translation of human-readable domain names into IP addresses. Additionally, it offers domain registration services.
• Amazon CloudFront: Amazon CloudFront operates as a content delivery network (CDN) service that efficiently delivers content, including web pages, videos, and images, to users. It ensures prompt data transfer speeds and low-latency connections.
• AWS Direct Connect: This service establishes a dedicated network connection from on-premises data centers to AWS. It ensures a more consistent and predictable network experience for users.
• AWS VPN (Virtual Private Network): Users can establish encrypted connections to their Amazon VPCs with AWS VPN. It allows for extending on-premises networks into the AWS Cloud while maintaining security and privacy.
• AWS Transit Gateway: Simplifying network architecture, AWS Transit Gateway serves as a single hub that connects multiple VPCs, on-premises data centers, and remote offices. This streamlines network management and improves efficiency.
• Amazon Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): By automatically distributing incoming application traffic across multiple targets like EC2 instances, ELB enhances application availability and fault tolerance. This load-balancing service optimizes application performance.
• AWS PrivateLink: AWS PrivateLink allows access to services over a private network connection instead of relying on the public internet. This feature significantly improves security and protects sensitive data by keeping it within a private network infrastructure.

What Makes Setting Up & Monitoring AWS Infrastructure Difficult?

From the above, it is evident that so many moving elements collectively work to help organizations make the most out of the AWS service. This can make the whole process of AWS configuration overwhelming. To better understand the intricacies involved, let us consider why setting up and monitoring AWS infrastructure is challenging.

• Complexity of AWS Services: AWS provides extensive services featuring diverse configurations and options. Familiarizing oneself with the comprehensive range of services and identifying the suitable ones for specific requirements can pose a challenge, particularly for newcomers. Moreover, optimizing performance and cost by ensuring seamless interactions between various AWS services demands in-depth expertise.
  Example: Although the initial configuration of an Amazon EC2 instance appears simple, the complexities of setting up security groups, managing load balancing, and enabling auto-scaling can present considerable difficulties without sufficient in-house expertise and resources.

• Service Updates and Changes: AWS consistently unveils upgrades, fresh functionalities, and modifications to its existing services. Remaining well-informed about these alterations and adjusting infrastructure accordingly can take time and effort.

• Monitoring and Logging: Efficiently overseeing AWS infrastructure requires configuring and analyzing logs, metrics, and events from different AWS services. Establishing inclusive monitoring systems might present complexities.

• Configuration Management: Handling and organizing various resources and services can be complex. Improper configurations can result in security vulnerabilities, compromised performance, or escalated expenses.

• Security Concerns: A thorough comprehension of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), security groups, network ACLs, encryption, and other security features is imperative to uphold the security of AWS infrastructure. Configuration mistakes might lead to the exposure of confidential information or the emergence of vulnerabilities.

Introduction To AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools

An AWS infrastructure automation tool is a software or service that empowers users to automate cloud infrastructure deployment, configuration, and management. These tools support the adoption of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, enabling users to programmatically define and oversee their AWS resources.

‍Benefits of AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools

The challenges associated with setting up and monitoring AWS infrastructure, as mentioned above can significantly impact the organization's performance and overall cloud bill. These challenges can be resolved by investing in AWS Infrastructure automation tools. 

AWS infrastructure automation tools are critical in simplifying and improving the effectiveness of various tasks involved in managing and deploying resources on the AWS cloud. Mentioned below are some of the many benefits that emphasize the necessity of AWS infrastructure automation tools:

Speed

• Rapid deployment: One of the key benefits of automation tools is the ability to deploy infrastructure and applications swiftly. This capability significantly reduces the time required to bring new services or features to the market.
• Faster iterations: Automated processes streamline development, testing, and deployment stages. As a result, development teams can iterate and release software more frequently, accelerating the overall speed of software delivery.

Agility

• Flexibility and adaptability: Automation tools gives organizations the flexibility and adaptability to respond promptly to changing business requirements and market dynamics. This ensures that the infrastructure can evolve in line with the organization's shifting needs.
• Efficient resource allocation: By leveraging automation tools, resources can be dynamically allocated and scaled based on demand. This resource allocation optimization enables organizations to achieve greater efficiency and responsiveness in their cloud operations.

Cost optimization

• Resource efficiency: Automation tools assist organizations in optimizing the utilization of resources, preventing excessive provisioning, and minimizing unnecessary expenses.
• Pay-as-You-Go model: By utilizing automation, organizations can align with the pay-as-you-go model, allowing them to adjust resource levels according to actual usage and achieve cost savings.

