Policy Engines & IaC

1. Introduction

In today's cloud-centric world, managing infrastructure efficiently is crucial. This lesson explores the integration of Policy Engines with Infrastructure as Code (IaC), providing developers with mechanisms to enforce compliance, security, and operational policies.

2. Key Concepts

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Managing and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable definition files.
• Policy Engines: Tools that enforce rules and policies on infrastructure and application deployments.
• Compliance: Ensuring that the infrastructure adheres to regulatory requirements and organizational standards.

3. What are Policy Engines?

Policy Engines are systems designed to enforce specific rules and policies within an infrastructure environment. They allow organizations to define, manage, and enforce policies that govern how infrastructure is provisioned and managed.

Common examples include Open Policy Agent (OPA) and HashiCorp Sentinel.

4. Infrastructure as Code

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a practice that allows developers to manage and provision infrastructure using code. This approach brings automation, consistency, and repeatability to infrastructure management.

Popular IaC tools include Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible.

5. Integrating Policy Engines with IaC

Integrating Policy Engines with IaC tools allows for automated policy checks during infrastructure provisioning. This ensures that all deployed resources comply with the defined policies.

Step-by-Step Integration Example with Terraform and OPA

        # Example Terraform Configuration
        resource "aws_instance" "example" {
            ami           = "ami-123456"
            instance_type = "t2.micro"
        }
        

        package example

        deny[msg] {
            input.resource.instance_type == "t2.micro"
            msg = "Instance type t2.micro is not allowed"
        }
        

        terraform plan | opa eval --data policy.rego --input - --format pretty
        

6. Best Practices

• Define clear policies that align with organizational goals.
• Regularly update and review policies to adapt to changing requirements.
• Test policies in a staging environment before applying them in production.
• Utilize automated tools to enforce compliance continuously.

7. FAQ