PyAirtable Infrastructure - Practical Production Setup

This infrastructure is designed for a 2-person team to deploy and maintain PyAirtable microservices with production-ready practices without over-engineering.

What We Built

✅ Modular but Simple

• Modules: VPC, Security, RDS, etc. - reusable and maintainable
• Single main file: simplified-main.tf - uses modules but keeps configuration straightforward
• Environment-specific: dev.tfvars and prod.tfvars - clear separation without complexity

✅ Production-Ready Basics

• Security: WAF, security groups, encryption at rest, KMS
• High Availability: Multi-AZ RDS in prod, multiple subnets
• Monitoring: CloudWatch alarms, basic dashboards
• Secrets Management: SSM Parameter Store for API keys
• Cost Optimization: Spot instances in dev, right-sized resources

✅ Maintainable Operations

• Simple Makefile: make apply ENV=dev - that's it
• Integrated CI/CD: In your main repo, not separate
• Clear Documentation: Step-by-step deployment guide
• Easy Troubleshooting: Clear logs and health checks

Quick Start (5 minutes to production)

# 1. One-time setup
make setup

# 2. Deploy dev environment
make apply ENV=dev

# 3. Deploy your services
make deploy-service SERVICE=api-gateway ENV=dev

# 4. Check health
make health ENV=dev

File Structure

infrastructure/
├── terraform/
│   ├── simplified-main.tf          # Main infrastructure (uses modules)
│   ├── variables.tf                # Simple variable definitions
│   ├── outputs.tf                  # What you need to know
│   ├── environments/
│   │   ├── dev.tfvars             # Dev configuration
│   │   └── prod.tfvars            # Prod configuration
│   └── modules/                   # Reusable components
│       ├── vpc/                   # Network setup
│       ├── security/              # Security groups, WAF, KMS
│       ├── rds/                   # Database with backups
│       └── [other modules...]
├── Makefile.simple                # Simple operations
├── DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md           # Step-by-step guide
└── README.md                     # This file

Key Decisions Made for Your Team

🎯 Focused on Getting Things Done

• 2 environments only: dev and prod (no staging complexity)
• Essential monitoring: CloudWatch basics, email alerts
• Practical security: Industry standards without over-engineering
• Cost conscious: Spot instances in dev, right-sizing

🛠 Operational Simplicity

• One command deployment: make apply ENV=prod
• Integrated CI/CD: Lives in your main repo
• Clear troubleshooting: make logs SERVICE=api-gateway
• Easy scaling: make scale-service SERVICE=api-gateway REPLICAS=3

🔒 Production Security

• Network isolation: Private subnets, security groups
• Encryption everywhere: RDS, Redis, logs, secrets
• WAF protection: Rate limiting, common attack patterns
• Secrets management: SSM Parameter Store

What This Gives You

✅ For Development

• Cheap to run (~$50-100/month)
• Fast deployments
• Easy to reset/recreate
• Full feature parity with prod

✅ For Production

• High availability (Multi-AZ)
• Automated backups
• Security hardening
• Monitoring and alerting
• Scalable architecture

✅ For Your Team

• Simple to operate
• Clear documentation
• Easy troubleshooting
• Maintainable codebase
• Room to grow

Common Operations

# Deploy infrastructure
make apply ENV=dev
make apply ENV=prod

# Deploy a service
make deploy-service SERVICE=api-gateway ENV=dev

# Check status
make status ENV=dev
make health ENV=dev

# View logs
make logs SERVICE=api-gateway ENV=dev

# Scale services
make scale-service SERVICE=api-gateway REPLICAS=2 ENV=prod

# Database operations
make db-backup ENV=prod
make db-connect ENV=dev

Migration from Current Setup

If you have existing infrastructure, here's how to migrate:

1. Deploy new infrastructure alongside existing
2. Test thoroughly in dev environment
3. Migrate data using standard database tools
4. Switch DNS to new load balancer
5. Decomission old infrastructure

Cost Expectations

Development (~$50-80/month)

• ECS Fargate Spot: ~$20
• RDS t3.micro: ~$15
• Redis t3.micro: ~$10
• ALB: ~$15
• NAT Gateway: ~$15
• Misc (CloudWatch, etc): ~$10

Production (~$200-400/month)

• ECS Fargate: ~$100-200
• RDS t3.small Multi-AZ: ~$40
• Redis t3.small: ~$20
• ALB: ~$20
• NAT Gateways (2): ~$30
• Backups, monitoring: ~$20

Next Steps

1. Review the configuration files
2. Customize the prod.tfvars with your domains/certificates
3. Deploy development environment
4. Test with your applications
5. Deploy production when ready

Support

• Documentation: See DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md for detailed steps
• Troubleshooting: Check CloudWatch logs first
• Operations: Use the Makefile for common tasks
• Monitoring: CloudWatch dashboards and email alerts

This setup gives you enterprise-grade infrastructure with startup-level operational simplicity. Perfect for a focused 2-person team building great products.