1. Overview

Syndicate is a deployment framework designed to simplify the setup, deployment, and management of serverless applications on AWS. It automates the process of resource deployment and configuration, making it highly efficient for both development and production environments. By abstracting the complexity of AWS service interactions, Syndicate allows developers to focus on writing code rather than managing infrastructure.

Key Features

• Simplified Configuration: Utilizes a single configuration file (syndicate.yml) to manage deployment settings, reducing the setup complexity.
• Alias Management: Supports both static and dynamic aliases, facilitating easy management of multiple environments such as development, staging, and production.
• Automated Resource Handling: Streamlines the creation, deployment, and cleanup of AWS resources with comprehensive command-line tools.
• Bundle Management: Efficiently manages build artifacts through bundling, which includes compilation, packaging, and uploading to AWS.
• Extensive AWS Resource Support: Handles a wide range of AWS resources, enabling a comprehensive serverless architecture setup.
• Environment Isolation: Ensures that deployments can be isolated in different AWS accounts or regions, enhancing security and resource management.
• Meta Generation Capabilities: Provides commands (syndicate generate lambda and syndicate generate meta) to easily generate metadata for resource descriptions by passing key parameters, simplifying the preparation of deployment configurations.

Features of Syndicate:

• Integration with Swagger UI: Syndicate's ability to deploy tools like Swagger UI directly into the AWS environment sets it apart from many native AWS tools that focus solely on AWS services. This integration ensures that users have access to enhanced functionalities like real-time API testing and documentation, which are crucial for modern API-driven applications.
• Simplified Resource Management: Syndicate abstracts the complexity of AWS configurations and deployments, providing a more accessible entry point for developers new to AWS or those who prefer to focus on application logic rather than infrastructure management.
• Customizable and Extensible: The framework is highly customizable, allowing developers to define their infrastructure as code in JSON format, which Syndicate processes to perform deployments. This includes support for dynamic aliases and the ability to link AWS resource deployments with external configurations seamlessly.

Supported Resources

Syndicate supports a wide array of AWS services, catering to various aspects of serverless architecture. Here's a list of resources that Syndicate can manage:

1. API Gateway: REST and WebSocket APIs for creating, deploying, and managing secure APIs at any scale.
2. CloudWatch: Monitoring and observability service used for data and actionable insights to monitor applications, respond to system-wide performance changes, optimize resource utilization, and get a unified view of operational health.
3. Cognito: Provides user identity and data synchronization services, allowing secure user access and management for your apps.
4. DynamoDB: Fast and flexible NoSQL database service for all applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale.
5. DocumentDB: A fast, scalable, highly available, and fully managed document database service that supports MongoDB workloads.
6. Elastic Beanstalk: An easy-to-use service for deploying and scaling web applications and services developed with Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, and Docker on familiar servers such as Apache, Nginx, Passenger, and IIS.
7. Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services cloud.
8. AWS Batch: Fully managed batch processing at any scale, allowing users to efficiently run hundreds of thousands of batch computing jobs on AWS.
9. Identity and Access Management (IAM): Enables you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely.
10. Kinesis: Allows easy collection, processing, and analysis of video and data streams in real-time.
11. Lambda: Lets you run code for virtually any type of application or backend service with zero administration.
12. Simple Notification Service (SNS): A pub/sub messaging and mobile notifications service for coordinating the delivery of messages to subscribing endpoints and clients.
13. Simple Queue Service (SQS): Managed message queuing service that enables you to decouple and scale microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.
14. Simple Storage Service (S3): Scalable storage in the cloud.
15. Step Functions: Coordinates multiple AWS services into serverless workflows so you can build and update apps quickly.

Use Cases

• Multi-Environment Deployments: Easily manage multiple deployment stages and configurations using aliases and environment-specific parameters.
• Large Scale Applications: Suitable for enterprise-level applications requiring integration with numerous AWS services and complex configurations.
• Rapid Prototyping: Quickly set up and tear down serverless architectures, making it ideal for testing and prototyping new applications.

Getting Started

To begin using Syndicate, set up the configuration files and define your project's resources in the operation files. Use the Syndicate commands to manage the lifecycle of your deployments efficiently. Check the comprehensive documentation and start guides to maximize the potential of your serverless applications with Syndicate.