Older code versions for this tutorial can be found in the branches archive_classic_tekton and classic_pipeline_RETIRED.

This repository is used by two IBM Cloud solution tutorials:

• Apply end to end security to a cloud application
• Enhance cloud security by applying context-based restrictions

Apply end to end security to a cloud application

The repository features a sample application that enables groups of users to upload files to a common storage pool and to provide access to those files via shareable links. The application is written in Node.js and deployed as Docker container to the IBM Cloud Kubernetes service. It leverages several security-related services and features to improve app security. It includes data encrypted with your own keys, user authentication, and security auditing.

Refer to this tutorial for instructions.

1. The user connects to the application.
2. Optionally Secrets Manager is used to store/retrieve SSL/TLS certificates.
3. App ID secures the application and redirects the user to the authentication page. Users can sign up from there too.
4. The application is running in a Kubernetes cluster (either IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service or Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud) from an image stored in the container registry. The image is automatically scanned for vulnerabilities.
5. Files uploaded by the user are stored in Cloud Object Storage.
6. The bucket where the files are stored is using a user-provided key to encrypt the data.
7. All activities related to managing the solution are logged by Cloud Activity Tracker with LogDNA.

The application can be deployed using a toolchain.

Enhance cloud security by applying context-based restrictions

To further enhance security, context-based restrictions are implemented on top the deployed resources as shown.

Refer to the tutorial Enhance cloud security by applying context-based restrictions for details and instructions.

Deploy with a toolchain and Terraform

This project comes with a partially automated toolchain capable of deploying the application to IBM Cloud. The entire environment, including the needed services and the toolchain, is set up using Terraform (Infrastructure as Code). The Terraform scripts are managed in a Schematics workspace.

Prerequisites

1. Optionally create a specific resource group for this project. Note that the rest of these resources must be in the same resource group.
2. Create an IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service or Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud cluster in a VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). Make sure to attach a Public Gateway for each of the subnets your worker nodes are deployed into as it is required for App ID.
3. Have an instance of Continuous Delivery service to be used by the toolchain.
4. Have an existing namespace in the IBM Cloud Container Registry.

Please note that the Kubernetes cluster and the resources deployed via Terraform / Schematics have to be in the same region and resource group. The app is deployed to the Kubernetes cluster and hence in the same region and resource group, too.

Deploy resources using Terraform managed by Schematics

Either create the Schematics workspace automatically by clicking this "deploy link". Or set it up manually by going to the Schematics workspaces and using https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/secure-file-storage/tree/master/terraform as source respository including the path and the latest version of Terraform runtime.

Configure all required variables:

• basename: project basename which is used as prefix for names, e.g., secure-file-storage
• region is where the resources will be deployed and the location of the existing Kubernetes cluster: us-south, eu-de, ...
• iks_cluster_name: name of your existing VPC-based Kubernetes cluster
• iks_namespace: Kubernetes namespace into which to deploy the app. It will be created if it does not exist.
• resource_group is the name of the IBM Cloud resource group where to deploy the services into.
• toolchain_registry_namespace: The existing namespace in the Container Registry to use.
• toolchain_registry_region: The Container Registry region
• toolchain_apikey: An IBM Cloud API key to use for building the container image with the app, pushing it to the Container Registry, and deploying it to the Kubernetes cluster.
• toolchain_failscan: Set to false to not fail in case vulnerabilities are detected.
• deploy_cbr: Indicates whether the CBR zones and rules should be deployed. false by default and can be set to true.
• cbr_enforcement_mode: By default, the CBR rules are in report mode only. Change and set to enforced or disabled.
• cbr_homezone_iprange: Can be set to the IP range of your home or bastion network.

Be sure to click "Save".

Next, optionally click "Generate plan" to verify everything would be working ok. Or directly click on Apply plan to deploy the configured resources, authorizations and service keys as well as the toolchain:

• App ID
• Cloud Object Storage
• Cloudant NoSQL database
• Key Protect

Note: By default, services are provisioned with service plans that should work in typical accounts. It means that paid plans are used. If you want to change to lite plans, you may configure different plans by changing values for variables like cos_plan, appid_plan, etc.

Run the deployment pipeline

Go to the toolchains page. Make sure to be in the correct region. Click on the toolchain secure-file-storage-toolchain, then on the delivery pipeline secure-file-storage-pipeline. Finally, Run Pipeline and choose the manual trigger manual-trigger-builddeploy to build and deploy the app. You can click on the details of the pipeline run to see and examine the diagnostic logs.

Uninstall

The toolchain includes a trigger to uninstall the app. Click Run Pipeline, select the trigger manual-trigger-uninstall and run the pipeline. When it has finished, switch to the Schematics workspace and select the action to Destroy resources. Thereafter, select Delete workspace which removes the workspace itself. Only deleting the workspace keeps the resources.

Code Structure

The file for the Infrastructure as Code, the Continuous Delivery pipeline, and the app itself are organized in several directories.

Terraform

The terraform directory holds the resource configurations files. They are loaded into the Schematics workspace to provision or destroy the resources including the toolchain.

Pipeline

The directory .tekton has the files to define the pipelines, their tasks and how the pipelines are triggered.

The file .tekton/pipelines.yaml defines two pipelines, one for the build & deploy process, one to uninstall the app. The "build & deploy" pipeline has four tasks:

1. git-repo-changes clones the source repository and checks for code changes to the toolchain and app.
2. build uses the task icr-containerize from the Open Toolchain Tekton Catalog to build the Docker image.
3. va-scan runs and checks vulnerability checks on the newly built image. It facilitates the IBM Cloud Container Registry for that purpose.
4. deploy-to-kubernetes deploys the Docker image to the Kubernetes cluster and configures the app.

Note that the pipeline definition includes an inactive check to only build and deploy the app if there were app-related changes. Uncomment that section in the source code to enable the check.

App

Located in the app directory:

File	Description
app.js	Implementation of the application.
app/credentials.template.env	To be copied to credentials.env and filled with credentials to access services. credentials.env is used when running the app locally and to create a Kubernetes secret before deploying the application to a cluster manually.
app/Dockerfile	Docker image description file.
app/secure-file-storage.template.yaml	Kubernetes deployment file with placeholders. To be copied to secure-file-storage.yaml and edited to match your environment.
app/secure-file-storage-ingress.template.yaml	Kubernetes network configuration file with placeholders. To be copied to secure-file-storage-ingress.yaml and edited to match your environment.

To test locally

The app can be tested and developed locally, either directly by using npm start or by building and running a container by leveraging the Dockerfile.

1. Follow the tutorial instructions to create all the services and to populate the credentials.env file. You will need the public instead of the private COS endpoint in order to access Cloud Object Storage from your machine.
2. Add http://0.0.0.0/redirect_uri to App ID as Web redirect URI. See the section in tutorial for details.
3. npm start or node app.js to start the app. To use a container, utilize docker build and docker run commands.
4. Access the local app through the shown URL. Now, you can change the app source code and test locally.

License

See License.txt for license information.