My usual use cases for AWS CodeDeploy involve utilizing it as an AWS service, which is a subservice of CodePipeline. AWS CodePipeline is a whole package of services which consists of AWS CodeDeploy and CodeBuild, all together forming a full-fledged pipeline for AWS Cloud. If you are looking for a pipeline and you are already a customer of AWS, then that's a go for you there.
In terms of flexibility, we have only used AWS CodeDeploy for cloud deployments; we do not have any on-premises servers for AWS CodeDeploy. The only on-premises resource we have is a database on AS/400, which does not require deployment. Thus, our company has a strictly cloud use case for AWS CodeDeploy.
The features and capabilities of AWS CodeDeploy that I have found most valuable are that it is very user-friendly, and the codebase we can use there, specifically the tech stack, is YAML configuration. YAML is quite user-friendly itself, so if you just understand the basic concepts of YAML, then you're good to go. However, people face some problems with the YAML tech stack, as it is very strict with indentation and the placement of attributes. Overall, it's very strict with indentation and how it interprets our input. For example, in a stage where an environment is defined, there should be two spaces followed by an environment key and value. Knowing YAML is essential before working on AWS CodeDeploy, as the YAML file controls the service.
AWS CodeDeploy's integration with other AWS services contributes significantly to scaling, monitoring, and security in my deployment processes by requiring IAM permissions. This is the only gateway for it to obtain permission to perform any tasks or triggers. One advantage we have with AWS CodeDeploy is its hassle-free accessibility through IAM roles and permissions. Being an AWS service, it operates on ARNs, which are identifiers. When we refer to these codes in IAM policies, we can give specific permissions while adhering to the least privileges rule of IAM. This makes it quite good and flexible with AWS resources, unlike third-party options.