Consistency

• Standardized configurations: Following Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles, configurations can be maintained consistently across various environments, reducing the risk of errors caused by configuration disparities.
• Reproducibility: Automation tools promote infrastructure deployment consistently and reproducibly, enhancing reliability and reducing the chances of inconsistencies.

Scalability

• Effortless scaling: Automation tools simplifies scaling resources seamlessly, enabling organizations to handle increased workloads without requiring manual intervention.
• Horizontal and vertical scaling: Automation tools enable efficient and scalable horizontal and vertical scaling processes. These tools facilitate scaling horizontally by adding more instances or vertically by enhancing the capacity of existing instances. With the aid of automation, the scaling process becomes streamlined and adaptable to meet the demands of any system.

Reusability

• Simplifies Infrastructure Deployment: Automation tools enable the creation of standardized templates that can be reused across different projects, thus reducing the time and effort required for infrastructure deployment.
• Consistency Across Environments: Automation tools ensure consistency and uniformity across different elements of the infrastructure configurations, thus minimizing the risk of errors and discrepancies.

Security

• Standardized security configuration: Automation tools allow for consistent security measures across the various infrastructure components, thus ensuring a secure environment.
• Automated security policies: They facilitate the automatic reinforcement of security policies, thus reducing the likelihood of manual errors and enhancing the overall system's security.

Streamlined collaboration

• Version control and collaboration: By supporting version control for various infrastructure codes, automation tools make it easier for teams to collaborate on projects.
• Efficient workflow integration: Automation tools seamlessly integrate with collaboration tools, fostering efficient communication and collaboration among the development, operation, and security teams.

Disaster Recovery

• Rapid infrastructure restoration: Automation tools enable the creation of automated processes for disaster recovery, thus allowing for the swift restoration of the infrastructure in the event of failure and disaster recovery.
• Minimized downtime: By automating the recovery process, automation tools reduce the downtime, minimize the impact of unforeseen events on the business operations, and ensure its continuity.

The utilization of AWS infrastructure automation tools brings about a transformation in cloud operations. These tools enable rapid deployment, providing speed in executing tasks. Additionally, they offer agility by allowing flexible resource allocation. Furthermore, cost optimization is achieved through efficiency and the adoption of the Pay-as-You-Go model.

Factors To Consider When Choosing AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools

When deciding on which tool (s) will be the best for your organization requires keep certain factors into consideration, such as

• Features and functionality: Take a close look at the tool's features and functionality to ensure they align with the specific needs of your team and organization. Evaluate whether the tool provides a comprehensive range of capabilities that can address the diverse requirements of your infrastructure.
• Ease of use: Prioritize tools with an intuitive and user-friendly interface to promote the adoption and effectiveness of your team. Choose a solution that minimizes the learning curve and allows swift integration into your existing workflows.
• Scalability: Select a tool with the inherent capability to scale alongside the growth and evolution of your organization. Ensure the tool can easily handle increased workloads and expand infrastructure requirements without disruptions.
• Support and documentation: Give preference to tools offering extensive documentation and providing detailed installation, configuration, and problem-solving instructions. Make sure they have a robust support network available as reliable assistance as a strong network can help address issues and maximize the tool's functionalities. 
• Cost: Assess the tool's cost to your budget constraints, ensuring it aligns with your financial considerations. Consider both the initial expenditure and potential recurring expenses connected to the tool, guaranteeing it offers satisfactory ROI.

By carefully assessing these evaluation criteria, you can make a well-informed choice while selecting an infrastructure automation tool. It should cater to your present requirements and align with your organization's future expansion and progress.

Top 14 AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools

Now that you have understood the intricacies of AWS infrastructure automation and how it can help you, let us look at some of the AWS infrastructure automation tools you can leverage for streamlining operations, enhanced performance, and cost optimization.

1. Lucidity

Most AWS infrastructure automation tools available in the market primarily focus on automating and streamlining various aspects of compute resource management. However, it is essential to note that if your primary objective for implementing an AWS infrastructure automation tool is holistic cost optimization, you'll also need an additional tool specifically designed for AWS cost optimization, such as Lucidity. 

Wondering why?

This is because storage significantly contributes to the overall cloud bill. As per a Virtana study, "State of Hybrid Cloud Storage in 2023," out of 350 cloud decision-makers, 94% said their storage cost was increasing. Furthermore, 54% were concerned that their storage cost is rising faster than the overall cloud bill.

We also did an independent study on our clients who use AWS to understand the depth of impact of storage cost on the overall cloud bill. We discovered the following.

