From AWS CloudFormation in Action by Chuck Gehman

With AWS CloudFormation, you create scripts and templates that automate most aspects of deploying and managing cloud infrastructure. The result: Fast, standardized deployments and less time spent on tedious manual tasks. AWS CloudFormation in Action gives you a complete introduction to CloudFormation, taking you hands-on with increasingly complex projects that scale almost infinitely. You’ll learn to define and deploy high availability, multi-region, and database-driven websites using CloudFormation—all from the AWS console, command line or via API. Whether you’re overseeing thousands of servers or a handful of deployments, automating with CloudFormation will increase your productivity, lower your risk of human error, and allow your developers to benefit from DevOps best practices.