Introduction and Planning


Back To TOC

Introduction and Planning

In this section of the Guide, we will cover the following topics:

  1. Resources and Knowledge-Base
  2. Architecture/Network Diagram
  3. AWS Billable Services

1. Resources and Knowledge-Base

The iForm App is a complex solution, and it requires some AWS-related knowledge before starting the deployment. You should be familiar with such AWS services as Route53, EC2, RDS, CertificateManager, Elastic File System, Application Load Balancer. Also, you should have a good understanding of concepts such as Encryption at REST and In-Transit as well as using Security Groups and know what in-bound and out-bound internet traffic is. Also, you should be comfortable using Terraform and other CLI tools and commands using BASH or a similar shell.

This Installation Guide is intended for Linux OS. However, you can use either Linux or Mac OS to deploy the iForm from your local machine.

Please note, the iForm can run on a wide range of Linux OS and hardware. Howerver, this version of iForm is based on Amazon Linux 2. As a starting point, we also provide some recommendations on which EC2 and RDS instances to choose to measure your load and be able to scale your solution on-demand.

2. Architecture/Network Diagram

Using the Deployment Solution that comes with iForm App, you will be deploying an architecture displayed below.

img

3. AWS Billable Services

iForm Version 1.2 GA comes as open-source software. We don’t charge you for the software license. However, you will be charged by the AWS for Service Usage.

Below you can find the list of ALL AWS resources that this iForm Deployment Solution will create for you:

  1. aws_alb_listener.http
  2. aws_db_instance.main
  3. aws_db_subnet_group.private-subnet
  4. aws_efs_file_system.datalake
  5. aws_efs_mount_target.efs-mount-2-datalake
  6. aws_efs_mount_target.efs-mount-datalake
  7. aws_eip.nat
  8. aws_iam_instance_profile.default
  9. aws_iam_policy.cwagent
  10. aws_iam_role.assumerole
  11. aws_iam_role_policy_attachment.appserver-policy-role-attachment
  12. aws_instance.app
  13. aws_instance.bastion
  14. aws_internet_gateway.prod-igw
  15. aws_key_pair.ssh-key-region-key-pair
  16. aws_key_pair.ssh-public-key-region-key-pair
  17. aws_kms_key.this
  18. aws_lb.iform
  19. aws_lb_listener.https
  20. aws_lb_target_group.iform
  21. aws_lb_target_group_attachment.iform
  22. aws_nat_gateway.nat
  23. aws_route_table.prod-private-crt
  24. aws_route_table.prod-public-crt
  25. aws_route_table_association.prod-crta-private-2-subnet
  26. aws_route_table_association.prod-crta-private-subnet
  27. aws_route_table_association.prod-crta-public-2-subnet
  28. aws_route_table_association.prod-crta-public-subnet
  29. aws_security_group.appserver
  30. aws_security_group.bastion
  31. aws_security_group.datalake
  32. aws_security_group.loadbalancer
  33. aws_security_group.postgres
  34. aws_security_group.ses
  35. aws_subnet.prod-subnet-private
  36. aws_subnet.prod-subnet-private-2
  37. aws_subnet.prod-subnet-private-3
  38. aws_subnet.prod-subnet-public
  39. aws_subnet.prod-subnet-public-2
  40. aws_vpc.prod-vpc
  41. aws_vpc_endpoint.ses

You will incur charges for the resources this Solution uses. The primary billable AWS Services are:

  1. EC2 for Application Server
  2. EC2 for Bastion Server
  3. RDS for Database Server
  4. Route53 Service
  5. Amazon VPC
  6. Amazon Simple Email Service
  7. Amazon Elastic File System
  8. Amazon Application Load Balancer
  9. Amazon Elastic IP Address
  10. Amazon NET Gateway
  11. VPC SES Endpoint

You will also incur charges for data transition and backups, such as RDS and EBS Snapshots, EFS backups, etc.

Please follow the links below to project your expenditure before deployment

  1. AWS Pricing Calculator
  2. AWS Simple Monthly Calculator

Disclaimer: Estimating costs is difficult because AWS bills by resource usage and your AWS Services usage may differ. We will NOT be liable to you or any third party for any charges or changes or discontinuance of the Service or any part of the Service.

For the most accurate way to see previous costs to predict your future costs enable:

  1. AWS Cost Explorer
  2. AWS Cost Explorer Documentation

Here is a list of optional services. These services are not required. However, we recommend using them to operate your iForm more securely.

  1. EC2 for Bastion Server

Previous Section Next Section