AppFlow

🧠 What Is AWS AppFlow?

AWS AppFlow is a low-code, serverless data integration service that enables you to transfer data between AWS and SaaS applications like Salesforce, Google Analytics, Slack, SAP, Zendesk, ServiceNow, and more.

✅ Ideal for syncing, filtering, and transforming data between SaaS apps and AWS services (like S3, Redshift, Snowflake, etc.)

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🎯 Why Use AWS AppFlow?

Feature	Benefit
🔁 Bidirectional flows	Sync data to/from SaaS ↔ AWS
⚙️ No code needed	Fully managed, UI-based configuration
🔒 Secure transfers	Data encrypted in-transit and at rest
🔍 Data filtering & mapping	Use built-in filters and field mappings
⚡ Triggered or scheduled	On-demand, event-triggered, or scheduled flows
🧠 Transformation options	Add filters, validations, masks, and enrichments without Lambda

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🧱 Supported SaaS Integrations (partial list)

SaaS / App	Supported Actions
Salesforce	Leads, Accounts, Opportunities, etc.
ServiceNow	Tickets, Incidents
Slack	Messages, Channels
Zendesk	Tickets, Users
Google Analytics / Ads	Metrics & reports
SAP	Via SAP OData or SAP CDC agents
Custom Connectors	Via API Gateway or Lambda

AWS keeps adding support for new connectors regularly.

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📤 Destination Options

AppFlow supports the following AWS destinations:

• Amazon S3

• Amazon Redshift

• Salesforce

• Snowflake

• Lookout for Metrics

• EventBridge

• Amazon Honeycode

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🔄 Flow Triggers

Trigger Type	Description
On-demand	Manual execution
Scheduled	Cron-like expressions (every X hours, days)
Event-based	SaaS event triggers (e.g., new record)

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🔒 Security and Compliance

• VPC integration (private data transfers)

• KMS encryption (encryption at rest)

• IAM roles for access control

• PrivateLink support (for private SaaS endpoints)

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🖥️ How AppFlow Works (Conceptual)

SaaS App (e.g., Salesforce)
        ↓
  +-------------------+
  |  AWS AppFlow      |
  | - Source config   |
  | - Mapping/filter  |
  | - Transformations |
  +-------------------+
        ↓
   AWS Service (e.g., S3, Redshift)

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⚙️ Flow Example: Salesforce → S3

1. Create a new flow

2. Choose Salesforce as the source, connect using OAuth

3. Choose S3 as the destination and configure the bucket

4. Add field mappings and filters

5. Choose trigger type (on-demand/scheduled/event)

6. Enable data transformation options

7. Run or schedule the flow

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🔧 Data Transformation Features

Transformation Type	Description
Filter records	Only pull data that matches specific fields
Validate	Drop invalid data or apply constraints
Map fields	Source → Destination mappings
Mask/Encrypt	Hide PII or sensitive fields
Enrich	Add computed fields

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🧪 Monitoring

• All AppFlow executions can be tracked in the AppFlow console

• Errors, status, and throughput metrics sent to Amazon CloudWatch

• You can also trigger SNS alerts based on flow failures

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🔐 IAM and Roles

To use AppFlow, you need IAM permissions for:

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": [
    "appflow:*",
    "s3:PutObject",
    "s3:GetObject",
    "redshift:*",
    "kms:*"
  ],
  "Resource": "*"
}

AWS will automatically create a service role (AWSAppFlowServiceRole) unless you provide your own.

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🧱 Terraform Support

As of now, Terraform does not natively support AWS AppFlow resources, but you can deploy AppFlow flows using CloudFormation or custom SDK scripts.

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💰 Pricing (2024+)

Cost Component	Pricing (approx.)
Flow run (on-demand)	$0.001 per run
Data processing	$0.02 per GB processed
Connector pricing	Some (like SAP) may have additional costs
No flow minimums	Pay-as-you-go, no upfront charges

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✅ TL;DR Summary

Feature	AWS AppFlow
Use Case	SaaS ↔ AWS data integration
Type	Low-code, fully managed
Trigger	On-demand, scheduled, event
Transformations	Filter, validate, enrich, mask
Security	IAM, KMS, PrivateLink
Destinations	S3, Redshift, Snowflake, EventBridge
Pricing	Pay per run + GB processed
Setup Time	Minutes
CLI/SDK Available	✅ Yes (boto3, CLI)

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