Loads environment key/values from multiple sources and runs a tool of choice within the isolated environment of that tool. It also provides a structure for storing specific files such as SSH keys that differ in different scenarios (different profiles and systems).
The tool is intended to load access and encryption keys into a devops tool like Ansible, cloud host provider libraries such as python boto for AWS, or simply to use ssh more conveniently on multiple different host systems.
It is especially useful to help separate system configuration from user specific configuration where only the system configuration is under shared source control, and it makes it easy to switch between heterogenous systems such as multiple cloud hosting providers, or datacenters.
This tool is no way tied to any particular other tool, but to exemplify: Ansible easily handles different setups, but, assuming the playbook rules are written as generic as possible, it still needs to be told which configuration to use, and then have the right access keys to do the job.
See 'rp --help' for brief description.
The 'rp' tool works a bit similar to the 'env' tool be setting up a customized environment before running a command.
The 'rp' file should be executable and placed in an executable path such as '/usr/local/bin'.
Currently there are some associated files that must be located in the same directory. These are named: 'run-profile*'.
It can also be copied directly into, say, ./bin of devops repository and run as 'bin/rp'. The user specific setup evolves around configuring ~/.devops/profiles - this is discussed at length below.
This tool is essentially viewed as complete and will only be updated if significant bugs are found, or new features become relevant.
A typical (simplified) use case could be to give AWS_SECRET_KEY and friends to the python boto library, give network topology to ansible, give ssh.config to ssh while allowing for multiple system configurations and multiple possible user profiles, making core deployment scripts reusable.
It is convenient to write a few scripts to lauch a tool in different configurations. For example ssh into different cloud providers are using ansible roles in different contexts. This in itself can quickly explode into many unmaintable scripts, even if using a very structured approach such as ansible overall.
Furthermore, some data such as host IP addresses may need frequent and expedient synchronization across teams by using a source code repository such as git, while other data such user account data does belong there, and may provide a security risk.
Even when these user specific data are separated out, the lack of structure and standardization makes it difficult to set up a consistent framework and typically requires a lot of written instructions and easily broken scripts.
In the end, a job needs to done, and the end result may be that data are hacked into the wrong places, which then easily leads to the other meaning of the word hacked as critical data are exposed in hosted source code repositories.
Using this tool will not solve all problems, but it becomes easier to structure things right, for example by documenting that a user profile must define "SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" and have it point to a valid key. This can then by done by dropping the key into the profile home and store the name without being concerned with global path conventions. Here is an arbitrary example:
$ cat ~/.devops/profiles/examples/dc01/profile.env
# copy to ~/.devops/profiles/<myname>/dc01
# log in to management console to get key and credentials
# fill in below...
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY={{ profile_home }}/mykey.pem
# IMPORTANT: only set this to yes if you need to maintain system:
# dc-polar/bonzai with database backup jobs (TODO: we need to
# clean this up and create a new system config with the proper
# setting).
# FIXME_SSH_FORWARD_AGENT=yes
FIXME_SSH_FORWARD_AGENT=no
# Remove this for internal datacenters such as dc-tribal and dc-polar
AWS_SECRET_KEY=...
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=...
AWS_REGION=...
# This must be a valid path in trainee-devops/systems:
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=aws/test-01
# DEVOPS_SYSTEM=polar-bonzai
By sharing an example profile or a tree of such, documentation requirements are kept to a minimum, and users can update their own credentials as they change or become available.
The user of the above might then run:
$ cp -r ~/.devops/profiles/examples/dc01 ~/.devops/profiles/doe/test-dc01
(edit and add key)
$ cd trainee-devops
$ ls systems
aws/
polar-bonazai
$ rp -p doe/test-dc01 ansible -m ping all
(systems/aws/test-01/system.env would have settings needed by ansible)
Before running a configuration management (or any other) tool, the environment must be setup.
Tools using this setup will load the environment with items such as secret keys and also choose the associated system configuration just before running the tool Thus, keys are not lingering in the shell environment, and are kept in a single controlled location outside of shared source repositories.
We thus have two configuration parts: systems and profiles.
The systems define network topology, service provider, firewall rules etc. The profiles define access credentials and customized tooling options. Often there a profile close match one system, and thus a system is selected by selecting a profile.
Profiles are stored outside of the primary devops source control system and holds access keys and local encryption keys. Ideally, the profile can be reconstructed using two factor login to a management console to retrieve access keys, define them in a small profile.env file and define which system the keys apply to - and possibly an ssh key and encryption key shared by gpg email or similar, but of course it depends.
Systems are defined inside devops repositories and may by synchronized very frequently, for example changing the number of load-balanced web servers. Perhaps some settings are encrypted - we might for example want to hide the IP of our primary access hosts, but that depends on the tooling used.
