Amazon CloudFormation script to create a new EC2 server that runs the GNIP "sample-kinesis-connector" java application. This can be used to read incoming data from GNIP stream and push it over to Amazon Kinesis. GNIP pulled support for the Public AMI in the Amazon Marketplace, so here's one that will take you most of the way.

cloudformation-gnip-kinesis-connector.json

{
  "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
  "Description": "Create EC2 instance to run a GNIP Kinesis connector. Creates CloudWatch alarms when 85% stream capacity reached.",
  "Parameters" : {
    "Environment" : {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "Environment in which to run",
      "AllowedValues": ["production", "development"]
    },
    "InstanceTerminationProtection": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "Disable instance termination protection via API",
      "Default": "false"
    },
    "InstanceRegion": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "Target region for stack creation",
      "Default": "us-east-1a"
    },
    "AllowedSecurityGroupCIDRIP": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "Allowed IP addresses for security group to be created"
    },
    "KeyPairName": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "EC2 keypair to associate to instance"
    },
    "GNIPUsername": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "GNIP username"
    },
    "GNIPPassword": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "GNIP password",
      "NoEcho": true
    },
    "GNIPAccountName": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "GNIP account name",
      "Default": "Chirpify"
    },
    "GNIPProduct": {
      "Type": "String",
      "Description": "GNIP product",
      "Default": "track"
    },
    "ShardCount": {
      "Type": "Number",
      "Description": "Number of shards in Kinesis stream",
      "Default": "1",
      "MaxValue": 8,
      "MinValue": 1
    }
  },
  "Conditions": {
    "IsProduction": {"Fn::Equals": [{"Ref": "Environment"}, "production"]},
    "IsDevelopment": {"Fn::Equals": [{"Ref": "Environment"}, "development"]}
  },
  "Mappings": {
    "GNIPMap": {
      "production": {
        "KinesisStreamName": "gnip-production",
        "PowerTrackStream": "production"
      },
      "development": {
        "KinesisStreamName": "gnip-development",
        "PowerTrackStream": "development"
      }
    },
    "Threshold": {
      "1": {
        "IncomingRecords": 850,
        "IncomingBytes": 850000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 1700000
      },
      "2": {
        "IncomingRecords": 1700,
        "IncomingBytes": 1700000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 3400000
      },
      "3": {
        "IncomingRecords": 2550,
        "IncomingBytes": 2550000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 5100000
      },
      "4": {
        "IncomingRecords": 3400,
        "IncomingBytes": 3400000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 6800000
      },
      "5": {
        "IncomingRecords": 4250,
        "IncomingBytes": 4250000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 8500000
      },
      "6": {
        "IncomingRecords": 5100,
        "IncomingBytes": 5100000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 10200000
      },
      "7": {
        "IncomingRecords": 5950,
        "IncomingBytes": 5950000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 11900000
      },
      "8": {
        "IncomingRecords": 6800,
        "IncomingBytes": 6800000,
        "GetRecordsBytes": 13600000
      }
    },
    "SNS": {
      "production": {
        "Topics": [
          "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789:production"
        ]
      },
      "development": {
        "Topics": [
          "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789:development"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "Resources" : {
    "AlarmIncomingRecords": {
      "Type": "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
      "Properties": {
        "ActionsEnabled": true,
        "AlarmActions": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["SNS", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "Topics"]},
        "AlarmDescription": "Low count for Kinesis incoming records (85% capacity)",
        "AlarmName": {"Fn::Join": ["", ["Kinesis ", {"Ref": "Environment"}, " incoming records"]]},
        "ComparisonOperator": "GreaterThanThreshold",
        "Dimensions": [
          {
            "Name": "StreamName",
            "Value": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "KinesisStreamName"]}
          }
        ],
        "EvaluationPeriods": 3,
        "MetricName": "IncomingRecords",
        "Namespace": "AWS/Kinesis",
        "Period": 60,
        "Statistic": "Sum",
        "Threshold": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["Threshold", {"Ref": "ShardCount"}, "IncomingRecords"]},
        "Unit": "Count"
      }
    },
    "AlarmIncomingRecordsBytes": {
      "Type": "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
      "Properties": {
        "ActionsEnabled": true,
        "AlarmActions": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["SNS", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "Topics"]},
        "AlarmDescription": "High write throughput for incoming records (bytesize) (85% capacity)",
        "AlarmName": {"Fn::Join": ["", ["Kinesis ", {"Ref": "Environment"}, " incoming records bytesize"]]},
        "ComparisonOperator": "GreaterThanThreshold",
        "Dimensions": [
          {
            "Name": "StreamName",
            "Value": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "KinesisStreamName"]}
          }
        ],
        "EvaluationPeriods": 3,
        "MetricName": "IncomingBytes",
        "Namespace": "AWS/Kinesis",
        "Period": 60,
        "Statistic": "Sum",
        "Threshold": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["Threshold", {"Ref": "ShardCount"}, "IncomingBytes"]},
        "Unit": "Bytes"
      }
    },
    "AlarmReadRecordsBytes": {
      "Type": "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
      "Properties": {
        "ActionsEnabled": true,
        "AlarmActions": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["SNS", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "Topics"]},
        "AlarmDescription": "High read throughput (bytesize) (85% capacity)",
