How to update Nginx config file on many identical servers at the same time?












2















We've got a fleet of Nginx servers on EC2 where we occasionally need to update the config files to implement new settings. Currently we have the configs in a custom AMI and if we need to update we have to rebuild the AMI and then EC2 instances. We've got some helper scripts but it's still quite an effort to do that and we are looking if there is some better way?










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    ansible, saltstack to name a few.

    – poige
    4 hours ago
















2















We've got a fleet of Nginx servers on EC2 where we occasionally need to update the config files to implement new settings. Currently we have the configs in a custom AMI and if we need to update we have to rebuild the AMI and then EC2 instances. We've got some helper scripts but it's still quite an effort to do that and we are looking if there is some better way?










share|improve this question









New contributor




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  • 2





    ansible, saltstack to name a few.

    – poige
    4 hours ago














2












2








2








We've got a fleet of Nginx servers on EC2 where we occasionally need to update the config files to implement new settings. Currently we have the configs in a custom AMI and if we need to update we have to rebuild the AMI and then EC2 instances. We've got some helper scripts but it's still quite an effort to do that and we are looking if there is some better way?










share|improve this question









New contributor




Bububu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












We've got a fleet of Nginx servers on EC2 where we occasionally need to update the config files to implement new settings. Currently we have the configs in a custom AMI and if we need to update we have to rebuild the AMI and then EC2 instances. We've got some helper scripts but it's still quite an effort to do that and we are looking if there is some better way?







amazon-web-services amazon-ec2






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share|improve this question









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edited 4 hours ago







Bububu













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asked 4 hours ago









BububuBububu

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Bububu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






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Check out our Code of Conduct.








  • 2





    ansible, saltstack to name a few.

    – poige
    4 hours ago














  • 2





    ansible, saltstack to name a few.

    – poige
    4 hours ago








2




2





ansible, saltstack to name a few.

– poige
4 hours ago





ansible, saltstack to name a few.

– poige
4 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















2














There's a number of concepts that you can leverage.



The key to success is automation



First option is to keep doing what you're doing now, i.e. rebuild the EC2s with every config change. Just in a fully automated way.



As you're now doing config updates through AMIs you take this one step further and create a pipeline that, upon a config file change in some repository, will:




  1. Automatically build a new AMI - one of the most popular tools to do that is Packer

  2. Automatically rebuild your Nginx fleet - you should already have all the Nginx servers in an Auto-Scaling Group with an Application Load Balancer in front. If you don't you should as it will make the update as simple as updating the ASG Launch Configuration and waiting for the instances to get re-built from the new AMI.




Second option is to keep the instances in place and only deploy the config files, without rebuilding them. Generally you can treat config files as a code and deploy your config changes the same way you would deploy code releases. AWS has many tools to help with that.





  • AWS Elastic Beanstalk that uses Chef internally and you can script your Nginx updates this way.


  • AWS Code Deploy which is a fully scriptable deployment tool that integrates well with other parts of the AWS Code Suite:



    • Code Commit where you can keep your Nginx config files in GIT.


    • Code Pipeline that can automatically trigger the deployment whenever a config file is updated in Code Commit.




  • Ansible or Puppet which are popular non-AWS tools that can help you keep all the servers configured the same way.


Once you're comfortable with automating these Nginx config updates you may want to extend the automation to the rest of your infrastructure.





There is a great whitepaper Overview of Deployment Options on AWS that will give you a nice overview.



Hope that helps :)






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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    2














    There's a number of concepts that you can leverage.



    The key to success is automation



    First option is to keep doing what you're doing now, i.e. rebuild the EC2s with every config change. Just in a fully automated way.



    As you're now doing config updates through AMIs you take this one step further and create a pipeline that, upon a config file change in some repository, will:




    1. Automatically build a new AMI - one of the most popular tools to do that is Packer

    2. Automatically rebuild your Nginx fleet - you should already have all the Nginx servers in an Auto-Scaling Group with an Application Load Balancer in front. If you don't you should as it will make the update as simple as updating the ASG Launch Configuration and waiting for the instances to get re-built from the new AMI.




    Second option is to keep the instances in place and only deploy the config files, without rebuilding them. Generally you can treat config files as a code and deploy your config changes the same way you would deploy code releases. AWS has many tools to help with that.





    • AWS Elastic Beanstalk that uses Chef internally and you can script your Nginx updates this way.


    • AWS Code Deploy which is a fully scriptable deployment tool that integrates well with other parts of the AWS Code Suite:



      • Code Commit where you can keep your Nginx config files in GIT.


      • Code Pipeline that can automatically trigger the deployment whenever a config file is updated in Code Commit.




    • Ansible or Puppet which are popular non-AWS tools that can help you keep all the servers configured the same way.


    Once you're comfortable with automating these Nginx config updates you may want to extend the automation to the rest of your infrastructure.





