Angelo Mandato: Learn about the benefits with examples how to create and maintain DEV, QA, and UAT environments using unique domain names

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Washington DC | June 27, 2024

Create DEV, QA, and UAT
environments using unique
domain names
Angelo Mandato
DEV206
(he/him)
Founder / CTO
Painless Analytics

Unique domain names for lower environments
01 Problem 05 Example
02 Unique Top level domains
to the rescue
06 Wrap up what we learned
03 Benefits 07 Bonus! – local development
04 Costs

What is a Domain Name?
example.com - Domain Name (root hostname)
com – Top-Level Domain (TLD)
example – Second-level Domain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name

Problem

Sub Domains for lower environments
• beta.example.com - BETA
• uat.example.com - UAT
• 241-staging.example.com - STAGING
• pr-334-dev.example.com - DEV
• qa.example.com - QA
• www.example.com - PRODUCTION
This only works for a monolithic app!

Production Sub Domains with environments
• dashboard.example.com - PRODUCTION
• uat-dashboard.example.com - UAT
• dev-dashboard.example.com - DEV
• pr-2324-dashboard.example.com - DEV PULL REQUEST
• qa-dashboard.example.com - QA
What's wrong with this?

Sub Domains introduce problems
THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
• Session cookies that use the root hostname
• Environments sharing root hostname
• Hard to manage root hostname in multiple Accounts*
• CORS rules are complicated
• Security concerns
• WHAT IF PROD FORMS SUBMIT TO THE QA ENVIRONMENT???

Unique Top Level Domains (TLD)
to the rescue

Unique top-level domain for PRODUCTION
• www.example.com
• account.example.com
• api.example.com
• mail.example.com
anything.example.com is PRODUCTION

Unique top-level domain name for DEV
• www.example.dev
• account.example.dev
• api.example.dev
• mail.example.dev
anything.example.dev is DEV

Select TLD's for each environment
Root hostname for each environment:
• example.com - PRODUCTION
• example.dev - DEV
• example.biz - UAT
• example.net - QA
• example.be - BETA
If internal VPN, you can make up your own TLD .extension!

Benefits

Benefits of using domain names
with unique TLD's
IaC Privacy Rights
Security Development
CloudFormation /
CDK environments
configured by root
hostname
DEV and QA
environments less
strict than
UAT/PROD
Easy to maintain
lower environment
data separate from
production
Development never
found on
production
hostnames

You are a Super Hero!

Costs

Costs for TLD's
.us - $15/year
.cc - $12/year
.net - $15/year
.org - $14/year
.biz - $19/year
.ca - $13/year
.bet - $24/year
.io - $71/year
.link - $5/year
.be - $9/year
.de - $9/year
Route 53 TLD Registration Pricing

Internal VPC's?
.whatever FREE!!!

Example

Example: Laravel / WordPress Site
www.painlessanalytics.com - PROD
www.painlessanalytics.dev - DEV
www.painlessanalytics.be - BETA

Example: ReactJS Dashboard
dashboard.painlessanalytics.com - PROD
dashboard.painlessanalytics.dev - DEV
dashboard.painlessanalytics.be - BETA

Example: Root Hostname SSL Cert
Create SSL Certificate
(environment specific)
Go to Certificate Manager (ACM)
Create CNAME name records to validate certificate

Example: Setup Parameter Store
Set SSL Cert arn
Parameter in
Systems Manager
Parameter Store

Example: Setup Parameter Store
Set root Hostname
Parameter in
Systems Manager
Parameter Store

Example: CloudFormation using root hostname
Get Parameter from
Parameter Store
Use parameter to
Get the SSL cert
arn and set the
alias hostname

Root hostname CloudFormation Advantages
Account / Lower
Environment uses a
unique root hostname
Hostname prefixes
remain consistent
Parameter Store
utilization minimized
Wildcard SSL certs
Account specific
prefix.example.com

Benefits
Simple to understand,
document, and
standardize
Reproducible
AWS CloudFormation
templates
Accessible Publicly
(if not in a
private VPN)
Private Network – make
up your own TLD's!
SES can remain in
"sandbox" for
lower environments

Configuration Settings
Systems Manager
Parameter Store
CI/CD pipelines
.env & config files

Hide lower environments from public?
CloudFront Function
VPN
private network is
ideal but in some
cases not possible
Block access,
allow if a cookie or
header matches a
condition

CloudFront Function: Open Sesame
https://myapp.example.dev/api/version
https://myapp.example.dev/webhook/stripe

https://myapp.example.dev/?open=sesame

https://myapp.example.dev/?close=sesame

Wrap up what we learned

Unique Domains for lower environments

Unique Domains for lower environments
• No more confusing sub domains
e.g. psycho-db-devbeta.example.com
• No more session / cookie collisions with prod and lower environments
• Secure lower environments with private networks
• Prevent access to lower environments with CloudFront functions
• SES Sandbox mode is a feature for non-prod environments
• IaC / CloudFormation attributes use consistent prefixes
• Switching from one environment to the other is as easy as
replacing ".com" with ".dev" and hitting ENTER.

Bonus! – local development

Use a TLD for local development!
With your favorite editor open your local hosts file
MacOS: /private/etc/hosts
Linux: /etc/hosts
Windows: C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts
(run editor as administrator)
Tip: Check out Windows PowerToys' Hosts File Editor

411 on hosts file
Find your inner self, 127.0.0.1 of course!

Use a real TLD for local development
Use case:
• Oauth2 (services like Google will not use .local hostnames)

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Thank you! Please complete the session
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Angelo Mandato
angelo@mandato.com
linkedin.com/in/angelomandato
Founder / CTO
Painless Analytics
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Angelo Mandato: Learn about the benefits with examples how to create and maintain DEV, QA, and UAT environments using unique domain names

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