• Block storage, i.e., EBS, amounted to a significant portion of the overall cloud bill.
• There was a mere 25% disk utilization. 
• To prevent the possibility of any performance issues within the application, organizations were overprovisioning the storage resources. 
• Despite significant overprovisioning, they faced at least one downtime per quarter.

Needless to say, overprovisioning was the main culprit behind organizations facing performance issues. However, out of several myths about AWS EBS, the most common is that many organizations still believe that they do not struggle with the consequences of overprovisioning. 

This is far from the truth!

Overprovisioning has a severe cost-related impact. This is because cloud service providers charge based on the resources provisioned. Overprovisioning means you are unnecessarily paying for resources you are not using. 

However, overprovisioning is an understandable compromise due to two primary reasons.

• Extra efforts: Using tools provided by Cloud Service Providers (CSP) often leads to more work for DevOps teams and consumes significant time. 
• Lack of features in CSP tools: Organizations cannot solely rely on CSP-provided tools to fulfill their operational requirements as they are inefficient and demand a lot of manual work and time consumption.

Given the complexities of managing everyday business activities and the essential requirement of uninterrupted application availability, many organizations feel compelled to allocate excessive resources. This resource inefficiency costs dearly in terms of costs and productivity.

To help organizations get rid of this inefficient practice of overprovisioning and ensure EBS optimization for a reduced overall cloud bill, Lucidity came up with two solutions- 

• Lucidity Storage Audit
• Lucidity EBS Auto-Scaler

Lucidity Storage Audit

The first step to a successful EBS optimization in AWS is identifying and deleting idle and unused resources. With Lucidity Storage Audit, you can automate finding the resources lying idle and not contributing to any functionality.

Why should you automate the process?

This is because manually identifying idle resources or utilizing monitoring tools can be demanding and costly. With the expansion of storage environments becoming more intricate, managing these complex setups can quickly become overwhelming, prompting the need for automated solutions.

Lucidity's easy-to-execute, automated process of storage auditing will help you with the following:

• Expense Analysis: It will help you enhance overall cost-effectiveness by identifying an opportunity for substantial storage cost reduction.
• Identification of wastage: It will detect the root cause of the inefficiencies caused by overprovisioning, helping create a streamlined and cost-effective storage environment.
• Detection of performance bottlenecks: The tool will identify any possible downtime before they become a financial and reputational concern.

Once the idle or unused resources are identified, you can delete or rightsize them.

Lucidity EBS Auto-Scaler

Auto-scaling refers to the capability of a system or application to adapt its assigned storage capacity to varying workloads and demands. This feature guarantees that the storage infrastructure promptly adjusts to changes in data volume while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

There are several AWS Storage Auto-scaling storage best practices that you can implement for efficient EBS optimization. However, it is worth noting that when it comes to adequate provisioning of storage resources, AWS only offers an expansion of storage resources, and there is no direct process for EBS shrinkage. This is not to say that there is no way, but the manual steps involved in creating a new storage of a smaller volume, taking screenshots, mounting the storage to a new volume, stopping the instance, and more lead to wastage of time and open the possibility of significant downtime. 

Considering this and aiming to make auto-scaling hassle-free, Lucidity designed an EBS Auto-Scaler.

Lucidity's Block Storage Auto-Scaler is the industry's inaugural autonomous storage orchestration option, revolutionizing storage resource management in cloud environments. By automatically scaling down or up storage resources, it consistently maintains the system's optimal storage capacity, effectively addressing the dynamic nature of storage requirements.

Using Lucidity's Auto-Scaler is easy; it only takes three simple clicks. This efficient tool automatically optimizes its configuration to achieve an ideal utilization rate of 70-80%, maximizing efficiency. 

With Lucidity's EBS Auto-Scaler, you can expand and shrink EBS resources to manage unexpected traffic or workload surges in minutes. This not only guarantees continuous availability of storage but also amplifies the resilience and responsiveness of the system.

With Lucidity's EBS Auto-Scaler, you get the following benefits:

• Automated expansion and shrinkage of resources: Lucidity utilizes automation to scale resources, ensuring continued storage availability by adapting to fluctuating demand. The EBS Auto-Scaler effectively modifies resources in response to sudden increases or decreases in activity, optimizing efficiency to match workload requirements.
• Storage cost savings up to 70%: By providing the right amount of storage, Lucidity EBS Auto-Scaler prevents the possibility of overprovisioning, thus no unnecessary storage cost. The automated scaling feature offered by Lucidity provides significant cost savings, allowing users to reduce storage expenses by up to 70%. With the assistance of the Auto-Scaler, disk utilization is greatly improved, jumping from a modest 35% to an impressive 80%.
• ROI Calculator: You can check how much you can save with our ROI Calculator. All you need to do is add certain information like disk spend, disk growth rate, and utilization, and you can see how much you will save on storage costs.
• Zero downtime: The EBS Auto-Scaler employs dynamic adjustment of storage resources to optimize performance efficiently during sudden demand spikes or reduced activity. Unlike manual shrinkage, which leads to downtime during configuration, Lucidity EBS Auto-Scaler seamlessly shrinks and expands resources without downtime.
• Customized Policy Configuration: The Auto-Scaler can be configured and tailored with a "Customized Policy" to further bolster the system and prevent downtime. It allows the creation of a protocol with details such as policy name, desired utilization, maximum disk size, and buffer size.

