HashiCorp Boundary and Vault Stack

Deploy a Self-Hosted HCP Vault and Boundary stack using end-to-end automation.

What This Project Offers

This project provides a comprehensive, hands-on experience in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Configuration Management. It simulates a real-world infrastructure environment with a focus on end-to-end automation, enabling DevOps engineers to collaboratively deliver a reliable, production-ready stack. Key deliverables include detailed documentation and diagrams.

As of the latest release, BVSTACK covers steps 0-3 of the DevOpsHobbies Ultimate Roadmap.

💻 Toolchain

Pre-requisites

• Vagrant
• Virtualbox
• Python => 3.10.12
• Pip
• venv

How to Use

1. Read the Documentation: Before getting started, ensure you have thoroughly reviewed the project documentation, the automation workflow diagram and installed the prerequisites.

2. Configure Variables: Create your own tfvars file based on the samples provided in the Boundary and Vault directories. Alternatively, you can remove the .sample extension from the provided sample files to use the default values.

3. Run the Start Script: Begin the setup by running the start.sh script in your desired environment:

   # Run in development:
   ./start.sh -e development

you'll be prompted to choose which NIC you want to bridge to by Vagrant.

4. Enter Vault Password: You will be prompted to enter the Vault password four times to decrypt Ansible Vault-encrypted files (e.g., inventory.ini) unless the related issue is resolved.

Note: The default ansible-vault-pass is BVSTACK. This is provided for simplicity in the sample; ensure you use a strong password for your Ansible Vault-encrypted files.

Note
The stack assumes that your host machine acts as the Ansible/Terraform controller. If you have the resources, it's recommended to spin up a separate VM to serve as the controller by cloning and running the project on that VM. after that you can export STACK_SERVER environment variable and set it to false this enables you to keep your host machine clean and isolated. Otherwise, don't even bother you won't be losing much. learn more about STACK_SERVER

For further assistance on exit/return codes and configurations, refer to the documentation.

To-Do List

Terraform

• Add a Vagrantfile to provision a VM using the Vagrant provider of your choice, based on the specifications.
• Provision an EC2 instance using the AWS provider based on the specifications and additional required configurations.
• Provision an Azure VM using the Azure provider based on the specifications and additional required configurations.
• Provision a VM on an ESXi server using the vSphere provider based on the specifications.
• Add a remote backend option for Boundary and Vault.
• Implement additional Vault authentication methods.
• Enhance Terraform output values for both Boundary and Vault.
• Implement Policy as Code (PaC) to validate Terraform policies.

Packer

• Add a Packer custom image template for VMware vSphere using the specifications.

Ansible

• Install and configure Terraform on the control node using the prepare_env role.
• Install and configure Docker on target (managed) nodes using the prepare_env role.
• Template tfvars files to handle specific variables for both Boundary and Vault Terraform providers.
• Create a well-organized Ansible template for Vault and Boundary configurations.
• Update environment variable declarations in Ansible roles to use the environment attribute instead of inline definitions in the shell module.
• Add proper configurations to serve the stack as a reverse proxy in the serve directory (tool optional).
• Update boundary.yml to use environment variables instead of hardcoding, then manage the export of these variables with Ansible.
• Convert Docker Compose files to corresponding Ansible modules using the community.docker.docker_container collection as an optional deployment method.
• Implement Ansible Molecule scenarios to test different aspects of your roles.
• Choose which provider to provision based on a user-defined or environment variable when handling provisions with Ansible.

CI/CD

• Implement automated testing using GitHub Actions for pull requests.

Shell Scripting

• Write a custom logger function and implement it throughout all shell scripts for better error handling and logging (in the log directory).
• Use case statements instead of if for argument handling in init.sh.
• Update start.sh to prompt for the Ansible Vault password once and use it for all operations.
• Replace sleep commands in start.sh with the appropriate Ansible wait_for modules.
• Remove the Vault root token in the cleanup script.

Contribution

All contributions are welcome! Please read the Contributing Guidelines for more information.

Credit and Maintenance

Copyright © 2024 Shayan Ghani - shayan.ghani.tech@gmail.com