VPC Provisioner Tool documentation¶

Welcome to the VPC Provisioner Tool documentation. This tool helps you provision and manage AWS VPCs with best practices built-in.

📚 Getting Started (Read First)¶

Start here if you’re new to the VPC Provisioner.

README: Quick start and overview - Your first stop. Covers what the tool does, common commands, VPC architecture patterns, and AWS credentials setup. Read this first to understand the tool and get running in 15 minutes.
USER_GUIDE: Complete command reference - Comprehensive guide covering all actions (validate, create-policy, create-prov-template, create-vpc, delete-vpc), deployment workflows, volume mounts, AWS credentials, and best practices. Essential reading for daily operations.

📖 Core Documentation (Essential)¶

Core references you’ll use frequently.

CONFIGURATION: Configuration parameters reference - Detailed explanation of every YAML parameter (client, environment, vpc sections), complete examples for different architectures (simple public, public-private, 3-tier), CIDR planning guide, subnet configuration, and validation rules.

🔧 Operations (Day-to-Day Use)¶

Operational guides for managing deployed infrastructure.

BACKUP_RECOVERY Backup and recovery procedures - Disaster recovery strategies, backup procedures for configurations and VPC metadata, recovery workflows, and RTO/RPO guidelines. Critical for production environments.

MONITORING_HEALTH_CHECKS: Monitoring and health checks - CloudWatch metrics, VPC Flow Logs, health check procedures, alerting strategies, and operational dashboards. Essential for production monitoring.
UPDATE_PROCEDURES: Update and maintenance procedures - How to update configurations, modify existing VPCs, add new subnets, and perform maintenance tasks. Note: VPCs are immutable for some properties (CIDR blocks).
COST_OPTIMIZATION: Cost optimization strategies - NAT Gateway costs, data transfer pricing, VPC endpoint savings, and recommendations for reducing VPC-related spend.
PERFORMANCE_TUNING: Performance tuning guide - Network performance optimization, NAT Gateway throughput, placement groups, and performance considerations for ML workloads.

🔒 Security & Compliance¶

Security, permissions, and compliance documentation.

IAM_PERMISSIONS: Required AWS permissions - Complete IAM policy requirements for EC2 VPC operations, CloudFormation, and S3 template storage. Includes least-privilege policies and role-based access examples.
SECURITY: Security overview - High-level security architecture, network isolation, security groups, NACLs, VPC Flow Logs, and security best practices.
SECURITY_GUIDELINES: Detailed security guidelines - Comprehensive security implementation guide covering VPC security hardening, subnet isolation, security group rules, NACL configuration, VPC Flow Logs setup, and compliance requirements.

🐛 Troubleshooting & Support¶

Problem resolution and getting help.

TROUBLESHOOTING: Common issues and solutions - Comprehensive troubleshooting guide covering AWS credentials, configuration errors (invalid CIDR blocks, overlapping subnets), CloudFormation errors, NAT Gateway issues, Docker errors, and deletion errors. Includes quick diagnostics and advanced troubleshooting techniques.
SUPPORT: Support information - How to get help, support channels, escalation procedures, and what information to include in support requests.

📊 Advanced Topics (Optional)¶

Deep dives for advanced users and specific use cases.

APPLICATION_ARCHITECTURE: Complete architecture documentation - Enterprise-grade technical documentation covering system architecture, design decisions, CloudFormation implementation, VPC networking patterns, security architecture, and deployment patterns. For architects and advanced users.
INTEGRATION_EXAMPLES: Integration examples - How to integrate provisioned VPCs with EC2, SageMaker VPC mode, RDS, ECS/EKS, and Terraform.
MIGRATION_GUIDE: Migration guide - Migrating from manual VPC setup, Terraform, or CDK to the VPC Provisioner.

📋 Reference (As Needed)¶

Version history, roadmap, feedback, and examples.

RELEASE_NOTES: Version history and changes - Release history, new features, bug fixes, breaking changes, and upgrade notes for each version.
ROADMAP: Future features and plans - Planned features, enhancement requests, and product roadmap. See what’s coming next.
FEEDBACK: Feedback and feature requests - Submit feature requests, vote on planned features, and provide documentation feedback.
SAMPLE_REPORTS: Sample HTML reports - Example template and deployment reports generated by the VPC Provisioner.

📚 Getting Started:

📖 Core Documentation:

🔧 Operations:

🔒 Security & Compliance:

🐛 Troubleshooting and Support:

📊 Advanced Topics:

📋 Reference:

🎯 Quick Navigation by Task¶

I want to…¶

Get started quickly: → README → User Guide
Understand configuration options: → Configuration Reference
Plan CIDR blocks and subnets: → Configuration Reference (CIDR Planning Guide section)
Set up IAM permissions: → IAM Permissions
Implement security best practices: → Security Guidelines
Set up monitoring and VPC Flow Logs: → Monitoring and Health Checks
Troubleshoot an issue: → Troubleshooting
Plan disaster recovery: → Backup and Recovery Procedures
Update existing VPC: → Update Procedures
Understand the architecture: → Application Architecture
Get support: → Support
Optimize costs: → Cost Optimization
Tune network performance: → Performance Tuning Guide
Integrate with other AWS services: → Integration Examples
Migrate from another tool: → Migration Guide
Submit feedback or feature requests: → Feedback

📖 Recommended Reading Order¶

For New Users¶

README - Overview and quick start
User Guide - Complete command reference
Configuration Reference - Configuration parameters and CIDR planning
Troubleshooting - Common issues

For Production Deployment¶

Configuration Reference - Production configuration (3-tier architecture)
IAM Permissions - Security setup
Security Guidelines - Security hardening (VPC Flow Logs, NACLs)
Monitoring and Health Checks - Monitoring setup
Backup and Recovery Procedures - Disaster recovery planning

For Network Architects¶

Configuration Reference - CIDR planning and subnet design
Application Architecture - Technical architecture
Security Guidelines - Network security patterns

For Security Teams¶

Security Guidelines - Security implementation
IAM Permissions - Least-privilege access
Monitoring and Health Checks - Security monitoring

🏗️ VPC Architecture Patterns¶

The VPC Provisioner supports three main architecture patterns:

Pattern 1: Simple Public VPC: Single public subnet for simple applications. See Configuration Reference Example 1.
Pattern 2: Public-Private VPC: Public subnet for web tier, private subnet for app tier. See Configuration Reference Example 2.
Pattern 3: 3-Tier Architecture (Recommended): Public, private, and database tiers with high availability across multiple AZs. See Configuration Reference Example 3.

📝 Documentation Conventions¶

UPPERCASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES.md - Main documentation files
lowercase-with-hyphens.html - Example reports
All paths are relative to the docs/ directory
Code examples use bash syntax unless otherwise noted
AWS resource names follow the pattern: {company_prefix}-{env}-{tenant_id}-{region}
VPC CIDR blocks use RFC 1918 private ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16)

🔄 Documentation Updates¶

This documentation is version-controlled and updated with each release. See Release Notes for documentation changes in each version.

Last Updated: 2025-04-01