Once the policy is created, Lucidity will adhere to these policies and provide efficient instance management that aligns perfectly with the requirements. The comprehensive customization options enhance performance and cost-effectiveness, offering dependable and tailored storage solution.

2. AWS CloudFormation

 AWS CloudFormation allows users to define and provision AWS infrastructure using code known as IaC. By utilizing CloudFormation templates, one can efficiently describe and provision various resources, including Amazon EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and more. This tool is valuable for automating, creating, and managing complete AWS environments.

Features

• It utilizes JSON or YAML templates, which adhere to a declarative approach, wherein they explicitly state the desired state of the infrastructure without requiring the explicit description of each step involved in the provisioning process.
• It facilitates the automation of AWS resource provisioning and updates as described within the templates.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.4

3. AWS Cloud Development Kit

The AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) is an open-source framework that allows developers to define cloud infrastructure using code and quickly provision it through AWS CloudFormation. It enables developers to express and control their infrastructure imperatively, using familiar programming languages for both definition and management. 

Features

• The platform empowers users to modify, distribute, and effectively recycle structures within their organization or community, enabling the development of structures that expedite the onboarding procedure and allowing users and team members to initiate their projects swiftly.
• Using CDK, developers can employ familiar IDEs, testing tools, and workflow patterns.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.4

4. AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk simplifies deploying and managing applications in the AWS environment. By abstracting the underlying infrastructure details, Elastic Beanstalk allows developers to focus on their code without worrying about the complexities of managing the infrastructure. This powerful service supports a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, making it effortless for developers to deploy and scale their applications.

Features

• It offers a fully managed environment for deploying and executing applications, enabling users to concentrate on application development without needing to handle infrastructure components.
• Users can deploy diverse iterations of their applications. Elastic Beanstalk facilitates versioning, enabling a smooth transition back to a previous iteration in case of any complications with the most recent deployment.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.3

5. AWS OpsWorks

AWS OpsWorks is a configuration management tool Amazon Web Services offers. It enables users to automate various software installation, configuration, and deployment tasks for applications and servers. With support for popular automation tools like Chef and Puppet, OpsWorks ensures consistency across instances, providing a streamlined approach to managing and maintaining your application's infrastructure.

Features

• OpsWorks uses a layer-based approach to structure and manage resources in the application stack. Each layer corresponds to a distinct component, such as web servers, application servers, or databases. 
• OpsWorks supports Chef and Puppet, allowing users to select their preferred configuration management tool. This empowers the automation of infrastructure provisioning and management through widely adopted configuration management frameworks.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.0

6. AWS Systems Manager (SSM)

AWS Systems Manager (SSM) offers an all-in-one solution for simplifying the management of AWS resources. By providing a unified user interface, this feature-rich service allows efficient management through Run Command, Automation, and State Manager features. SSM automates everyday operational tasks across your entire infrastructure, including patching and configuration management, enhancing efficiency and maintaining optimal performance for your AWS resources.

Features

• It allows users to create workflows that automate operational tasks. This feature efficiently automates intricate processes by defining a sequence of steps to be executed in a predetermined order.
• It supports the utilization of the Parameter Store for robust storage and effective administration of crucial configuration data, encompassing passwords, database strings, and other sensitive information. 

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.4

7. DuploCloud

DuploCloud is a DevOps-as-a-Service platform offering no-code/low-code techniques. It efficiently converts high-level application specifications into precise, secure, compliant, and fully managed cloud configurations. By simplifying the intricacies of DevOps, DuploCloud empowers its users to transform their application ideas into resilient and expertly managed cloud environments.

Features 

• The platform offers extensive provisioning functionalities such as SQS, Kafka, Redis, databases, Elasticsearch, object stores, virtual machines, and more. 
• It automates integrating disaster recovery, password management, single sign-on, and just-in-time access directly into applications.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.7

8. Terraform

Terraform is an open-source tool for automating cloud infrastructure, designed to assist DevOps teams in efficiently deploying and enhancing infrastructure across various cloud environments.