In the basic form, we have
~/.devops/profiles/profile.env
or, if DEVOPS_PROFILE=dc01_shared (as an example)
~/.devops/profiles/dc01_shared/profile.env
or
~/.devops/profiles/user-doe/dc01_test/profile.env
Here DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT defaults to '~/.devops/profiles', and in the exampels, DEVOPS_PROFILE was one of
DEVOPS_PROFILE=""
DEVOPS_PROFILE=dc01_shared
DEVOPS_PROFILE=user-doe/dc01_test
We can override the profile root path so we find the profile with
$DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT/$DEVOPS_PROFILE/profile.env
The file $DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT/common_profile.env is optionally read first and may be used to select the currently active profile by defining DEVOPS_PROFILE.
As an example, profile.env may hold tool and system specific credentials such as:
AWS_SECRET_KEY=xxx
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=xxx
AWS_REGION=xxx
Variables are entirely specific to the system tool chain, the python boto library seems to take a preference for the above. The DEVOPS_ prefix is reserved for our environment setup use.
With the profile configured, a system can be identified. This is normally a directory in a checked out configuration management system and decoupled from the profile, but this is merely a convention:
After 'profile.env' has been read, 'system.env' is read (when present) in the path:
$DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT/$DEVOPS_SYSTEM/system.env
with the system root path default to './systems' and the system defaults to empty, so we the default path becomes:
./systems/system.env
Like with profiles, if a common_profile.env file is found in the system root, it is read first, and may be used to select the active system. For example, we might have the following files read in that order:
~/.devops/profiles/common_profile.env
~/.devops/profiles/dc01_shared/profile.env
./systems/common_system.env
./systems/datacenter_01/system.env
NOTE: this order allows for critical security parameters to be confidently set in the systems.env setting regardless of what individual users define in their profile or environment. This could, as an example, be shutting off an SSH_FORWARD_AGENT setting that was previously configured in user profiles. If the opposite order is needed, use different names and deal with it in a script using 'OPTION_X=${PROFILE_X:-SYSTEM_X}'.
More generally we have:
$DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT/common_profile.env
$DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT/$DEVOPS_PROFILE/profile.env
$DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT/common_system.env
$DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME/$DEVOPS_SYSTEM/system.env
with
DEVOPS_PROFILE_HOME=
$DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT/$DEVOPS_PROFILE
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME=
$DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT/$DEVOPS_SYSTEM
If a value is defined in multiple places, the last value read will win, except the following specific variables take precedence from the command line arguments, then from the existing environment:
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT
DEVOPS_PROFILE
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT
DEVOPS_SYSTEM
Defaults summary:
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT=~/.devops/profiles
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT=./systems
The following variables are temporarily overwritten, or rewritten with absolute paths when running the command given:
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT
DEVOPS_PROFILE_HOME
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME
These values are also avaible to some of the .env files as template arguments; for example {{ system_home }} is available to 'system.env'. See support matrix below.
All .env files are always only looked up in exactly one place each, and skipped when absent.
Both the profile and system directories may contain additional setup files, and the .env files may be used to identify these with the help of template arguments.
Lets run an example with the python boto library on OS-X to list hosts on the AWS cluster.
$ easy_install pip
$ pip install boto
(possibly also set up a python path)
Now the tool 'list_instances' should be able to list stopped and running AWS EC2 instances, except we have to define a number of AWS keys first.
We edit common_profile.env for a quick test:
$ cat ~/.devops/profiles/common_profile.env
AWS_SECRET_KEY=xxx
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=xxx
AWS_REGION=xxx
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=aws/test
We can now do:
$ rp list_instances
Notably without AWS_SECRET_KEY floating around in your shell environment.
So far this only details the profile part. But we also wants an ssh.config file that can be shared in a devops repository with quickly chaning host names so we can easily log in. This is not suitable for the profiles directory which we keep private.
Without going into specifics about ssh, we create a devops repository, using git or similar. For simplicity we assume we operate from the root of this repository and add the systems subdirectory:
$ mkdir -p devops/systems/aws/test
$ cd devops
$ touch systems/aws/test/ssh.config
$ touch systems/aws/test/system.env
Edit ssh.config to your specifics. Edit system.env so we get:
$ cat systems/test/system.env
SSH_CONFIG={{ system_home }}/ssh.config
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY={{ profile_home }}/key.pem
Copy you ssh key in place so we have:
$ ls ~/.devops/profiles/
common_profile.env
key.pem
And finally we create a login script in ./bin/login
$ cat ./bin/login
#!/bin/sh
ssh-add $SSH_PRIVATE_KEY
ssh -f $SSH_CONFIG $1
Note that we use ssh-add so ssh.config might use ForwardAgent=yes if necessary. The script can be enhanced to deregister they key from the agent when done.
