Mastering Policy Enforcement in Open-Source Terraform: A Hands-On Guide
Terraform is a widely used tool for defining and provisioning infrastructure through code. While the open-source version of Terraform is potent and flexible, it lacks the built-in’ policy as code’ capabilities provided by Terraform Cloud’s Sentinel. ‘Policy as code’ is a concept that allows you to define, manage, and enforce policies in a machine-readable format. This limitation can challenge organizations that must enforce strict compliance and governance policies across their infrastructure.
Adherence to compliance standards is not optional in regulated environments. Whether it’s ensuring that all resources have mandatory tags, enforcing naming conventions, or validating configurations, having a robust mechanism to enforce policies is crucial. Sentinel, a powerful tool available with Terraform Cloud, offers a rich policy framework that is instrumental in enforcing these standards.
Fortunately, the open-source ecosystem provides several alternatives to help fill this gap. Tools like Open Policy Agent (OPA) allow you to define and enforce policies, ensuring your infrastructure adheres to your organization’s standards. Using pre-commit hooks and custom scripts can further enhance your compliance efforts by integrating policy checks into your version control and CI/CD pipelines, providing a sense of…