Features 

• It offers an extensive range of provisioning capabilities through plug-in-based infrastructure support. 
• It provides server provisioning, caching, queuing, monitoring, database management, routing rules, firewall configuration, and load balancing.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.6

9. Puppet

Puppet Enterprise, a local solution for managing infrastructure and workflows, establishes itself as a robust configuration tool. It acts as a commercial version of the initial Puppet, enhancing its functionalities by integrating supplementary components. This enables it to support comprehensive configuration management in various environments effectively.

Features

• The Puppet orchestrator offers organizations a wide range of job execution capabilities, allowing them precise control over the implementation of configuration changes.
• Puppet Enterprise enables seamless backup and restore operations and efficiently stores all automation content in a managed repository, utilizing Git with utmost precision.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.2

10. SaltStack

SaltStack, or Salt, is a practical configuration management and orchestration solution that leverages a centralized repository. It facilitates the provisioning of fresh servers and various components of IT infrastructure, enables modifications to pre-existing resources, and facilitates software installation within IT environments. These environments can comprise physical and virtual servers and cloud-based platforms.

Features

• It streamlines recurring system administrative and code deployment tasks, eradicating the necessity for manual processes.
• Salt users can craft their scripts and programs. Furthermore, they can utilize preconstructed configurations shared by fellow users on a public repository, thus promoting cooperation and expediting the evolution of their projects.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.3

11. Chef Automate

Chef Automate, engineered by Chef Software, is an enterprise dashboard and analytics tool designed for automating infrastructure within an on-premises environment. This solution combines three vital engines - Chef Infrastructure, Chef InSpec, and Chef Habitat. With Chef Automate, teams can collaborate seamlessly using a user-friendly language while enjoying the benefit of an auditable record of infrastructure modifications.

Features

• The system employs a pull-based approach, in which nodes periodically retrieve their configuration information from a centralized server instead of pushing the configuration onto them.
• Chef is specifically created to seamlessly operate with extensive, intricate infrastructures, efficiently managing many nodes.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.2

12. Foreman

Foreman is a flexible lifecycle management tool designed for effortless task automation, expedited application deployment, and proactive server management for physical and virtual servers. It allows system administrators to manage servers on-premise or in the cloud.

Features

• Foreman offers a range of inclusive and verifiable interaction capabilities, encompassing a web frontend, a command line interface, and a sturdy REST API.
• Foreman facilitates provisioning on bare-metal machines by utilizing managed DHCP, DNS, TFTP, and PXE-based unattended installations. Additionally, it seamlessly supports virtualization and cloud environments.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.5

13. CFEngine

The CFEngine configuration management tool is crucial in automating software packaging and provisioning in an organization's operational IT environment. CFEngine is offered in two primary versions: the Community Version, which is freely accessible and open source, and CFEngine Enterprise, which provides additional features and includes a graphical user interface.

Features

• The CFEngine ensures scalability by utilizing decentralized and autonomous agents. These agents effortlessly collaborate to consistently monitor, self-repair, and keep the IT infrastructure up-to-date for a global, multi-site enterprise.
• Teams can set up and enforce configuration policies throughout their entire infrastructure. This feature guarantees that each device and application strictly follows the predefined standards of the organization.

Customer Rating

• G2: 4.8

14. Ansible

Ansible is an infrastructure automation engine that simplifies various tasks, including application deployment, configuration management, cloud provisioning, and intra-service orchestration. The solution integrates Ansible Automation, Ansible Tower, Ansible Engine, and other components to offer a unified approach for IT teams to expand automation utilization within their organizations efficiently.

Features

• Role-based permissions, job scheduling, and an intuitive visual dashboard seamlessly facilitate the centralization of your infrastructure.
• Insights into metrics like usage, uptime, deployment status, and additional factors. This guarantees effective monitoring and streamlined management.

Customer Rating

• G2:4.5

Streamline AWS Operations with AWS Infrastructure Automation Tools!

The decision to adopt AWS infrastructure automation tools transcends mere technological considerations. It represents a strategic move towards building an AWS infrastructure that caters to present needs and is future-ready and adaptable to upcoming innovations. In navigating the complexities of AWS, these automation tools stand out as the driving force, empowering organizations to construct, expand, and safeguard their AWS environments with unparalleled efficiency.

If you're facing challenges in optimizing storage or aligning resources with fluctuating demand, scheduling a demonstration with Lucidity is the solution. Our team will guide you through the potential of automation in creating a storage-optimized environment, minimizing resource wastage, and ensuring the efficient use of your financial investments. Book a demo now and unlock the possibilities of a seamlessly scalable and cost-effective solution.