Essential DevOps tools that are indispensable

Terraformer

Terraformer is an open-source tool developed by Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that allows you to generate Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates from existing cloud resources. It simplifies the process of migrating infrastructure to popular IaC providers such as Terraform, Kubernetes, and others. By utilizing Terraformer, users can easily convert their infrastructure configurations into code, enabling them to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources. The tool supports various cloud providers, including GCP, AWS, Azure, and more, making it versatile for multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments

Infracost

Infracost is an open-source tool available on GitHub that helps you estimate the cost of your infrastructure in popular cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It enables you to understand and track the expenses associated with your cloud resources by providing detailed cost breakdowns. Infracost integrates with your existing infrastructure-as-code (IaC) workflows, such as Terraform, allowing you to easily analyze the cost implications of your infrastructure changes before deployment. With Infracost, you can make informed decisions about resource allocation, optimize costs, and effectively manage your cloud spending.

Terratag

Terratag is an open-source tool available on GitHub, developed by env0, that helps you manage and apply tags to your infrastructure resources created using Terraform. Tags are key-value pairs that provide metadata for resources, enabling better organization, classification, and management of cloud resources. Terratag simplifies the process of adding, modifying, and removing tags across your Terraform-managed infrastructure. It supports various cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and GCP, allowing you to apply consistent tagging practices and enforce tag compliance. With Terratag, you can enhance resource visibility, enable cost allocation, and facilitate resource management in your infrastructure deployments.

Terragrunt

Terragrunt is an open-source tool developed by Gruntwork that provides enhanced features and functionality for managing Terraform configurations and deployments. It acts as a thin wrapper around Terraform, offering additional capabilities and addressing some of the limitations of Terraform itself. Terragrunt simplifies the management of multiple Terraform modules and configurations, enabling you to organize and reuse code more effectively.

Some key features of Terragrunt include:

  1. Remote state management: Terragrunt provides a convenient way to manage and share remote state across multiple Terraform projects, allowing for better collaboration and easier state management.
  2. Configuration inheritance: Terragrunt allows you to inherit configurations from parent directories, reducing duplication and enabling consistent configuration across multiple deployments.
  3. Remote operations: With Terragrunt, you can execute Terraform commands remotely on multiple modules or stacks, making it easier to manage and apply changes across complex infrastructures.
  4. Dependency management: Terragrunt supports dependency management between Terraform modules, ensuring proper order and dependencies when deploying infrastructure with interdependencies.

By leveraging Terragrunt, you can simplify your Terraform workflows, improve code reuse, and enhance the maintainability of your infrastructure-as-code projects.

Open Policy Agent

OPA, which stands for Open Policy Agent, is an open-source policy engine and framework that allows you to define and enforce policies across various aspects of your software stack. OPA provides a declarative language called Rego for expressing policies and a runtime engine for evaluating those policies against data.

OPA is designed to be flexible and can be integrated into different layers of your application stack, including APIs, microservices, and Kubernetes. It enables you to define fine-grained access control policies, data validation rules, and operational policies that govern the behavior of your systems.

Some use cases of OPA include:

  1. Authorization and access control: OPA can enforce access control policies to determine whether a request should be allowed or denied based on predefined rules and attributes.
  2. Compliance and security: OPA allows you to express and enforce security policies, ensuring that your systems comply with regulatory requirements and best practices.
  3. Configuration validation: OPA can be used to validate and enforce configuration rules to prevent misconfigurations that can lead to security vulnerabilities or operational issues.
  4. Admission control in Kubernetes: OPA can be integrated as an admission controller in Kubernetes clusters, enabling you to define custom admission policies to validate and control resource creation and modification.

By using OPA, you can centralize policy management, enable policy-as-code practices, and ensure consistent policy enforcement across your applications and infrastructure.

Checkov

Checkov is an open-source static analysis tool developed by Bridgecrew that helps you identify and fix security and compliance issues in your Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates. It focuses on scanning IaC configurations written in popular formats like Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes, and more.

Checkov performs deep scans of your IaC files and checks for misconfigurations, security vulnerabilities, and adherence to industry best practices. It comes with a comprehensive set of built-in checks based on security standards such as CIS Benchmarks, AWS Well-Architected Framework, and Azure CIS Foundations Benchmark. Additionally, you can define custom checks to suit your organization’s specific requirements.

By integrating Checkov into your CI/CD pipeline or development workflow, you can catch potential security and compliance issues early in the development process. Checkov provides detailed scan reports, highlighting the specific lines of code where issues are identified, along with recommendations for remediation.

Using Checkov helps ensure that your IaC templates align with security and compliance standards, reducing the risk of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in your infrastructure deployments.

TFSec

Tfsec is an open-source static analysis tool designed to help you identify potential security issues and best practice violations in your Terraform code. It scans your Terraform configurations and provides feedback on security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that could impact the security and compliance of your infrastructure.

Tfsec comes with a set of built-in security rules that are continually updated and aligned with industry best practices, including standards such as CIS Terraform Benchmark and AWS Foundational Security Best Practices. The tool checks for common issues such as overly permissive IAM policies, insecure S3 bucket configurations, and missing encryption settings.

Integrating Tfsec into your development workflow or CI/CD pipeline allows you to catch security issues early on, before deploying your infrastructure. It provides detailed reports that highlight the specific lines of code triggering each issue, enabling you to quickly identify and address security risks.

By using Tfsec, you can improve the security posture of your Terraform infrastructure by proactively identifying and remediating security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. It helps ensure that your Terraform code follows security best practices and adheres to compliance requirements, reducing the likelihood of security breaches and data leaks.

Terrascan

Terrascan is an open-source static code analysis tool developed by Tenable that focuses on scanning Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates written in Terraform. It helps you identify potential security vulnerabilities, compliance violations, and best practice deviations in your Terraform code.

Terrascan uses a rule-based approach, incorporating a wide range of built-in policies and guidelines from various sources, including industry standards like CIS Benchmarks, NIST, and AWS Well-Architected Framework. The tool analyzes your Terraform configurations and provides detailed reports on security risks and compliance issues.

Integrating Terrascan into your CI/CD pipeline or development workflow allows you to automate the scanning process and catch potential issues early on. It provides scan results that include specific lines of code triggering each violation, giving you clear visibility into the problematic areas.

By using Terrascan, you can enhance the security and compliance of your Terraform infrastructure. It helps you enforce security best practices, maintain adherence to regulatory standards, and minimize the risk of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in your deployments.

KICS

KICS (Keeping Infrastructure as Code Secure) is an open-source static analysis tool developed by Checkmarx. It specializes in scanning Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates across various cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Kubernetes.

KICS uses a combination of regular expressions, signatures, and heuristics to analyze IaC files and identify potential security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, and misconfigurations. It comes with a comprehensive rule set based on industry standards such as CIS Benchmarks, NIST, and other security guidelines.

By integrating KICS into your CI/CD pipeline or development workflow, you can automate the security scanning process and catch potential issues early on. KICS provides detailed scan reports that highlight the specific lines of code triggering each vulnerability or misconfiguration, allowing for efficient remediation.

KICS is designed to help developers, DevOps teams, and security professionals ensure the security and compliance of their IaC files. It enhances the security posture of infrastructure deployments by identifying and mitigating security risks, reducing the likelihood of security breaches and ensuring adherence to industry best practices.