<h2 data-start="458" data-end="479">CloudFormation Benefits for Resource Management</h2>
<h2 data-start="458" data-end="479"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-14213" src="https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management-300x300.png 300w, https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management-150x150.png 150w, https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management-768x768.png 768w, https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management-96x96.png 96w, https://apiblog.cloudastra.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-CloudFormation-Stack-Refactoring-Guide-for-Efficient-Resource-Management.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></h2>
<h3 data-start="458" data-end="479">Introduction</h3>
As cloud infrastructure grows, managing AWS resources efficiently becomes a challenge. CloudFormation simplifies infrastructure as code, making resource management and stack organization more effective. A key feature of CloudFormation is stack refactoring, which enables you to move resources between stacks without disruption. This post explores CloudFormation stack refactoring, its benefits, and how it helps maintain a structured and scalable cloud environment.
<h3 data-start="962" data-end="1017">Understanding CloudFormation Stack Refactoring</h3>
Stack refactoring involves restructuring CloudFormation stacks by moving resources between them or renaming resources within the same stack. This feature is particularly useful when you need to:
&#8211; Break down large stacks into smaller, more manageable units.
&#8211; Reorganize resources to align with application architecture and business needs.
&#8211; Enhance readability by renaming logical resource IDs.
By leveraging CloudFormation stack refactoring, teams can improve infrastructure organization while maintaining stability.
<h3 data-start="1571" data-end="1629">Example Scenario: Moving Resources Between Stacks</h3>
To understand stack refactoring, consider a scenario where an SNS topic and a Lambda function exist within a single CloudFormation stack. As usage increases, separating the Lambda function into a new stack enhances modularity and maintainability.
1. Create a new template called before.yaml with your starting template:
&#8220;`yaml 
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: &#8220;2010-09-09&#8221;
Resources: 
Topic: 
Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
MyFunction: 
Type: AWS::Lambda::Function 
Properties: 
FunctionName: my-function 
Handler: index.handler 
Runtime: python3.12 
Code: 
ZipFile: | 
import json 
def handler(event, context): 
print(json.dumps(event)) 
return event 
Role: !GetAtt FunctionRole.Arn 
Timeout: 30
Subscription: 
Type: AWS::SNS::Subscription 
Properties: 
Endpoint: !GetAtt MyFunction.Arn 
Protocol: lambda 
TopicArn: !Ref Topic
FunctionInvokePermission: 
Type: AWS::Lambda::Permission 
Properties: 
Action: lambda:InvokeFunction 
Principal: sns.amazonaws.com 
FunctionName: !GetAtt MyFunction.Arn 
SourceArn: !Ref Topic
FunctionRole: 
Type: AWS::IAM::Role 
Properties: 
AssumeRolePolicyDocument: 
Version: &#8220;2012-10-17&#8221; 
Statement: 
&#8211; Action: 
&#8211; sts:AssumeRole 
Effect: Allow 
Principal: 
Service: 
&#8211; lambda.amazonaws.com 
Condition: 
StringEquals: 
aws:SourceAccount: !Ref AWS::AccountId 
ArnLike: 
aws:SourceArn: !Sub &#8220;arn:${AWS::Partition}:lambda:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:function:my-function&#8221; 
Policies: 
&#8211; PolicyName: LambdaPolicy 
PolicyDocument: 
Version: &#8220;2012-10-17&#8221; 
Statement: 
&#8211; Action: 
&#8211; logs:CreateLogGroup 
&#8211; logs:CreateLogStream 
&#8211; logs:PutLogEvents 
Resource: 
&#8211; arn:aws:logs:*:*:* 
Effect: Allow 
&#8220;`
2. Create a new stack using the before.yaml template.
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation create-stack &#8211;stack-name MySns &#8211;template-body file://before.yaml &#8211;capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM 
&#8220;`
3. Create a new template called afterSns.yaml with the content below. This template has your SNS topic in it and has a new export in it that will export the SNS topic ARN. This export will be used by your other templates to get the required SNS topic ARN.