    There is a great whitepaper Overview of Deployment Options on AWS that will give you a nice overview.



    Hope that helps :)






    share|improve this answer




























      2














      There's a number of concepts that you can leverage.



      The key to success is automation



      First option is to keep doing what you're doing now, i.e. rebuild the EC2s with every config change. Just in a fully automated way.



      As you're now doing config updates through AMIs you take this one step further and create a pipeline that, upon a config file change in some repository, will:




      1. Automatically build a new AMI - one of the most popular tools to do that is Packer

      2. Automatically rebuild your Nginx fleet - you should already have all the Nginx servers in an Auto-Scaling Group with an Application Load Balancer in front. If you don't you should as it will make the update as simple as updating the ASG Launch Configuration and waiting for the instances to get re-built from the new AMI.




      Second option is to keep the instances in place and only deploy the config files, without rebuilding them. Generally you can treat config files as a code and deploy your config changes the same way you would deploy code releases. AWS has many tools to help with that.





      • AWS Elastic Beanstalk that uses Chef internally and you can script your Nginx updates this way.


      • AWS Code Deploy which is a fully scriptable deployment tool that integrates well with other parts of the AWS Code Suite:



        • Code Commit where you can keep your Nginx config files in GIT.


        • Code Pipeline that can automatically trigger the deployment whenever a config file is updated in Code Commit.




      • Ansible or Puppet which are popular non-AWS tools that can help you keep all the servers configured the same way.


      Once you're comfortable with automating these Nginx config updates you may want to extend the automation to the rest of your infrastructure.





      There is a great whitepaper Overview of Deployment Options on AWS that will give you a nice overview.



      Hope that helps :)






      share|improve this answer


























        2












        2








        2







        There's a number of concepts that you can leverage.



        The key to success is automation



        First option is to keep doing what you're doing now, i.e. rebuild the EC2s with every config change. Just in a fully automated way.



        As you're now doing config updates through AMIs you take this one step further and create a pipeline that, upon a config file change in some repository, will:




        1. Automatically build a new AMI - one of the most popular tools to do that is Packer

        2. Automatically rebuild your Nginx fleet - you should already have all the Nginx servers in an Auto-Scaling Group with an Application Load Balancer in front. If you don't you should as it will make the update as simple as updating the ASG Launch Configuration and waiting for the instances to get re-built from the new AMI.




        Second option is to keep the instances in place and only deploy the config files, without rebuilding them. Generally you can treat config files as a code and deploy your config changes the same way you would deploy code releases. AWS has many tools to help with that.





        • AWS Elastic Beanstalk that uses Chef internally and you can script your Nginx updates this way.


        • AWS Code Deploy which is a fully scriptable deployment tool that integrates well with other parts of the AWS Code Suite:



          • Code Commit where you can keep your Nginx config files in GIT.


          • Code Pipeline that can automatically trigger the deployment whenever a config file is updated in Code Commit.




        • Ansible or Puppet which are popular non-AWS tools that can help you keep all the servers configured the same way.


        Once you're comfortable with automating these Nginx config updates you may want to extend the automation to the rest of your infrastructure.





        There is a great whitepaper Overview of Deployment Options on AWS that will give you a nice overview.



        Hope that helps :)






        share|improve this answer













        There's a number of concepts that you can leverage.



        The key to success is automation



        First option is to keep doing what you're doing now, i.e. rebuild the EC2s with every config change. Just in a fully automated way.



        As you're now doing config updates through AMIs you take this one step further and create a pipeline that, upon a config file change in some repository, will:




        1. Automatically build a new AMI - one of the most popular tools to do that is Packer

        2. Automatically rebuild your Nginx fleet - you should already have all the Nginx servers in an Auto-Scaling Group with an Application Load Balancer in front. If you don't you should as it will make the update as simple as updating the ASG Launch Configuration and waiting for the instances to get re-built from the new AMI.




        Second option is to keep the instances in place and only deploy the config files, without rebuilding them. Generally you can treat config files as a code and deploy your config changes the same way you would deploy code releases. AWS has many tools to help with that.





        • AWS Elastic Beanstalk that uses Chef internally and you can script your Nginx updates this way.


        • AWS Code Deploy which is a fully scriptable deployment tool that integrates well with other parts of the AWS Code Suite:



          • Code Commit where you can keep your Nginx config files in GIT.


          • Code Pipeline that can automatically trigger the deployment whenever a config file is updated in Code Commit.




        • Ansible or Puppet which are popular non-AWS tools that can help you keep all the servers configured the same way.


        Once you're comfortable with automating these Nginx config updates you may want to extend the automation to the rest of your infrastructure.





        There is a great whitepaper Overview of Deployment Options on AWS that will give you a nice overview.



        Hope that helps :)







        share|improve this answer












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        answered 3 hours ago









        MLuMLu

        6,78211739




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