Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
Are you facing custom configuration challenges for your AWS resources? If you’re struggling to align actual configurations with your specific requirements, you’re in luck. A new public repository featuring sample AWS Config custom rules, designed using AWS CloudFormation Guard, is now available to assist you.
AWS Config enables organizations to continuously assess and monitor the configurations of their resources, ensuring they adhere to desired settings. This service tracks configuration changes and uses defined rules to verify compliance with those settings. There are two main types of rules: managed and custom. Managed rules are prebuilt based on widely accepted best practices, while AWS Config custom rules allow for tailored creations based on unique organizational needs. You can develop custom rules through Lambda functions (AWS Config Custom Lambda Rules) or by utilizing Guard, a policy-as-code language (AWS Config Custom Policy Rules).
Getting Started with AWS Config Custom Policy Rules
In this article, I will focus on how to get started with AWS Config Custom Policy Rules using examples from the sample repository. This repository contains community-contributed rules reviewed by AWS Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that cover a variety of use cases. It serves as a resource for learning how to implement custom policy rules in AWS Config, providing sample code to help you begin. Notably, you can modify and adapt these rules to meet your specific requirements. The examples vary, such as validating whether an Amazon CloudWatch alarm has defined actions or checking if an Amazon VPC Endpoint is utilized.
For instance, one sample rule checks the availability of IP addresses within designated Amazon VPC subnets, marking a result as non-compliant if fewer than 5% of addresses are free in a subnet. The rule is outlined as follows:
# Rule-intent: Rule checks if subnets are running out of ip addresses - flag when approx 5% are left
# Expectations:
# a) COMPLIANT when there are enough free ips
# b) NONCOMPLIANT when number of free ips is < 5% of subnet size
# c) NOTAPPLICABLE when subnet mask does not match
rule checker16 when configuration.cidrBlock == //16/ { configuration.availableIpAddressCount >= 3276 }
...
rule checker28 when configuration.cidrBlock == //28/ { configuration.availableIpAddressCount >= 1 }
To modify the rule for a different compliance threshold, simply adjust the values of the configuration.availableIpAddressCount >= X to reflect your needs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, creating a custom policy rule has become more accessible. Previously, you would have to write rules from scratch or rely on AWS documentation samples. Now, you can also refer to the rule samples repository on GitHub for additional guidance. We will continue to expand this repository with new rules. For more information on getting started with AWS Config Custom Policy rules, check out this excellent resource.
For further insights into how these configurations can elevate your operational efficiency, you may also find this article on manifesting intriguing. Additionally, exploring the perspectives on community engagement from Brandix can provide valuable context in this domain.