I'm currently setting up AWS infrastructure for my startup as a solo developer, and I want to make sure I don't miss anything important. Here's what I have planned so far:
- For the backend, I'm considering either Fargate or App Runner.
- For the frontend, I'm going with S3 and CloudFront.
- My database choice is RDS Postgres.
- I'll use S3 for storage, specifically for images and videos.
- I'm also looking into a few managed services to keep operational overhead low so I can concentrate on the business logic.
I've used AWS through the console in the past, but it got complicated quickly. This time I want to implement best practices with AWS CDK and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Since this is my first time designing startup infrastructure from scratch and I'm on my own, I'd really appreciate any advice from those who have been through this before.
My main questions are:
- What hidden costs should I look out for with these services?
- Are there any best practices you wish you had known when you started?
- How did you effectively manage costs while still being able to move fast?
I haven't started building yet, so I'm open to any advice or general pointers that could help me avoid troubles down the road.
6 Answers
Your choices look solid, and I agree that using IaC is the right direction. Just keep an eye on potential costs from CloudWatch and CloudTrail. Figure out what you need to log and set up retention to avoid getting overwhelmed.
One thing to really consider is data transfer costs, especially when it comes to egress to the internet or any cross-AZ (Availability Zone) and cross-region transfers. You should also think about a tagging strategy to easily identify resources and manage costs.
If tracking cost per customer is important for your business model, ensure your architecture allows you to capture that data. Just keep in mind that while usage-based pricing can help lower initial costs, it can lead to unexpected charges. Services like Lambda have built-in protections now, but you should still be cautious about potential cost spikes due to misuse. So don't just trust the default settings blindly!
Honestly, one of the biggest things I wish we had tackled early on was compliance for Terraform during our CI/CD pipeline. After years without a clear strategy, we ended up with a jumbled cost explorer and concerns over IAM policies. Definitely check out terraform-compliance for some guidance with that.
Definitely set up an organization to keep different environments separate. Use Control Tower to help manage it all. And if you can, apply for AWS Activate to get some additional resources and support. Also, keep your app code separate from your infrastructure code!
Watch out for technical debt! Don’t let the push from other dev teams or management rush you into setting up infrastructure without proper planning just to get things live. Trust me, you’ll spend way more time fixing rushed decisions later on.
Don’t over-plan everything! Just start experimenting and keep an eye on both costs and performance. Build incrementally and use Infrastructure as Code right from the get-go.
Absolutely! Data transfer costs can sneak up on you if you're not careful.