Suggested steps for a turnkey deployment of cloud-based forensics
April 8, 2020
April 8, 2020
The cloud is a software-defined infrastructure. To manage and automate its deployment, we use the concept of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC).
Let’s consider, for example, the use of Terraform™, which is software to translate human-readable templates into live cloud deployments. When generating structure this way, all the inputs are still required — subnet size, host OS type, memory size, disks to allocate and firewalling between subnets — but it’s easy to transition from zero to a small test environment. Consider generating all the resources to create a private network using Terraform configurations documented at http://linuxinuse.com/devopsblog/use-terraform-modules/.
To help you in your journey, this blog explores the steps for a turnkey deployment.
While the Terraform configuration is readable and creates cloud resources, its ability to apply further logic via the Terraform ecosystem is limited. If your goal is to hard-code values and generate the same environment, you’re limiting your extensibility and won’t be able to answer many of your initial questions. Many resources simply cannot be built without using a cloud API™. Here is an opportunity to expand on IaC.
By itself, IaC doesn’t restrict use of a particular programming language, but the API tools provided by cloud vendors restrict the choices to Python®, PowerShell™, bash or .NET. My advice: Pick a development platform based on your support team’s skillset, understand the core competency of the API and build logic around it. Terraform is a great start. Just keep in mind that your core build can be somewhat static, but it can be expanded over time. Because development time for an IaC may be limited, go for an initial base solution with incremental changes over time.
The building block of all code is logic functions. To automate a setup, you want to minimize hardcoding static values and make scripts as self-supported as possible. It’s ok to use static values if you’re taking an incremental approach, but going back and instantiating those values will help you make the code usable – and reusable – by less-technical staff. Some good base functions that you can create within Azure® with Terraform utilizing API executions include:
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The first of this three-part blog serries about how to implement and get the most from cloud-based cybersecurity forensics
The third of this three-part blog series about how to implement and get the most from cloud-based cybersecurity forensics