Case study
Reusable AWS Infrastructure Automation
Standardized automation patterns for EC2, IAM, ALB, target groups and networking, delivered through AAP with guardrails.
- Result
- Standardized, repeatable AWS changes with built-in guardrails
- Role
- Built and maintain
- Where
- Discover Financial Services / Capital One · 2020 – Present
- Key stack
- Terraform · Ansible · AAP · Python / Boto3
Sanitized case study based on professional experience. Internal names, accounts, hostnames and configurations are intentionally omitted.
01Problem
AWS changes (creating, updating and deleting services) come in continuously as platform and application needs evolve. Hand-built changes drift and are hard to review.
02Context
The platform team supports many application teams across multiple AWS accounts. Automation has to be reusable across teams and still enforce organizational standards.
03Architecture
How it works
- Teams request changes through AAP instead of the AWS console.
- AAP runs reusable Terraform modules for provisioning and Ansible roles for configuration.
- Standards such as tagging and IAM boundaries are built into the automation, so every change follows the same guardrails.
04Engineering approach
- Captured frequently repeated changes as reusable modules and roles.
- Standardized inputs and tagging so resources are consistent and attributable.
- Exposed the automation through AAP for controlled, auditable execution.
05Security
- IAM boundaries and approved-service lists enforced in code.
- Every change is executed and logged through the platform.
06Automation
- Reusable modules and roles shared across teams.
- Python/Boto3 helpers for AWS API tasks outside Terraform’s scope.
07Results
- Standardized, repeatable AWS changes across teams.
- Less manual work and better maintainability of the infrastructure codebase.
08Lessons learned
- Reuse comes from small, composable modules with clear inputs, not from one large template.
09Skills & technologies
Infrastructure as CodeAWSAnsiblePlatform standards
TerraformAnsibleAAPPython / Boto3AWS EC2IAMALBTarget GroupsVPC