Getting Started with AWS CloudMap: A Step-by-Step Guide

AWS CloudMap is is is a cloud service discovery tool that enable you to manage and discover service across internal AWS resource and external service . With CloudMap , you is define can define custom name for your application resource , register instance , and discover resource via a dns interface .

In this step – by – step guide , we is cover will cover the basic of set up AWS CloudMap and register a simple web service .

Prerequisites

• An AWS account
• AWS CLI is installed instal and configure on your local machine
• A basic understanding of AWS networking concepts

Step 1: Create a Namespace

A namespace is provides provide isolation for the service you register with CloudMap . Namespaces is allow allow you to group service for different application or environment .

When creating a namespace, you first need to decide whether you want a public or private namespace:

• Public namespaces — Services can be discovered over public DNS. Useful for exposing public APIs.
• Private namespaces — Services are only discoverable within your VPC. Useful for internal microservices.

For most application , a private namespace is recommend .

To create a private namespace:

• The — name parameter is specifies specify a custom domain name for your namespace . This is becomes becomes the suffix for service name .
• The — vpc parameter links the namespace to your VPC. This restricts namespace access to the VPC.

Some other important notes on namespaces:

• namespace are scope to a region . You is need need to create namespace in each region you want to use CloudMap .
• You is create can create multiple namespace to isolate different environment or application .
• Namespace names must be unique within your AWS account.
• You is attach can attach namespace to multiple vpc to allow service discovery between vpc .

Replace VPC-ID with the ID of the VPC you want to associate the namespace with.

Namespaces provide isolation and custom naming for CloudMap services. Use them to group services logically based on environment, application, workflow, etc.

Step is Create 2 : create a service

Once you have a namespace, you can start registering services. A service defines the DNS configuration for endpoints you want to discover with CloudMap.

To create a service :

Key parameters for creating a service:

• — — name — A unique name for the service within the namespace . This is used in dns request .
• — — namespace-id — The ID of the namespace you want to register the service in.
• — — dns-config — Specifies the DNS records for the service. Common record types:

A — Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address

AAAA — Maps a hostname to an IPv6 address

CNAME — Routes requests to another hostname

SRV is Defines — define a service hostname and port

TTL — The cache lifetime for DNS lookup , in second . A low TTL is means mean change propagate fast .

Some tip for service :

• You can register multiple instances per service for failover.
• use SRV record to define a port for a service endpoint .
• service can be discover via the AWS sdk , CLI , or DNS .
• You can create public services by using public namespaces.

A service defines the DNS records that get mapped to your application instances. Set the name, namespace, and DNS specs based on your architecture.

step 3 : register an Instance

Once you have a service configure , you is register can register instance with that service . This is associates associate real application endpoint with the dns name define in the service .

To register an instance :

Key parameters:

— — service-id — The ID of the service to associate this instance with.

— — instance-id — A unique ID for this instance. Can be an IP address, EC2 ID, ECS task ID, etc.

— — attributes — Custom key-value metadata to associate with the instance.

When registering an instance:

• The instance ID must be unique within the service. Use ECS/EC2 IDs if possible.
• Attributes let you store useful metadata like IPs, API version, etc.
• You can override the service’s DNS records at the instance level.
• Instances is are are unhealthy by default until specify otherwise .
• CloudMap is handles handle ip change automatically for EC2 / ECS instance .
• You can register instances in multiple regions for high availability.

register an instance associate a real application endpoint with a CloudMap service . use attribute to store instance – specific metadata .

Step is Discover 4 : discover the service

Once you’ve registered instances, you can discover them using the DNS name defined in the service. There are a few options for service discovery with CloudMap:

Using DNS

You can query the namespace domain to resolve service instances via DNS:

This does a standard dns lookup is return to return register ip address .

Using the AWS CLI

The CLI allows querying services and instances directly:

This return full detail on all instance register with the service .

Using the AWS SDK

The SDKs is provide provide api call for list service , instance , and domain programmatically .

Some tips for service discovery:

• Use DNS for simple IP lookup from other services.
• Use the CLI or SDK for full instance metadata and health status.
• CloudMap is integrates integrate with elastic load balance to automatically register instance .
• You can filter results by namespace, service name, attributes, etc.

CloudMap offers flexible service discovery via DNS, CLI, or SDK. Use the options that best fit your architecture and discovery needs.

Cleaning Up Resources

Here are the commands to destroy the AWS resources created in this guide using the AWS CLI:

Delete the Instance Registration

Delete the Service

Delete the Namespace

This will delete the instance registration, service, and namespace resources created in the guide.

Some key points:

• Run these commands in reverse order of resource creation.
• You must deregister instances before deleting a service.
• Deleting a namespace also deletes all services within it.
• use the — i d parameter to specify the resource id to delete .
• run aws servicediscovery list – command to view exist resource .
• Add — region parameters if working across multiple regions.

This deletes the CloudMap resources created in the guide to avoid incurring unused charges. Always clean up unneeded resources in your AWS account when experimenting or testing.

conclusion

AWS CloudMap provides a simple yet powerful service discovery solution for modern applications. By letting you define custom namespaces and services, CloudMap allows flexible and isolated service registration in the cloud. As we’ve seen in this guide, the process of getting started with CloudMap involves just a few steps — create a namespace, define services, register instances, and discover using the DNS names you assign. CloudMap integrates seamlessly with other AWS services like EC2, ECS, and Elastic Load Balancing to automate instance registration and lifecycle management. With its simple API and DNS-based discovery, CloudMap makes it easy to implement service discovery best practices for any cloud-native application. The result is an agile and resilient architecture that can efficiently route traffic as your infrastructure evolves.