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Review Your Template

After the Infrastructure Wizard generates your template -- whether from a conversation or a repository scan -- you are taken to the review screen. This is where you inspect every resource, understand the architecture decisions, and make any adjustments before deploying.

Taking a few minutes to review your template ensures the generated infrastructure matches your expectations and avoids surprises during deployment.

Template Overview​

The review screen presents your generated infrastructure in several views:

Architecture Summary​

At the top of the review page, you see a high-level summary of the architecture:

  • Total resources -- The number of AWS resources that will be created.
  • Services used -- A list of AWS services included in the template.
  • Environment tier -- Whether the template is configured for development, staging, or production.
  • Estimated monthly cost -- A rough cost estimate based on the selected resource sizes and configurations.

Resource List​

Below the summary, every resource in the template is listed with:

FieldDescription
Resource nameThe logical name assigned to the resource
ServiceThe AWS service (e.g., VPC, RDS, S3)
TypeThe specific resource type being created
ConfigurationKey configuration details (instance size, storage, encryption settings)
PurposeWhy this resource was included and what role it plays in your architecture

You can expand any resource to see its full configuration, including all properties and their values.

Architecture Rationale​

For each service in the template, the Wizard provides a brief explanation of why it was chosen and how it fits into the overall architecture. This helps you understand the design decisions, especially if you described your requirements at a high level.

tip

If the Wizard chose a service you did not expect, check the architecture rationale. It often explains the reasoning, such as selecting a container service because your application includes a Dockerfile, or adding a cache layer because your database is expected to handle high read volumes.

Understanding the Template Structure​

The generated template organises resources into logical groups:

Networking Layer​

  • VPC with CIDR block configuration
  • Subnets across multiple Availability Zones (public and private)
  • NAT Gateways for outbound internet access from private subnets
  • Internet Gateway for public subnet access
  • Route Tables with appropriate routing rules
  • Security Groups with least-privilege ingress and egress rules
  • VPC Endpoints for accessing AWS services without traversing the public internet

Compute Layer​

Depending on your workload type:

  • Container services with task definitions, service configurations, and auto-scaling policies
  • Serverless functions with appropriate memory, timeout, and concurrency settings
  • EC2 instances with launch templates, auto-scaling groups, and instance profiles
  • Load balancers with target groups, health checks, and listener rules

Data Layer​

  • Databases with encryption, backup policies, and appropriate instance sizing
  • Caches with cluster mode, replication, and eviction policies
  • Storage buckets with versioning, encryption, and lifecycle rules
  • File systems with mount targets and access points

Security Layer​

  • Encryption keys for data-at-rest encryption across all storage and database services
  • Secrets management for database credentials and API keys
  • IAM roles and policies with least-privilege permissions for each service
  • Web application firewalls for internet-facing applications
  • SSL/TLS certificates for encrypted communications

Monitoring Layer​

  • Log groups for centralized logging from all services
  • Metrics and alarms for key operational thresholds
  • Distributed tracing for request flow visibility
  • Audit trails for security and compliance event recording

Validating the Design​

Before proceeding to deployment, consider these validation checks:

Security Review​

  • IAM roles follow least-privilege -- each service only has the permissions it needs
  • All databases and storage have encryption enabled
  • Security groups restrict access to only the necessary ports and sources
  • Secrets are stored in a secrets manager, not hardcoded

Availability Review​

  • Critical resources span multiple Availability Zones
  • Databases have appropriate backup and recovery settings
  • Auto-scaling is configured for compute resources that may experience variable load
  • Health checks are properly configured for load-balanced services

Cost Review​

  • Instance sizes are appropriate for your expected workload (not over-provisioned)
  • Development environments use cost-optimised configurations
  • NAT Gateways are included only where needed (they incur hourly charges)
  • Storage lifecycle policies prevent unbounded growth
caution

For production workloads, pay special attention to database configurations. Verify that multi-AZ deployment, automated backups, and appropriate storage sizes are configured to match your data requirements. Under-provisioning database storage or IOPS can lead to performance issues that are difficult to resolve without downtime.

Template Download​

If you prefer to deploy outside of Guardian Pro, or want to version-control the template in your own repository, you can download it:

  1. Click Download Template on the review screen.
  2. The template file is downloaded to your local machine.
  3. You can then deploy it using the AWS Console, AWS CLI, or your own CI/CD pipeline.
info

Downloaded templates are standalone and self-contained. They do not require Guardian Pro to deploy or manage. However, deploying through Guardian Pro provides the additional benefits of preflight validation and automatic monitoring integration.

CI/CD Configuration​

If your application includes a CI/CD pipeline requirement, the Wizard can generate a pipeline configuration alongside your infrastructure template. The CI/CD configuration includes:

  • Source stage -- Connected to your Git repository
  • Build stage -- Appropriate build commands for your detected language and framework
  • Deploy stage -- Automated deployment to your infrastructure

You can review and customise the pipeline configuration on the review screen before proceeding.

Moving to Deployment​

Once you are satisfied with the template:

  1. Click Continue to Deploy to proceed to the deployment stage.
  2. Guardian Pro runs preflight checks to validate the template before any resources are created.
  3. You confirm the deployment and Guardian Pro creates all resources in your AWS account.

See Deploy for the full deployment process, including preflight checks and monitoring.

Next Steps​