cloudformation-project

Fully Automated VPC and EC2 Setup with VPC Peering using CloudFormation templates

1. Provision two isolated VPCs (Internal & Client)

2. Launch public and private EC2 instances in each

3. enable secure cross-VPC communication between private instances via VPC Peering

Architecture Diagram

With Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using AWS CloudFormation, we'll build a complete, production-like network setup without any manual steps

1. Create Two VPCs – Each with custom CIDR blocks for logical separation (e.g., 10.0.0.0/16 and 172.168.0.0/16).

2. Deploy Public and Private Subnets – In each VPC, spread across different Availability Zones.

3. Launch EC2 Instances – One public and one private instance in each VPC.

4. Establish VPC Peering – To enable communication between private subnets in both VPCs.

5. Configure Route Tables – Modify route tables to allow secure, cross-VPC traffic flow.

Let’s Build

✅ First Stage: Write CloudFormation Templates in VS Code (YAML Format)

CloudFormation supports both JSON and YAML, but YAML is much simpler to write and read. It is also easier

compared to Terraform, which uses its own custom language (HCL).

Start by creating the following templates:

1. vpc-CFT.yml

For this template, I used references from the official AWS documentation:

🔗 https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codebuild/latest/userguide/cloudformation-vpc-template.html

This template creates all required networking components for one VPC:

1. VPC

2. Public and Private Subnets

3. Internet Gateway (IGW)

4. NAT Gateway and Elastic IP

5. Route Tables and associations

6. Exports private route table ID for reuse

Description:  This template deploys a VPC, with a pair of public and private subnets spread across two Availability Zones. It deploys an internet gateway, with a default route on the public subnets. It deploys a pair of NAT gateways (one in each AZ), and default routes for them in the private subnets.
# Resources section
#################################################################
# PARAMETERS                                                    #
#################################################################
Parameters:
  EnvironmentName:
    Description: An environment name that is prefixed to resource names
    Type: String

  VpcCIDR:
    Description: Please enter the IP range (CIDR notation) for this VPC
    Type: String
    Default: 10.192.0.0/16

  PublicSubnet1CIDR:
    Description: Please enter the IP range (CIDR notation) for the public subnet in the first Availability Zone
    Type: String
    Default: 10.192.10.0/24

  PublicSubnet2CIDR:
    Description: Please enter the IP range (CIDR notation) for the public subnet in the second Availability Zone
    Type: String
    Default: 10.192.11.0/24

  PrivateSubnet1CIDR:
    Description: Please enter the IP range (CIDR notation) for the private subnet in the first Availability Zone
    Type: String
    Default: 10.192.20.0/24

  PrivateSubnet2CIDR:
    Description: Please enter the IP range (CIDR notation) for the private subnet in the second Availability Zone
    Type: String
    Default: 10.192.21.0/24

#################################################################
# Resources - (VPC, IGW , SUBNETS, EIP, NAT )                   #
#################################################################

Resources:
  VPC:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPC
    Properties:
      CidrBlock: !Ref VpcCIDR
      EnableDnsSupport: true
      EnableDnsHostnames: true
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Ref EnvironmentName

  InternetGateway:
    Type: AWS::EC2::InternetGateway
    Properties:
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Ref EnvironmentName

  InternetGatewayAttachment:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPCGatewayAttachment
    Properties:
      InternetGatewayId: !Ref InternetGateway
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  PublicSubnet1:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Subnet
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [ 0, !GetAZs '' ]
      CidrBlock: !Ref PublicSubnet1CIDR
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Public Subnet (AZ1)

  PublicSubnet2:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Subnet
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [ 1, !GetAZs  '' ]
      CidrBlock: !Ref PublicSubnet2CIDR
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Public Subnet (AZ2)

  PrivateSubnet1:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Subnet
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [ 0, !GetAZs  '' ]
      CidrBlock: !Ref PrivateSubnet1CIDR
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Private Subnet (AZ1)

  PrivateSubnet2:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Subnet
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [ 1, !GetAZs  '' ]
      CidrBlock: !Ref PrivateSubnet2CIDR
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Private Subnet (AZ2)

  NatGateway1EIP:
    Type: AWS::EC2::EIP
    DependsOn: InternetGatewayAttachment
    Properties:
      Domain: vpc

  NatGateway2EIP:
    Type: AWS::EC2::EIP
    DependsOn: InternetGatewayAttachment
    Properties:
      Domain: vpc

  NatGateway1:
    Type: AWS::EC2::NatGateway
    Properties:
      AllocationId: !GetAtt NatGateway1EIP.AllocationId
      SubnetId: !Ref PublicSubnet1

  NatGateway2:
    Type: AWS::EC2::NatGateway
    Properties:
      AllocationId: !GetAtt NatGateway2EIP.AllocationId
      SubnetId: !Ref PublicSubnet2

  PublicRouteTable:
    Type: AWS::EC2::RouteTable
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Public Routes

  DefaultPublicRoute:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Route
    DependsOn: InternetGatewayAttachment
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PublicRouteTable
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref InternetGateway

  PublicSubnet1RouteTableAssociation:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PublicRouteTable
      SubnetId: !Ref PublicSubnet1

  PublicSubnet2RouteTableAssociation:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PublicRouteTable
      SubnetId: !Ref PublicSubnet2


  PrivateRouteTable1:
    Type: AWS::EC2::RouteTable
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Private Routes (AZ1)

  DefaultPrivateRoute1:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Route
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PrivateRouteTable1
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      NatGatewayId: !Ref NatGateway1

  PrivateSubnet1RouteTableAssociation:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PrivateRouteTable1
      SubnetId: !Ref PrivateSubnet1

  PrivateRouteTable2:
    Type: AWS::EC2::RouteTable
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub ${EnvironmentName} Private Routes (AZ2)

  DefaultPrivateRoute2:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Route
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PrivateRouteTable2
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      NatGatewayId: !Ref NatGateway2

  PrivateSubnet2RouteTableAssociation:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref PrivateRouteTable2
      SubnetId: !Ref PrivateSubnet2

  NoIngressSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
      GroupName: "no-ingress-sg"
      GroupDescription: "Security group with no ingress rule"
      VpcId: !Ref VPC
#################################################################
# OUTPUTS                                                       #
#################################################################
Outputs:
  VPC:
    Description: A reference to the created VPC
    Value: !Ref VPC

  PublicSubnets:
    Description: A list of the public subnets
    Value: !Join [ ",", [ !Ref PublicSubnet1, !Ref PublicSubnet2 ]]

  PrivateSubnets:
    Description: A list of the private subnets
    Value: !Join [ ",", [ !Ref PrivateSubnet1, !Ref PrivateSubnet2 ]]

  PublicSubnet1:
    Description: A reference to the public subnet in the 1st Availability Zone
    Value: !Ref PublicSubnet1

  PublicSubnet2:
    Description: A reference to the public subnet in the 2nd Availability Zone
    Value: !Ref PublicSubnet2

  PrivateSubnet1:
    Description: A reference to the private subnet in the 1st Availability Zone
    Value: !Ref PrivateSubnet1

  PrivateSubnet2:
    Description: A reference to the private subnet in the 2nd Availability Zone
    Value: !Ref PrivateSubnet2

  NoIngressSecurityGroup:
    Description: Security group with no ingress rule
    Value: !Ref NoIngressSecurityGroup