Multi-cloud provisioning & configuration management using Hashicorp toolchain.

1. Presenter : Sushil
DevOps Tech Geek

2. Intro
Sushil
• Over 7+ years of Experience

3. HashiCorp ToolChain
Terraform
Packer
Vault

4. What is Terraform ?

5. Terraform Overview
What is Terraform?
Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.
It can be used across multiple providers such as Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, among many others.

6. So, how is this done?
Just define
components/resources in
configuration file
Tell it which
provider to use
Generate an
execution plan
prior to
deployment
And then
execute the
build
It’s done ….

7. Key features
Key features
of terraform are:
•Infrastructure as Code
•code-defined infrastructure is easier to read, maintain and share with
others.
•Execution Plans
•The execution plan shows exactly what will happen when you apply a
particular Terraform configuration.
•Helps avoids failed deployments.
•Resource Graph
• After infrastructure has been built by Terraform, visualize your resources
and gain insight into their dependencies.
•Change Automation
• helps avoid human error while changes are orchestrated.

8. Terraform vs. Other Software
Sounds good? Aren’t there other tool sets that do the same?
 Sure, but the power comes by being able to use across multiple providers.
 From a deployment perspective I could use
 Resource Manager in Azure,
 Cloud Formation in AWS, or
 Cloud Deployment Manager in GCE
but they are all specific to their respective cloud. Terraform can be used across all three.
 But let’s me add a note - terraform is not a configuration management tool such as Chef and Puppet. You should continue to use those
tools for their intended purpose by using provisioners once the resource has been created.

9. See In Real Time
Lab:
Deployment across Multiple Providers
Lets deploy together some simple resources across Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon’s AWS and Google’s Compute Engine using terraform.

10. Terraform Use Cases & Summary
Terraform’s flexibility and power means it will work across a very wide range of use cases.
Muti-cloud deployment:
Deploy application across multiple platforms for fault tolerance or disaster recovery.
While many infrastructure orchestration tools are cloud vendor specific, Terraform is cloud-agnostic.
Software demos:
Provide a sample Terraform configuration file to create, provision and bootstrap a demo on cloud providers like AWS to your end
users and clients, who could also quickly tweak resource parameters according to their needs.
Disposable environments:
SDLC process will create environments like QA, Staging, Load Testing, and Production. Some of these environments don’t always
have to be running.
Your Terraform-based infrastructure is code-based, you can easily build and destroy your infrastructure according to need

11. What is Packer ?

12.  Packer is an open source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms.
 Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system.
 Machine image formats include AMIs for EC2, VMDK/VMX files for VMware, OVF exports for VirtualBox, etc.
 Packer only builds images. It does not attempt to manage them in any way.
Packer Overview
What is Packer?

13. Super fast
infrastructure
deployment
Multi-provider
portability
Improved
stability
Greater
testability.
Why Packer?
 Pre-baked machine images have a lot of advantages, but images have been too tedious to
create and manage.
 Packer made it is easy and automates the creation of any type of machine image.
Advantages of Using Packer

14. ● Amazon EC2 (AMI)
● CloudStack
● OpenStack
● DigitalOcean
● Docker
● Google Compute Engine
● Parallels
● VirtualBox (OVF)
● VMware (VMX)
Supports Platform
You can add support to any platform by extending Packer using plugins.

15. Templates - Packer by HashiCorp
 Templates are JSON files that configure the various components of Packer in order to create one or more machine
images.
Immutable Infrastructure with Packer

16. Demo: Packer custom AMI build
Templates - Packer by HashiCorp
* Workshop: Build a custom AWS-AMI using Packer from your workstation
{
"builders":[
{
"type":"amazon-ebs",
"region": "eu-west-1",
"access_key": “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"secret_key": “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"source_ami": "ami-f90a4880",
"instance_type": "t2.micro",
"ssh_username": "ubuntu",
"ami_name": "Packer_Demo-{{isotime | clean_ami_name}}",
"ami_description": "AMI designed by Packer",
"tags": {
"role": "AppBaseAMI"
},
"run_tags":{
"role": "buildSystem"
}
}
]
}
Execution step:
run this command “packer build -debug template.json”

17. Packer : One of its Use Case
- vim playbook.yml
{
"builders":[
{
………………
"ami_description": "AMI designed by Packer",
"tags": {
"role": "AppBaseAMI"
},
"run_tags":{
"role": "buildSystem"
}
}
],
"provisioners":[
{
"type": "shell",
"script": "ansible.sh"
},
{
"type": "ansible-local",
"playbook_file": "./playbook.yml"
}
]
}
- vim template.json

18. Packer : One of its Use Case

19. What is Vault ?

20. Our Goal
Automate
Everything
Everything
needs to be
defined in code
Sounds good until ...

21. What about the passwords?
Everyone remembers the advice
“do not write passwords”
But we can’t depend on a human
being to configure a password
Need a “secure” mechanism to store and distribute passwords and other
secrets

22. So where can I put the secrets?
Remember
them
Code
Config
management
tools
Encryption
Vault

23. Hashicorp Vault
What is Vault?
 Vault is a tool for securely accessing and managing secrets
 Secret is anything that you want to tightly control access to, such as API keys, passwords, or certificates.

24. Why Hashicorp Vault ?
 Take secret management to the next level
 Automation friendly
 Complete API access
 Automatic rotation for several tools and platforms
 Integrations with Terraform and Consul template
 Secure

25. Automation friendly - App workflow
Vault provides a secure solution for sharing and distributing secrets

26. HashiCorp Tools BestFit

27. Summary
 Very little effort to deploy & manage resources in Azure, AWS, and Google.
Not the only tool but it is powerful and simple
If you are looking to deploy resources across multiple providers, take advantage HashiCorp
Ecosystem:
 Terraform – tool for creating, combining, and modifying infrastructure.
 Packer – tool for creating images.
 Vault - tool for managing secrets.
 Consul – tool for service discovery, service registry, and health checks.
 Vagrant – tool for managing dev environments

28. Thank YouThank You
Contact @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushil-kumar-24690150/