Deploying Bowtie Controllers in AWS Using Terraform

This repository provides a solution for deploying a high-availability cluster of Bowtie controllers in AWS using Terraform. You can use it either as a "1-click" deployment option by replacing the variables listed, or as a reference guide for the infrastructure needed to support Bowtie controllers in AWS.

Deployment Components

• AWS infrastructure (VPC, subnets, security groups)
• EC2 controller instances
• Elastic IP addresses
• Route53 DNS records (optional)
• Bowtie site configuration

Deployment Steps

1. Clone this repository

2. Configure terraform.tfvars with:

   • AWS authentication
   • AWS resource group information
   • Network details
   • See examples for sample tfvar files that cover various deployment types

3. Set required environment variables:

   • Bowtie Username (for API authentication)
   • Bowtie Password (for API authentication)

4. Initialize, validate, and deploy:

   • Run terraform init to prepare the environment
   • Run terraform plan to validate the expected deployment
   • Run terraform apply to deploy

Deployment Options

Fresh Deployment

For a new deployment in a new VPC:

create_vpc = true
vpc_name = "bowtie-prod"
controller_count = 2
create_eips = true

Using Existing Infrastructure

To deploy within existing AWS infrastructure:

create_vpc = false
vpc_id = "vpc-12345abcdef"
create_subnets = false
subnet_id = "subnet-12345abcdef"
create_security_group = false
security_group_id = "sg-12345abcdef"

Using Existing Elastic IPs

If you already have Elastic IPs allocated:

create_eips = false
eip_addresses = ["203.0.113.10", "203.0.113.11"]

Adding DNS Entries

To automatically create DNS records in Route53:

create_dns_records = true
route53_zone_id = "Z1234567890ABCD"

High Availability Deployment

For high availability deployments:

controller_count = 3  # Creates a 3-node cluster

In HA mode:

• The first controller becomes the primary node
• Subsequent controllers automatically join the primary node
• All controllers share the same site ID and sync key

Cloud-Init Configuration

The deployment uses cloud-init to configure the controllers at boot time. This configuration includes:

• Setting the hostname and FQDN
• Configuring the site ID and sync key
• Setting up the admin user
• Configuring SSH access
• (Optionally) Setting up SSO integration

It's recommended to use our cloud-init generation script to generate the information needed in order to fully seed the deployment.

Reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.