Multi-Architecture Container Build Pipeline with AWS CDK

In the evolving landscape of cloud compute architectures, developing applications that run efficiently on both ARM and AMD processors has become increasingly important. To address this challenge, we've released a new AWS CDK template that simplifies the process of building & deploying multi-architecture container images.

We've launched this as part of our MakeOps Cloud Components Library - a series of pre-built, vetted templates for common architecture patters on AWS.

The Challenge of Multi-Arch Development

With the rise of ARM-based processors like Apple's M-series and AWS Graviton, developers face the challenge of ensuring their containerized applications can run on both ARM and AMD architectures. This is particularly crucial in environments where different CPU architectures coexist, such as in cloud infrastructure or development teams using various hardware. Testing locally is as important as optimizing the power-performance and energy utilization.

MakeOps' Solution: A Multi-Arch Container Build Pipeline

MakeOps' new CDK template offers a quick way to tackle this problem by setting up a CI/CD pipeline that automatically builds container images for both ARM64 and AMD64 architectures. Here's an overview of the key features:

• AWS Native Technologies: The solution leverages AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeBuild, providing a serverless and easily extensible pipeline.

• Docker-in-Docker Technique: The build process uses a Docker-in-Docker approach within AWS CodeBuild, allowing for flexible and isolated container builds.

• Parallel Builds: The pipeline runs parallel builds for ARM64 and AMD64 architectures, optimizing the build process.

• Manifest Creation: A crucial step in the pipeline is the creation of a manifest that points to both architecture-specific images, simplifying deployment to services like ECS and EKS.

• Flexible Tagging: The solution supports various tagging strategies, including commit hashes and "latest" tags, catering to different deployment practices.

How It Works

The architecture diagram for this cloud component is shown below:

• The pipeline is triggered by commits to the main branch of a specified GitHub repository.
• Source code is pulled using an AWS CodeConnection.
• Parallel CodeBuild jobs build images for ARM64 and AMD64 architectures.
• Images are pushed to Amazon ECR with architecture-specific tags.
• A manifest is created and pushed to ECR, allowing for architecture-agnostic image references.

Benefits and Use Cases

This solution is particularly valuable for teams working with diverse hardware environments or preparing for a transition between architectures. It ensures that applications can be consistently deployed across different CPU architectures without manual intervention.

Getting Started

To use this template, developers need to:

• Set up an AWS CodeConnection to their GitHub repository.
• Configure the pipeline using a values.yaml file, specifying GitHub source and ECR destination details.
• Deploy the CDK stack using standard CDK commands.

Conclusion

MakeOps' multi-arch container build pipeline template offers a robust solution to a growing challenge in modern application development. By automating the build process for multiple architectures, it helps development teams maintain velocity while ensuring broad compatibility of their containerized applications.