Summary
When engineers need to deploy IaC (infrastructure as code) modules across many different accounts in the Cloud, the engineers are often stuck having to manually deploy the modules to each account individually because the existing tools available are too rigid with hierarchical structures. Samtek’s Cloud Command and Control Center (4Cs) is a no-frills software solution for deploying and maintaining common IaC modules across many accounts in the cloud. The result is more visibility and control over every deployment, easier configuration of hierarchical structures, and better account management through organizations.
The Challenge: Existing Structures are Rigid
Organizations with a large IT presence can easily have 100+ business applications running on the cloud. These applications often exist within their own accounts on the cloud to intentionally separate them. However, cloud applications frequently need common infrastructure, especially for processes like auditing or data aggregation.
There’s already software designed to organize accounts in the cloud, but there are two main problems with existing software:
- They provide only a single Operational Unit (OU) structure based on one hierarchical organization of accounts.
- Existing organization management tools are bloated and have features only tangentially associated with provisioning common infrastructure components.
These one-size-fits-all tools slow down updates and governance, making organizations inefficient.
Our Solution: A Slimmed-down, Automated Solution with More Control & Visibility
We eventually grew frustrated with the limitations and expense of existing software, so Samtek developed 4Cs to meet all our infrastructure needs.
No More 2-Dimensional Thinking
4Cs tags accounts and allows the deployment of IaC across multiple dimensions instead of being limited by the two-dimensional structure of a hierarchical tree. This means IaC could be deployed to all non-prod accounts or deploying to every account which is business critical, which would be impossible in other organization management software.
Automatically Create Necessary Configurations
Unlike existing organization management software, 4Cs automatically orchestrates the creation of necessary configurations under organizational structures. This means that as soon as a company creates a new branch in their organizational structure, 4Cs allows the end user to define infrastructure and roles within this branch in the future. Similarly, if an account is created within the structure, 4Cs will add role and infrastructure configurations as needed.
Full visibility & full control
4Cs gives the end user deeper visibility into past and present IaC deployments. This visibility allows the user to see exactly which modules are deployed to each account, whether they are out-of-sync with the intended configuration, whether there were any errors during the deployment, and if they are using an outdated module version.
4Cs also grants the end user full control over deployment internals, like how many accounts are modified in parallel during deployments or upgrades. This control lets the end user configure the frequency of synchronization checks to limit API spam on accounts and prevent them from DDOS-ing themselves.
Flexibility without vendor lock in
4Cs doesn’t force any irreversible tool or vendor lock in. Because everything that 4Cs deploys is a Terraform template, in the unlikely case that 4Cs might be down, all IaC modules can continue to be managed as traditional terraform deployments.
Identical deployment process across all clouds
Another benefit of using Terraform is unified developer experience and multi-Cloud Service Provider (CSP) support. Most infrastructure teams use Terraform for their deployments, so it’s a familiar environment for many teams. Terraform also supports the other CSPs unlike, for example, CloudFormation, which is only compatible with AWS. This support means that the IaC module deployment process is identical for all clouds.
A Simple Tool Leads to Lower Costs
Additionally, 4Cs’ slimmed-down nature makes it more affordable than other, bloated organization management tools. This cost savings is because of its simplicity, which allows for a smaller development team.
Results
4Cs makes it more likely that organizations have all the correct, necessary components deployed to their accounts on time, increasing both accuracy and efficiency.
Conclusion
4Cs makes deploying and managing complex cloud infrastructure easy. Our tool lets us deploy cloud infrastructure, where we want, and how we want.
If you’d like more information about Samtek’s Cloud Command and Control Center, reach out to start the conversation.