Step 5: Add Access Information to the Stack Configuration JSON

Important

AWS OpsWorks Stacks is no longer accepting new customers. Existing customers will be able to use the OpsWorks console, API, CLI, and CloudFormation resources as normal until May 26, 2024, at which time they will be discontinued. To prepare for this transition, we recommend you transition your stacks to AWS Systems Manager as soon as possible. For more information, see AWS OpsWorks Stacks End of Life FAQs and Migrating your AWS OpsWorks Stacks applications to AWS Systems Manager Application Manager.

The generate.rb recipe depends on a pair of stack configuration and deployment JSON attributes that represent the Redis server's host name and port. Although these attributes are part of the standard [:deploy] namespace, they are not automatically defined by AWS OpsWorks Stacks. Instead, you define the attributes and their values by adding a custom JSON object to the stack. The following example shows the custom JSON for this example.

To add access information to the stack configuration and deployment JSON

1. On the AWS OpsWorks Stacks Stack page, click Stack Settings and then Edit.

2. In the Configuration Management section, add access information to the Custom Chef JSON box. It should look something like the following example, with these modifications:

   • Replace elasticache_redis_example with your app's short name.

   • Replace the host and port values with the values for the ElastiCache Redis server instance that you created in Step 1: Create an ElastiCache Redis Cluster.

   
   {
     "deploy": {
        "elasticache_redis_example": {
          "redis": {
            "host": "mycluster.XXXXXXXXX.amazonaws.com",
            "port": "6379"
          }
        }
     }
   }
   

   

The advantage of this approach is that you can change the port or host value at any time without touching your custom cookbook. AWS OpsWorks Stacks merges custom JSON into the built-in JSON and installs it on the stack's instances for all subsequent lifecycle events. Apps can then access the attribute values by using Chef node syntax, as described in Step 3: Create and Deploy a Custom Cookbook. The next time you deploy an app, AWS OpsWorks Stacks will install a stack configuration and deployment JSON that contains the new definitions, and generate.rb will create a configuration file with the updated host and port values.

Note

[:deploy] automatically includes an attribute for every deployed app, so [:deploy][elasticache_redis_example] is already in the stack and configuration JSON. However, [:deploy][elasticache_redis_example] does not include a [:redis] attribute, defining them with custom JSON directs AWS OpsWorks Stacks to add those attributes to [:deploy][elasticache_redis_example]. You can also use custom JSON to override existing attributes. For more information, see Overriding Attributes.