AWS CloudFormation is a free AWS product. However, in a AWS CloudFormation stack, AWS resources which have been created incur charges. The amount charged depends on the usage load.

We recommend you use the Amazon Web Services Simple Monthly Calculator at http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/calc5.html to estimate your cost prior to creating your stacks.

Some AWS CloudFormation properties and intrinsic functions take a CommanSeparatedList as an argument. The following shows the MyValue parameter being assigned a CommaSeparatedList:

"MyValue" : "'one','two','three'"

When you create a AWS CloudFormation stack, you put it and all its member resources into operation. When a resource has been created, it begins to incur charges.

The member resources of each AWS CloudFormation stack are created and deleted in an order determined by the AWS CloudFormation service. Due to the dependent nature of some of the AWS resource, you cannot predict the order in which member resources are created or deleted.

You use the cfn-describe-stack-events command to get information on the resources which have been created or deleted.

See mapping.

See resources.

When you delete a AWS CloudFormation stack, you take it and all its member resources out of operation. When a resource has been deleted, it no longer incurs charges.

See creation sequence.

To get information about your running stacks, you decribe them using the cfn-describe-stacks and cfn-describe-stack-resources commands.

AWS CloudFormation adds a Description property to parameters, resources, resource properties, mappings, and outputs, to enable you to document your template elements.

An endpoint is the DNS name or IP address of the server that receives an HTTP request. There are a number of AWS CloudFormation endpoints providing service to particular regions. For more information, see Regions and Endpoints in the Amazon Web Services General Reference

As AWS CloudFormation creates and deletes stacks and resources, it reports the progress of those operations with cfn-describe-stack-events. Each entry in the report is an event.

See template format version.

See intrinsic function.

AWS CloudFormation defines a number of intrinsic functions you can use within your templates, such as Fn::GetAtt. Arguments for intrinsic functions can be parameters, pseudo parameters, and the output of other intrinsic functions.

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. In order to be valid, all AWS CloudFormation templates must be compliant to the JSON standard. The cfn-validate-template command will check that your templates are JSON-compliant.

For information on JSON, see http://www.json.org/.

A case-sensitive unique string within a template which identifies a resource, mapping, parameter, or output.

In a AWS CloudFormation template, each parameter, resource, property, mapping, and output must be declared with a unique logical name. You use the logical name when dereferencing these items using the Ref function.

In conjunction with the intrinsic function FN::FindInMap, AWS CloudFormation mappings enable you to provide conditional values to your templates at runtime.

When you use the intrinsic function FN::FindInMap, it returns the value of the mapping attribute for the matching or default map.

See resources.

AWS CloudFormation will report the names and values of your template parameters unless you declare the NoEcho property for the parameter. Declaring the NoEcho property causes the parameter value to be masked with asterisks in the report by the cfn-describe-stacks command.

See template object.

A AWS CloudFormation template provides a section where you can define values which are reported with the cfn-describe-stack-resources command. Outputs can be based on parameters, resources, literal strings, pseudo parameters, mappings, and intrinsic functions.

A AWS CloudFormation parameter provides a way to pass runtime values to your template. Parameter values can be assigned to resource properties and outputs.

When you create a stack, AWS CloudFormation assigns each resource a unique physical name. Some AWS CloudFormation commands will accept the physical name as a value with the --physical-name parameter.

See resource properties.

In a AWS CloudFormation template, you declare resource properties, mappings, and output values according to a few JSON-compliant rules for markup.

AWS CloudFormation provides some predefined parameters, such as AWS:StackName that you can use in your templates. You can use pseudo parameters anywhere you can use a regular parameter.

If a AWS CloudFormation stack fails to create, it is rolled back. All resources the failed stack created are deleted during the rollback, unless you specify the --disable-rollback option.

Each AWS CloudFormation stack contains at least one resource, such as an Auto Scaling LaunchConfiguration. All resources in a stack must be created successfully for the stack to be created.

Each AWS CloudFormation resource may have one or more properties associated with it. For example, an AWS::EC2::Instance resource may have a UserData property.

In a AWS CloudFormation template, resources must declare a properties section, even if the resource has no properties.

A stack is a collection of AWS resources you create and delete as a single unit.

See template object.

AWS CloudFormation uses a JSON compliant file called a template to create a stack.

The features available in a AWS CloudFormation template depend on the version you declare in the AWSTemplateFormatVersion section. If you omit the AWSTemplateFormatVersion section from your template, AWS CloudFormation assumes the most recent format version.

Also template section. Each AWS CloudFormation template contains several sections in which you declare the objects your stack will need, such as resources, parameters, and so on.

The code in a AWS CloudFormation template must be valid JSON code. You can validate any AWS CloudFormation template using the cfn-validate-template command.

See template validation.

AWS CloudFormation supports a subset of all AWS resources. Each supported resource is assigned an AWS type, such as AWS::EC2::Instance. You specify the AWS type in the template when you declare a resource.

See AWS Type.

See events.

See status.

See events.

See status.

AWS CloudFormation reports the status of your stack and its resources when you use the cfn-create-stack, cfn-delete-stack, , and cfn-describe-stack-resources commands.

One of IN_PROGRESS|CREATE_FAILED|CREATE_COMPLETE | DELETE_IN_PROGRESS | DELETE_FAILED | DELETE_COMPLETE.

Metadata (consisting of up to 10 key/value pairs) that you can define and assign to EC2 resources. Along with your tas, AWS CloudFormation adds the stack name as a tag to the member resources of your stacks.

You can pass information to a Amazon EC2 instance when you run it. With AWS CloudFormation, you can specify this information for an instance by declaring the UserData in the template.