You can write an AWS CloudFormation template (a JSON-formatted document) in a text editor orpick an existing template. The template describes the resources you want and their settings. Forexample, suppose you want to create an Amazon EC2. Your template can declare an instanceAmazon EC2 and describe its properties, as shown in the following example: { "AWSTemplateFormatVersion":"2010-09-09", "Description":"A simple Amazon EC2 instance", "Resources":{ "MyEC2Instance": { "Type":"AWS :: EC2 :: Instance", "properties":{ "ImageId":"ami-2f726546", "InstanceType":"t1.micro" } } } } Reference:http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/cfn-whatishowdoesitwork.html