🎯 Learning Objectives

• Understand what a CloudFormation template is and what it is made of
• Identify the mandatory section every template must have
• Read a simple YAML template and understand what it will create
• Deploy your first CloudFormation stack through the AWS Console
• Navigate the Console to inspect the Events, Resources, and Tags that CloudFormation created
• Understand the relationship between a logical resource name and a physical AWS resource

Part 1: Before You Start — Region Check

Explanation

CloudFormation templates can reference region-specific values such as AMI IDs (Amazon Machine Image). An AMI ID that is valid in us-east-1 (N. Virginia) will not work in eu-west-1 (Ireland). To make sure everything in this lab works as expected, you must be in the correct region before doing anything else.

Actions

1. Log in to the AWS Console.
2. Look at the top-right corner of the page — you will see the currently selected region (e.g., eu-west-1 or ap-southeast-1).
3. Click on it and change it to US East (N. Virginia) — us-east-1.
4. Confirm the region label in the top-right now shows N. Virginia.

Key Concepts

• AMI IDs are region-specific. The same Amazon Linux image has a different ID in every region. If you deploy in the wrong region, the template will fail with an "Invalid AMI" error.
• All labs in this CloudFormation module are designed for us-east-1. Always verify your region at the start of each lab.