For those of you who don't know, I’m a big fan of the command
line and automation. Obviously, implementing scripts incurs development
costs, but once they are complete, the time savings are invaluable. I was
recently browsing Pluralsight when I came across “Mastering AWS Command
Line.” I was already preparing to download files from a bucket for a current project, so the timing was perfect. Outside of a few small tasks, I’ve
only used the AWS browser console. I figured this was an
opportunity to improve my productivity and learn something interesting.
It’s only two hours, so you won’t be a “master” after watching, but it is a
good primer for working with the CLI. AWS documentation is pretty good,
so that’s all you really need, anyway.
As we continue to move towards cloud infrastructure, AWS
becomes a critical resource. It's my new go-to for static assets.
Being able to quickly navigate, copy, and move files between
directories/buckets makes life so much easier. Some operations aren’t
even possible with the console – downloading an entire bucket, for
example. If you’re not already using the CLI, it’s only a matter of time
before it happens. You may find this course a nice warm-up.
The CLI also enables automation, through scripting – which
turns out to be a big deal. Amazon bases its pricing on resource
use. With S3, that’s not a big problem; you’re essentially using the same
amount of data no matter what. Automating tasks isn’t going to save money.
That’s not true with all services, though. With EC2 instances, for example, service management becomes necessary.
The most cost-effective methods require some form of automated monitoring, and
starting/stopping services. I remember a conference speaker telling us about receiving a $10,000+ bill from Amazon because multiple devs left EC2 instances
running all month.
Anyway, I try not to let these articles get too long; I just want to share a few thoughts. If you
decide to check out the course, let me know what you think.
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