CfnCluster ("cloud formation cluster") is a framework that deploys and maintains high performance computing clusters on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Developed by AWS, CfnCluster facilitates both quick start proof of concepts (POCs) and production deployments. CfnCluster supports many different types of clustered applications and can easily be extended to support different frameworks. The CLI is stateless, everything is done using CloudFormation or resources within AWS.
Documentation is part of the project and is published to - https://cfncluster.readthedocs.io/. Of most interest to new users is the Getting Started Guide - https://cfncluster.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started.html.
Please open a GitHub issue for any feedback or issues: https://github.com/awslabs/cfncluster. There is also an active AWS HPC forum which may be helpful:https://forums.aws.amazon.com/forum.jspa?forumID=192.
Between CfnCluster 1.5.3 and 1.6.0 we made a change to the CfnClusterInstancePolicy that adds “s3:GetObject” permissions on objects in <REGION>-cfncluster bucket. If you’re using a custom policy (e.g. you specify "ec2_iam_role" in your config) be sure it includes this new permission. See https://cfncluster.readthedocs.io/en/latest/iam.html
Between CfnCluster 1.4.2 and 1.5.0 we made a change to the CfnClusterInstancePolicy that adds “ec2:DescribeVolumes” permissions. If you’re using a custom policy (e.g. you specify "ec2_iam_role" in your config) be sure it includes this new permission. See https://cfncluster.readthedocs.io/en/latest/iam.html
For various security (on our side) and maintenance reasons, CfnCluster 1.2 and earlier have been deprecated. AWS-side resources necessary to create a cluster with CfnCluster 1.2 or earlier are no longer available. Existing clusters will continue to operate, but new clusters can not be created.