        "AlarmName": {"Fn::Join": ["", ["Kinesis ", {"Ref": "Environment"}, " read throughput bytesize"]]},
        "ComparisonOperator": "GreaterThanThreshold",
        "Dimensions": [
          {
            "Name": "StreamName",
            "Value": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "KinesisStreamName"]}
          }
        ],
        "EvaluationPeriods": 3,
        "MetricName": "GetRecords.Bytes",
        "Namespace": "AWS/Kinesis",
        "Period": 60,
        "Statistic": "Sum",
        "Threshold": {"Fn::FindInMap": ["Threshold", {"Ref": "ShardCount"}, "GetRecordsBytes"]},
        "Unit": "Bytes"
      }
    },
    "EC2SecurityGroup": {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties": {
        "GroupDescription": {"Fn::Join": ["", [
          "Security group for ",
          {"Ref": "AWS::StackName"}
        ]]},
        "Tags": [
          {
            "Key": "name",
            "Value": {"Ref": "AWS::StackName"}
          },
          {
            "Key": "Name",
            "Value": {"Ref": "AWS::StackName"}
          },
          {
            "Key": "environment",
            "Value": {"Ref": "Environment"}
          }
        ],
        "SecurityGroupIngress": [
          {
            "CidrIp": {"Ref": "AllowedSecurityGroupCIDRIP"},
            "IpProtocol": "tcp",
            "FromPort": "22",
            "ToPort": "22"
          },
          {
            "CidrIp": {"Ref": "AllowedSecurityGroupCIDRIP"},
            "IpProtocol": "icmp",
            "FromPort": "-1",
            "ToPort": "-1"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "KinesisServer" : {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
      "Properties": {
        "AvailabilityZone": {"Ref": "InstanceRegion"},
        "DisableApiTermination": {"Ref": "InstanceTerminationProtection"},
        "InstanceType": "m3.large",
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key": "environment", "Value": {"Ref": "Environment"}},
          {"Key": "Name", "Value": {"Ref": "AWS::StackName"}}
        ],
        "ImageId": "ami-d05e75b8",
        "SecurityGroups": [{"Ref": "EC2SecurityGroup"}],
        "KeyName": {"Ref": "KeyPairName"},
        "UserData": {
          "Fn::Base64": {"Fn::Join": ["\n", [
            "#!/bin/bash",
            "/usr/bin/apt-get update",
            "/usr/bin/apt-get install awscli git maven openjdk-7-jdk -y",
            "chown ubuntu:root /opt",
            "cd /opt && git clone https://github.com/twitterdev/sample-kinesis-connector kinesis-connector",
            "mv /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties.example /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties",
            "echo 'export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64' > /home/ubuntu/.bash_profile",
            "chown ubuntu:ubuntu /home/ubuntu/.bash_profile",
            "/bin/sed -i '/aws.access.key.*/d' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties",
            "/bin/sed -i '/aws.secret.key.*/d' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties",
            "/bin/sed -i 's/aws.kinesis.shard.count.*/aws.kinesis.shard.count=1/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties",
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i '1 i aws.access.key=", {"Ref": "KinesisIAMCredentials"}, "' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i '1 i aws.secret.key=", {"Fn::GetAtt": ["KinesisIAMCredentials", "SecretAccessKey"]}, "' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/gnip.user.name.*/gnip.user.name=", {"Ref": "GNIPUsername"}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/gnip.user.password.*/gnip.user.password=", {"Ref": "GNIPPassword"}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/gnip.account.name.*/gnip.account.name=", {"Ref": "GNIPAccountName"}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/gnip.product.*/gnip.product=", {"Ref": "GNIPProduct"}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/gnip.stream.label.*/gnip.stream.label=", {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "PowerTrackStream"]}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            {"Fn::Join": ["", ["/bin/sed -i 's/aws.kinesis.stream.name.*/aws.kinesis.stream.name=", {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "KinesisStreamName"]}, "/' /opt/kinesis-connector/src/main/resources/config.properties"]]},
            "sudo chown -R ubuntu:root /opt/kinesis-connector",
            "cd /opt/kinesis-connector && mvn clean install"
          ]]}
        }
      }
    },
    "KinesisIAM": {
      "Type": "AWS::IAM::User",
      "Properties": {
        "Path": "/",
        "Policies": [
          {
            "PolicyName": "KinesisScopedPermissions",
            "PolicyDocument": {
              "Version": "2012-10-17",
              "Statement": [{
                "Effect": "Allow",
                "Action": "kinesis:*",
                "Resource": {"Fn::Join": [":", [
                  "arn",
                  "aws",
                  "kinesis",
                  "*",
                  {"Ref": "AWS::AccountId"},
                  {"Fn::Join": ["", ["stream/", {"Fn::FindInMap": ["GNIPMap", {"Ref": "Environment"}, "KinesisStreamName"]}]]}
                ]]}
              }]
            }
          },
          {
            "PolicyName": "KinesisDescribeAll",
            "PolicyDocument": {
              "Version": "2012-10-17",
              "Statement": [{
                "Effect": "Allow",
                "Action": [
                  "kinesis:DescribeStream",
                  "kinesis:ListStreams"
                ],
                "Resource": "*"
              }]
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "KinesisIAMCredentials": {
      "Type": "AWS::IAM::AccessKey",
      "Properties": {
        "UserName": {"Ref": "KinesisIAM"}
      }
    }
  },
  "Outputs": {
    "InstanceID": {
      "Description": "Identifer of EC2 instance",
      "Value": {"Ref": "KinesisServer"}
    },
    "PublicDnsName": {
      "Description": "Public DNS name of EC2 instance",
      "Value": {"Fn::GetAtt": ["KinesisServer", "PublicDnsName"]}
    },
    "EC2SecurityGroupID": {
      "Description": "Name of governing security group",
      "Value": {"Ref": "EC2SecurityGroup"}
    },
    "IAMAccessKey": {
      "Value": {"Ref": "KinesisIAMCredentials"}
    },
    "IAMSecretAccessKey": {
      "Value": {"Fn::GetAtt": ["KinesisIAMCredentials", "SecretAccessKey"]}
    }
  }
}