August 2022 Summaries

Spacelift has introduced a new Cloud Integrations section and updated support for account-level AWS integrations to simplify implementation and organization. The new section allows users to manage AWS and Azure integrations from a single location, with the ability to attach more than one AWS integration to a stack. Existing AWS integrations will continue to work, but new ones can only be added via the front end using the new Cloud Integrations approach. Spacelift is a SaaS product for Infrastructure as Code that helps DevOps manage and deploy infrastructures quickly and with confidence.

Terraform is a powerful IaC tool that helps build infrastructure using code and can perform tasks when an EC2 instance boots or is destroyed through provisioners. However, Hashicorp suggests the usage of Terraform provisioners should only be considered in cases where there are no other options available. The local-exec provisioner executes shell commands on the host system, while the file provisioner copies files from the host machine to target resources. The remote-exec provisioner runs commands on the target EC2 instance instead of the Terraform host. These provisioners should be used as a last resort due to their limitations and potential security risks. Instead, rely on configuration management software like Chef, Puppet, Ansible, etc., for such tasks.

The article discusses different approaches to automating Terraform deployments and infrastructure provisioning. It first explains the typical Terraform workflow, which involves generating configuration files, checking output plans, and applying changes. Automation strategies include custom tooling with wrappers like Terragrunt, building infrastructure provisioning pipelines using CI/CD tools, and utilizing Spacelift for a more robust approach to automating the entire infrastructure provisioning lifecycle. The pros and cons of each strategy are also discussed.

This post provides a step-by-step guide on how to install kubectl, set up auto-completion, and create an alias for kubectl in your bash shell. Auto-completion is useful when using kubectl commands to interact with Kubernetes clusters, while setting an alias saves time when managing the cluster. The process includes installing kubectl on Linux, checking if bash-completion is installed, setting up auto-completion for kubectl, and creating an alias for kubectl. Enabling these features will improve efficiency when working with Kubernetes.

This article compares two popular cloud infrastructure tools, Terraform and Kubernetes. Terraform is focused on infrastructure provisioning and operates in the Infrastructure as Code space, while Kubernetes focuses on running container workloads and operates in the container orchestration space. Both tools are open-source, highly extensible, and designed to be cloud agnostic. They complement each other by operating at different levels and can be utilized in parallel for managing infrastructure resources and application components. Spacelift supports both Terraform and Kubernetes, allowing users to create stacks based on them and integrate CI/CD pipelines for seamless management of their lifecycle.

In the blog post by Jack Roper, Kubernetes (K8S) is discussed in the context of its various components and the corresponding `kubectl` commands that manage them, offering a practical cheat sheet for users. The post covers Kubernetes objects like DaemonSets, Deployments, Pods, and Services, among others, explaining how each is used and managed through specific commands. Additionally, the article highlights how Kubernetes configuration files, or manifest files, facilitate the creation, update, and deletion of resources. The text also touches on Spacelift’s role in managing Kubernetes deployments, emphasizing its GitOps approach and compliance automation capabilities. Jack Roper, with extensive expertise in cloud and DevOps technologies, provides these insights, aiming to assist users in navigating the complexities of Kubernetes efficiently.

Kubernetes (K8s) deployment strategies are crucial in minimizing downtime and enhancing customer experience during application updates. Commonly used strategies include Recreating, Rolling, Blue/Green, Canary, and A/B deployments. The choice of strategy depends on the specific use case and business needs. Understanding these strategies can help teams make informed decisions to improve their product over time.

Spacelift has introduced the Prometheus Exporter to enable customers to connect their Spacelift account to external monitoring systems. The exporter allows users to monitor various metrics about their Spacelift account over time, which can be visualized using tools like Grafana and used for alerting purposes with Alertmanager. The exporter works by acting as an adapter between Prometheus and the Spacelift GraphQL API, converting requests into the expected metrics format. Instructions on how to deploy and configure the exporter are provided in the article.

This article discusses the management of Terraform state files, which are crucial for tracking resources created by Terraform and ensuring proper updates and deletions. Storing state files remotely in shared storage like Azure Storage or Amazon S3 is recommended, especially when working with a team or using automation and CI/CD pipelines. State files should not be stored in source control due to security risks and potential issues with file locking and human error. Isolating state files for different environments or resources can reduce the "blast radius" of any mistakes made during configuration changes. The terraform_remote_state data source can be used to reference outputs from remote state files, while the terraform state command allows manipulation of the contents of the state file.

This article discusses how to develop a basic AWS VPC using Terraform. It covers the following steps: creating a VPC, creating subnets, deploying an Internet Gateway, creating a second route table, and associating public subnets with the second route table. The author also mentions using certified Terraform VPC modules as an alternative way to create and manage AWS VPCs.

In this post, we explore how the CLI commands – taint, untaint, and replace – help address issues with Terraform-managed cloud resources. We create two EC2 instances using Terraform and demonstrate how to use these commands to replace a misconfigured resource with a new instance. The taint command marks a resource as tainted so that it will be replaced in the next apply cycle, while the untaint command removes this mark if it was a mistake. Starting from Terraform version 0.15.2, the taint command is deprecated and it is suggested to use apply command with the -replace flag instead. This approach eliminates the time between marking the resource as tainted and applying those changes, thus avoiding unintentional replacements in a shared development environment.

This article discusses the various stages a Terraform resource goes through during its lifetime and how to customize its behavior using the lifecycle meta-argument. A Terraform resource block defines a piece of infrastructure with given settings, which is created or modified upon executing "terraform apply." The default behavior includes creating, modifying, or destroying resources based on configuration changes. However, the lifecycle meta-argument can be used to control these operations, such as ignoring certain changes, preventing destruction, and replacing resources when specific conditions are met. Understanding the resource lifecycle and using the lifecycle meta-argument effectively can help avoid unwanted downtime and manage Terraform better.

Terraform has introduced "preconditions" and "postconditions" in version 1.2.0 to validate deployments more effectively. Preconditions are used with assumptions, while postconditions are used with guarantees. These conditions can be added to the lifecycle block of a resource and include four parts: lifecycle block, precondition or postcondition block, condition, and error message. They provide greater flexibility in validating resources and ensuring deployments adhere to specific requirements.

The Spacelift team has integrated Ansible from Red Hat into their platform as a "Closed Beta." This integration aims to provide the best-in-class IT Automation platform within the most sophisticated Infrastructure Delivery platform. Ansible is considered one of the best options for managing tasks due to its simplicity and large ecosystem, which now includes Spacelift support. The platform allows users to manage Terraform, Pulumi, AWS CloudFormation, Kubernetes, and Ansible all in one place.

Spacelift, a sophisticated infrastructure delivery platform, is now available as a GitHub App in the GitHub Marketplace. The platform integrates with VCS Providers and Public Cloud Providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Key features of Spacelift + GitHub include stack and module creation, team-based access control, commit status notifications, branch protection, and pull request tracking. The integration aims to automate, audit, secure, and continuously deliver infrastructure while overcoming common state management issues.

Infrastructure-as-code collaboration in a team environment often involves pull request workflows. This article discusses how to use GitHub Flow with Spacelift, which supports two methods for receiving the plan result from your pull request: Pull Request Checks and Pull Request Plan Commenting. Additionally, users can take action(s) in Spacelift based upon pull request comments or label events. These features provide flexibility and control over infrastructure-as-code deployments and management.