[jmathai]

One big shell script has worked really well for me. One project on AWS ran the script when new EC2 instances with a particular tag/label were spun up and that's how we scaled horizontally.

What's nice about is that it doesn't require any specialized knowledge beyond bash - and that's something which is pretty easy to learn and great to know. It also attracts, IMO, the type of developers who avoid chasing new trends.

[Sammi]

I have a folder of scripts. One main script that calls into the other scripts, just so I can keep my head straight. But one large script might work just as well for you.

This sets up everything I need so I can treat my servers as livestock instead of pets - that is, so I can easily slaughter and replace them whenever I want, instead of being tied to them like a pet.