Assuming ssh.config lists a host named 'test-server-01' we login wit:
$ rp bin/login test-server-01
As an excercise, rename the common_profile.env to profile.env and place it in a profile named 'test-01' in 'devops', and another named 'production' using a different key. With that configured, and ssh.config updated, we can now do:
$ rp --profile test-01 bin/login test-server-01
$ rp --profile production bin/login production-host
Set up a new AWS account with a new profile. This requires a new systems dir 'aws/2', and a new profile to hold the AWS keys. With that configured, we can name the new profile 'admin-02' that sets DEVOPS_SYSTEM=aws/2.
$ rp -p admin-02 list_instances
$ rp -p test-01 list_instances
Next steps:
Use a tool like Ansible and call it with a shell script that feeds --extra-vars with a file from $DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME, and possible configures an encryption key given in the profile.env file.
Assuming we have a basic ansible setup
Finally, create a third system aws/lock-down which uses the same account so we can reuse keys and profile, but change some ssh.config parameters, and perhaps later some firewall rules. We also add a hosts file for use with ansible.
Gotcha:
$ rp -p admin-02 -s aws/3 ansible \
-i $DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME/hosts -m ping all
Note that we avoid variable expansion on the command line where they are not defined, and that run has added its own location to the executable path temporarily.
We can work around this by placing the command in a shell script, but since this is an ad-hoc job, we can work around it with:
$ rp -p admin-02 -s aws/3 -i systems/aws/3/hosts -m ping all
For ad-hoc testing we can also drop into a sub-shell:
$ rp -p admin-2 -s aws-3 bash
(advanced user might want to change the prompt at the same time)
All the secrets exposed, but we can run all commands directly:
$ ansible -i $DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME/hosts -m ping all
...
and exit when done with ad-hoc testing
$ exit
To get a more concise workflow, still with flexible profiles we add a wrapper script for key tasks such as ansible-playbook:
$ cat bin/play
#!/bin/sh
ansible-playbook -i ${DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME}/hosts "$@" \
--extra-vars="@${DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME}/vault/vars.yml
$ ls roles
myplay.yml
$ rp bin/play roles/myplay.yml
$ rp -p test bin/play roles/myplay.yml
...
where the vault encryption key might have been set in the user profile to protect the system configuration. The "$@" is shell speak for passing the arguments from run to ansible-playbook.
The following values are decided as .env files are being read and cannot be changed once decided. The table lists the places they can be defined, and the first place to set it, wins.
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT <env>
DEVOPS_PROFILE <arg>, <env>, <common_profile.env>
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT <env>, <common_profile.env>, <profile.env>
DEVOPS_SYSTEM <arg>, <env>, <all other env files>
Where is the existing shell environment and is a command line option given the 'rp' tool, such as '--system=mystem'.
To see have this works, use the debug facilities:
$ rp -d
$ rp -d -e
Other values may be set repeatedly, and the last value will win, which gives predictability, but isn't very useful when looking up which profile or system to use.
The behavior of other DEVOPS_ variables are reserved for future use.
The values:
DEVOPS_PROFILE_HOME
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME
are derived from the above and can never be set.
Note that:j;w
$ rp --system=online-services sh
will start a new shell with the profiled environment. Therefore, if the 'rp' tool is used again, it will inherit the settings from the parent call, which can be very useful, but when it is not, the following example shows different ways to override settings:
$ unset DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT
$ DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT=../staging rp --profile=test
The file consists of blank lines, comments and key value pairs:
# Comment
# comment
Key=Value
sentence_1=More than { on e word
login_file={{ profile_home }}/login.sh
Blank lines, and comments are ignored. Keys must start at the beginning of the line.
Comments cannot appear on key=value lines - they would be part of the value. This allows for passwords containing special characters.
Trailing space is stripped from values, but otherwise they can contain spaces and special characters. If you have a file name with a trailing space, or a password, you have to define your delimiter and strip it later, or store the value in a file.
Template arguments are mustache and Jinja2 style. The convention is one space before and after keyword. Unsupported template arguments are passed through.
Each .env file may access a few variables when they do not define the values within their own file:
variable valid for
-------------------------------------------------------
{{ project_home }} all
{{ profile_root }} common_profile.env, profile.env
{{ profile_home }} profile.env
{{ profile }} profile.env
{{ system_root }} common_system.env, system.env
{{ system_home }} system.env
{{ system }} system.env
No other template arguments are allowed - they are passed unchanged.
