Do your AWS deployments match your Terraform definitions? Use SQL to find out.

In “How SQL can unify entry to APIs” I made the case for SQL as a standard atmosphere during which to cause about information flowing from many various APIs. The important thing enabler of that situation is Steampipe, a Postgres-based instrument with a rising suite of API plugins that map APIs to overseas tables in Postgres.

These APIs have been, initially, those supplied by AWS, Azure, and GCP. Such APIs are usually made extra accessible to builders by the use of wrappers like boto3. A typical SQL interface is arguably a greater unifier of the sprawling API ecosystems inside these clouds, and that’s inarguably true in multicloud situations. With Postgres below the hood, by the way in which, you’re not restricted to SQL: You’ll be able to hook Python or JavaScript or one other language to Postgres and leverage the widespread SQL interface from these languages too.

The Steampipe ecosystem then expanded with plugins for a lot of different providers together with GitHub, Google Workspace, IMAP, Jira, LDAP, Shodan, Slack, Stripe, and Zendesk. Becoming a member of throughout these APIs is a superpower greatest confirmed by this instance that joins Amazon EC2 endpoints with Shodan vulnerabilities in simply 10 strains of very primary SQL.

choose
  a.instance_id,
  s.ports
  s.vulns
from
  aws_ec2_instance a
left be part of
  shodan_host s on a.public_ip_address = s.ip
the place
  a.public_ip_address isn't null;

+---------------------+----------+--------------------+
| instance_id         | ports    | vulns              |
+---------------------+----------+--------------------+
| i-0dc60dd191cb84239 | null     | null               |
| i-042a51a815773780d | [80,22]  | null               |
| i-00cf426db9b8a58b6 | [22]     | null               |
| i-0e97f373db42dfa3f | [22,111] | ["CVE-2018-15919"] |
+---------------------+----------+--------------------+

Recordsdata are APIs too

However what’s an API, actually? Should it at all times entail HTTP requests to service endpoints? Extra broadly APIs are information sources that are available in different flavors too. Internet pages are sometimes, nonetheless, de facto APIs. I’ve achieved extra net scraping than I care to consider through the years and the talent stays helpful.

Recordsdata are additionally information sources: configuration information (INI, YAML, JSON), infrastructure-as-code information (Terraform, CloudFormation), information information (CSV). When plugins for these sources started to affix the combo, Steampipe turned much more highly effective.

First got here the CSV plugin, which unlocked all kinds of helpful queries. Contemplate, for instance, how we frequently fake spreadsheets are databases. In doing so we will assume there’s referential integrity when actually there isn’t. For those who export spreadsheet information to CSV, you need to use SQL to search out these flawed assumptions. And that’s simply one of many infinite methods I can think about utilizing SQL to question the world’s main file format for information trade.

Then got here the Terraform plugin, which queries Terraform information to ask and reply questions like: “Which trails aren’t encrypted?”

choose
  identify,
  path
from
  terraform_resource
the place
  sort="aws_cloudtrail"
  and arguments -> 'kms_key_id' is null;

Utilizing the AWS plugin’s aws_cloudtrail_trail desk, we will ask and reply the identical query for deployed infrastructure, and return a outcome set that you would UNION with the primary one.

choose
  identify,
  arn as path
from
  aws_cloudtrail_trail
the place
  kms_key_id is null;

Ideally the solutions will at all times be the identical. What you stated ought to be deployed, utilizing Terraform, ought to match what’s really deployed should you question AWS APIs. In the true world, after all, upkeep and/or incident response may end up in configuration drift. Given a standard approach to cause over outlined and deployed infrastructure, we will handle such drift programmatically.

Belt and suspenders

For deployed infrastucture, Steampipe has lengthy supplied a collection of mods that layer safety and compliance checks onto API-derived overseas tables. The AWS Compliance mod, for instance, gives benchmarks and controls to verify deployed infrastructure towards eleven requirements and frameworks together with CIS, GDPR, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, and SOC 2.

IDG

With the appearance of the Terraform plugin it turned potential to create complementary mods, like Terraform AWS Compliance, that present the identical sorts of checks for outlined infrastructure.

IDG

Does what you outlined final month match what you deployed yesterday? A passable reply requires the flexibility to cause over outlined and deployed infrastructure in a standard and frictionless manner. SQL can’t take away all of the friction but it surely’s a robust solvent.