&#8220;`yaml 
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: &#8220;2010-09-09&#8221; 
Resources: 
Topic: 
Type: AWS::SNS::Topic 
Outputs: 
TopicArn: 
Value: !Ref Topic 
Export: 
Name: TopicArn 
&#8220;`
4. Create a new template called after Lambda.yaml with the content below. This template includes all the resources to create a Lambda subscription to your SNS topic. This template switched the !Ref Topic to use the exported value by using !ImportValue TopicArn.
&#8220;`yaml 
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: &#8220;2010-09-09&#8221; 
Resources: 
Function: 
Type: AWS::Lambda::Function 
Properties: 
FunctionName: my-function 
Handler: index.handler 
Runtime: python3.12 
Code: 
ZipFile: | 
import json 
def handler(event, context): 
print(json.dumps(event)) 
return event 
Role: !GetAtt FunctionRole.Arn 
Timeout: 30 
Subscription: 
Type: AWS::SNS::Subscription 
Properties: 
Endpoint: !GetAtt Function.Arn 
Protocol: lambda 
TopicArn: !ImportValue TopicArn 
FunctionInvokePermission: 
Type: AWS::Lambda::Permission 
Properties: 
Action: lambda:InvokeFunction 
Principal: sns.amazonaws.com 
FunctionName: !GetAtt Function.Arn 
SourceArn: !ImportValue TopicArn 
FunctionRole: 
Type: AWS::IAM::Role 
Properties: 
AssumeRolePolicyDocument: 
Version: &#8220;2012-10-17&#8221; 
Statement: 
&#8211; Action: 
&#8211; sts:AssumeRole 
Effect: Allow 
Principal: 
Service: 
&#8211; lambda.amazonaws.com 
Condition: 
StringEquals: 
aws:SourceAccount: !Ref AWS::AccountId 
ArnLike: 
aws:SourceArn: !Sub &#8220;arn:${AWS::Partition}:lambda:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:function:my-function&#8221; 
Policies: 
&#8211; PolicyName: LambdaPolicy 
PolicyDocument: 
Version: &#8220;2012-10-17&#8221; 
Statement: 
&#8211; Action: 
&#8211; logs:CreateLogGroup 
&#8211; logs:CreateLogStream 
&#8211; logs:PutLogEvents 
Resource: 
&#8211; arn:aws:logs:*:*:* 
Effect: Allow 
&#8220;`
5. Create a resource mappings file called refactor.json to rename the logical ID of a resource. This file defines the source and destination stack names and logical IDs for resources being refactored. If the logical IDs don’t change, this file doesn’t need to be specified.
&#8220;`json 
[ 
{ 
&#8220;Source&#8221;: { 
&#8220;StackName&#8221;: &#8220;MySns&#8221;, 
&#8220;LogicalResourceId&#8221;: &#8220;MyFunction&#8221; 
}, 
&#8220;Destination&#8221;: { 
&#8220;StackName&#8221;: &#8220;MyLambdaSubscription&#8221;, 
&#8220;LogicalResourceId&#8221;: &#8220;Function&#8221; 
} 
} 
] 
&#8220;`
6. Create a stack refactor task. You are using enable-stack-creation to tell the refactoring capability to create the destination stack for you. If the destination stack already exists, you don’t have to provide this option.
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation create-stack-refactor &#8211;stack-definitions StackName=MySns,TemplateBody@=file://afterSns.yaml StackName=MyLambdaSubscription,TemplateBody@=file://afterLambda.yaml &#8211;enable-stack-creation &#8211;resource-mappings file://refactor.json 
&#8220;`
Results:
&#8220;`json 
{ 
&#8220;StackRefactorId&#8221;: &#8220;56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9&#8221; 
} 
&#8220;`
Capture the stack refactor ID for the following steps.
7. Evaluate the stack refactor task.
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation describe-stack-refactor &#8211;stack-refactor-id 56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9 
&#8220;`
Results:
&#8220;`json 
{ 
&#8220;StackRefactorId&#8221;: &#8220;56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111-bff83f9&#8221;, 
&#8220;StackIds&#8221;: [ 
&#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MySns/a10bfd30-cc67-11ef-877a-023cc5780193&#8221;, 
&#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MyLambdaSubscription/6d117360-cc68-11ef-ba33-06338dcc9d39&#8221; 
], 
&#8220;ExecutionStatus&#8221;: &#8220;AVAILABLE&#8221;, 
&#8220;Status&#8221;: &#8220;CREATE_COMPLETE&#8221; 
} 
&#8220;`
If you forgot to capture the stack refactor ID you can run:
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation list-stack-refactors 
&#8220;`
You can list stack the actions that the refactor did by running:
