AWS Missing Tools

The AWS Missing Tools suite addresses the operational gap in managing and automating various AWS resources by extending the capabilities of the Amazon CLI tools. This collection of tools is designed to handle specific tasks that are not natively supported or are cumbersome to manage using the standard AWS CLI.

Technically, the tools leverage the existing AWS APIs and CLI frameworks to perform tasks such as applying alarms to Auto Scaling Groups and RDS instances, modifying Launch Configurations, and automating backups for EC2 EBS volumes. For example, the as-apply-alarms tool integrates with Auto Scaling Groups to set up alarms, while ec2-automate-backup simplifies the process of backing up multiple EBS volumes. The cloudinit-inject tool injects userdata scripts into CloudFormation templates, enhancing the initialization process for EC2 and Auto Scaling resources.

Operationally, these tools depend on the presence of official AWS tools and require proper configuration and access credentials to function. This dependency can introduce complexity in multi-account setups or environments with strict access controls. Additionally, the tools do not have a unified security policy, which may pose risks if not properly managed within an organization's security framework.

From a technical standpoint, the tools are written in Ruby and utilize the AWS SDKs to interact with AWS services. They offer granular control over resource management but may require additional scripting and automation to fully integrate into larger DevOps pipelines. For instance, the aws-ha-release tool, which enables high-availability replacements of EC2 instances behind an Elastic Load Balancer, requires careful planning and execution to avoid downtime. Overall, these tools fill critical gaps in AWS management but demand careful consideration of their operational and security implications.