Cover image for Setting Up AWS CDK on Your AWS Account: A Comprehensive Guide

Setting Up AWS CDK on Your AWS Account: A Comprehensive Guide

AWS

March 27, 2024

Cover image for Setting Up AWS CDK on Your AWS Account: A Comprehensive Guide
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Installing the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) on your AWS account enhances your infrastructure as code capabilities, allowing for the efficient provisioning of AWS resources. This guide takes you through the necessary steps to get AWS CDK up and running, assuming you've already configured AWS CLI as per our previous guide.

Step 1: Install the AWS CDK CLI

Begin by installing the AWS CDK CLI globally on your system using npm:

npm install -g aws-cdk 

Step 2: Verify the Installation

Ensure that the installation was successful by checking the version of the CDK CLI:

cdk --version 

At the time of this writing, the latest version is 2.134.0, though this may vary.

Step 3: Bootstrap Your Environment

Bootstrap your AWS environment to prepare for deploying CDK applications:

cdk bootstrap aws://ACCOUNT-NUMBER/REGION 

Replace ACCOUNT-NUMBER and REGION with your actual AWS account number and desired region, for example:

cdk bootstrap aws://1234567890/us-east-1 

Dealing with Permissions Errors

If you encounter errors related to permissions, it indicates that your AWS IAM user lacks the necessary permissions. To resolve this, create a User Group with AdministratorAccess and add your user to this group. Here's how:

Create a User Group:

  • Navigate to IAM Dashboard

    Access the IAM dashboard in your AWS Management Console.

  • Create New User Group

    Go to "User groups", click "Create group", name your group (e.g., CDKDeployGroup), and proceed.

  • Attach Policy

    Search for and attach the AdministratorAccess policy to the group.

Add User to the User Group:

  • User's Profile

    In the "Users" section of the IAM dashboard, select the user to be added to the group.

  • Add User to Group

    Use the “Add user to groups” option to add the user to the newly created CDKDeployGroup.

After completing these steps, rerun the cdk bootstrap command. Successful execution indicates your AWS account and region are now ready to deploy AWS CDK applications, visible by the new CDKToolkit stack in the CloudFormation service.

This guide not only helps in setting up AWS CDK on your AWS account but also emphasizes the importance of proper IAM permissions management, ensuring a smooth deployment process for your CDK applications.