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation list-stack-refactor-actions &#8211;stack-refactor-id 56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9 
&#8220;`
You will see that the refactor will create a new stack and what resources are being moved.
&#8220;`json 
{ 
&#8220;StackRefactorActions&#8221;: [ 
{ 
&#8220;Action&#8221;: &#8220;Move&#8221;, 
&#8220;Entity&#8221;: &#8220;Resource&#8221;, 
&#8220;PhysicalResourceId&#8221;: &#8220;MySns-FunctionRole-BMO7ohLu4S6a&#8221;, 
&#8220;Description&#8221;: &#8220;No configuration changes detected.&#8221;, 
&#8220;Detection&#8221;: &#8220;Auto&#8221;, 
&#8220;TagResources&#8221;: [], 
&#8220;UntagResources&#8221;: [], 
&#8220;ResourceMapping&#8221;: { 
&#8220;Source&#8221;: { 
&#8220;StackName&#8221;: &#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MySns/a10bfd30-cc67-11ef-877a-023cc5780193&#8221;, 
&#8220;LogicalResourceId&#8221;: &#8220;FunctionRole&#8221; 
}, 
&#8220;Destination&#8221;: { 
&#8220;StackName&#8221;: &#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MyLambdaSubscription/6d117360-cc68-11ef-ba33-06338dcc9d39&#8221;, 
&#8220;LogicalResourceId&#8221;: &#8220;FunctionRole&#8221; 
} 
} 
}, 
{ 
&#8220;Action&#8221;: &#8220;Create&#8221;, 
&#8220;Entity&#8221;: &#8220;Stack&#8221;, 
&#8220;Description&#8221;: &#8220;Stack arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MyLambdaSubscription/6d117360-cc68-11ef-ba33-06338dcc9d39 created.&#8221;, 
&#8220;Detection&#8221;: &#8220;Manual&#8221;, 
&#8220;TagResources&#8221;: [], 
&#8220;UntagResources&#8221;: [], 
&#8220;ResourceMapping&#8221;: { 
&#8220;Source&#8221;: {}, 
&#8220;Destination&#8221;: {} 
} 
} 
] 
} 
&#8220;`
8. Execute the stack refactor.
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation execute-stack-refactor &#8211;stack-refactor-id 56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9 
&#8220;`
9. Wait for the stack refactor to complete. Evaluate the stack refactor status by executing:
&#8220;`bash 
aws cloudformation describe-stack-refactor &#8211;stack-refactor-id 56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9 
&#8220;`
Results:
&#8220;`json 
{ 
&#8220;StackRefactorId&#8221;: &#8220;56b06a9a-72ff-4f87-8205-32111bff83f9&#8221;, 
&#8220;StackIds&#8221;: [ 
&#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MySns/a10bfd30-cc67-11ef-877a-023cc5780193&#8221;, 
&#8220;arn:aws:cloudformation:&lt;&gt;:&lt;&gt;:stack/MyLambdaSubscription/6d117360-cc68-11ef-ba33-06338dcc9d39&#8221; 
], 
&#8220;ExecutionStatus&#8221;: &#8220;EXECUTE_COMPLETE&#8221;, 
&#8220;Status&#8221;: &#8220;CREATE_COMPLETE&#8221; 
} 
&#8220;`
By using CloudFormation stack refactoring, organizations can reorganize resources dynamically, maintaining dependencies while improving modularity.
<h3 data-start="5074" data-end="5093">Conclusion</h3>
CloudFormation stack refactoring is a game-changer for infrastructure management, allowing teams to restructure their cloud environment without downtime. By automating resource movement, AWS eliminates the need for manual deletion and re-importing of resources. The ability to split monolithic stacks into smaller, independent units enhances maintainability and security while ensuring infrastructure efficiency.
For teams seeking to <a href="https://cloudastra.co/blogs/automating-aws-deployments-with-cloudformation">automate AWS deployments with CloudFormation</a>, refactoring provides flexibility, ensuring that evolving business needs are met while preserving cloud stability. By integrating this feature, organizations can streamline their cloud architecture, making it easier to scale, manage, and secure resources effectively.
Cloudastra helps businesses optimize cloud resource management by implementing CloudFormation best practices, ensuring efficiency, automation, and security in an ever-evolving cloud ecosystem.
Do you like to read more educational content? Read our blogs at<a href="https://www.cloudastra.co/blogs"> Cloudastra Technologies</a> or contact us for business enquiry at <a href="https://www.cloudastra.co/contact">Cloudastra Contact Us</a>.

CloudFormation stack refactoring process illustration

Blog Details

AWS CloudFormation Stack Refactoring Guide for Efficient Resource Management

AWS CloudFormation Stack Refactoring Guide for Efficient Resource Management

Share This Article

Follow Us