Don't confuse {{ project_home }} with {{ profile_home }}. The project
home is the current directory unless a parent directory contains the
file .devops.conf in which case that directory becomes the project
directory. Various default paths rely on the project home path. Like
all home paths, the project home path is computed and cannot be changed.
The reason why systems do not see profiles is to separate concerns and ease maintenance. Tools have access to all paths via the environment.
Sometimes it useful to have shared settings across systems or profiles. In that case one can use the root paths, or the more fragile home paths such as:
AWS_SHARED_VARS_1={{ system_home }}/../shared.vars
AWS_SHARED_VARS_2={{ system_root }}/aws/shared.vars
The .env files have no leading space and consists of lines of key value pairs. Blank lines and lines starting with # (only at line start), are valid and ignored. Variables have exactly one space before and after the name.
# this is a comment
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=datacenter_01
DEVOPS_USER_NAME="Shared Devops User"
DEVOPS_PROFILE=dc01_shared
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY={{ profile_home }}/{{ profile }}/dc01_shared.pem
SSH_DEFAULT_PRIVATE_KEY={{ profile_home }}/shared.pem
# end of example
The convention says one space before the keyword such as {{ profile_home }}, by spaces are ignored. During export (see below) without expansion, template arguments are rewritten with exactly one space on either side of the keyword, making it easier to parse.
This is not strictly related to this tool, but it is mentioned as it is closely related. For example in the choise of where to put keys and whether key paths should be configured at all.
SSH keys are normally, or at least sometimes, expected to be added to ssh agent, and configuration management systems may forward keys to remote hosts via ssh ForwardAgent=yes. Therefore it makes sense to password protect keys even when remote systems cannot have access to that password. On OS-X one can add keys to the keychain with:
$ ssh-add -K mykey.pem
and in general without -K to add it to the running ssh-agent during local login. Some tools may script this using the variables such as in the above.
As a final note, the profile directory structure is designed to be compatible with the rcm tool:
github.com/thoughtbot/rcm
rcm synchronizes dot dirs across machines for different users and system types, but it is not necessarily recommended unless the security implications of multiple key locations are well understood. Note that 'man' pages are currently the best source of documentation for that tool.
We may also define a git repository with only example profiles and explicitly .gitignore the actual profiles. This makes it easy to share configuration templates, and changes to those, in relative safety.
If no command argument is given, 'env' is called to dump the profiled environment, unless an export option is given.
In this way it is easy to find, say, a db password:
$ rp -p backup | grep DB_PASSWORD
DB_PASSWORD=not-secret-anymore
or the AWS key setup:
$ rp | grep AWS_
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=...
AWS_SECRET_KEY=...
AWS_REGION=...
It is possible to export values from the various sources. The output is in ini style format, but is easily converted to a shell source that will read the same environment as rp configures.
If any export option is used, it is not valid to supply a command. No environment will be created during export.
Here is an example:
$ rp -p doe/production-dc01 -e
[common_profile.env]
DEVOPS_PROFILE=doe/test-dc01
[profile.env]
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=...
AWS_SECRET_KEY=...
AWS_REGION=...
SSH_PRIVATE=...../doedc01key.pem
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=dc01/production
[system.env]
SYS_STATUS=TEST
[meta]
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT=/home/doe/.devops/profiles
DEVOPS_PROFILE_HOME=/home/doe/.devops/profiles/doe/production-dc01
DEVOPS_PROFILE=doe/production-dc01
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT=/home/doe/devopswork/dcx-project/systems
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME=/home/doe/devopswork/\
dcx-project/systems/dc01/production
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=dc01/producion
The last [meta] section is the actual settings used, regardless of source. Here we have used the command line to override the DEVOPS_PROFILE in common_profile.env. Also note that the [common_system.env] section is absent because in this case there were no such file.
The format is stripped for comments and blank lines and have exactly one blank line between sections.
The section headers and blank lines can be stripped with:
$ rp -x
This is almost enough to use as a shell source file, but special characters are not escaped.
Output can also be directed to a file with the -o option, and this option implies the -e, so we can have:
$ rp -o "myenv.ini"
$ rp -x -o "myenv.sh"
Last, but not least, we can disable template expansion which is useful for sharing and reviewing configurations, but of course, mask sensitive data first.
The following example only shows a few lines where relevant:
$ rp -n
[profile.env]
...
SSH_PRIVATE={{ profile_home }}/keys/doedc01key.pem
...
[meta]
DEVOPS_PROFILE_ROOT={{ profile_root }}
DEVOPS_PROFILE_HOME={{ profile_home }}
DEVOPS_PROFILE=doe/production-dc01
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_ROOT={{ system_root }}
DEVOPS_SYSTEM_HOME={{ system_home }}
DEVOPS_SYSTEM=dc01/producion
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