End-to-End Secure Cloud Native CI/CD Pipeline

A security-centric CI/CD pipeline which integrates cutting-edge tools and practices to ensure robust code quality, vulnerability scanning, artifact publishing, secure Kubernetes deployment, and continuous monitoring.

Read the Blog Post here!

Introduction

CI/CD pipeline is built on the principles of security, automation, and continuous monitoring to deliver a seamless and secure development and deployment experience.

• Security by Design: Security considerations are integrated into every stage of the development and deployment process.
• Automation: The pipeline leverages automation to enhance efficiency, security, and reduce human error.
• Continuous Monitoring: Systems and applications are continuously monitored to detect issues and anomalies promptly.

Technologies Used

• Kubernetes: Container orchestration platform.
• Jenkins: CI/CD automation server.
• SonarQube: Code quality and static analysis.
• Aqua Trivy: Vulnerability scanning for code and container images.
• Nexus Repository: Artifact repository for secure storage.
• Docker: Containerization technology.
• Docker Hub: Docker image registry.
• Kubeaudit: Tool to audit Kubernetes clusters for various different security concerns.
• Grafana: For system and application-level monitoring and alerting.
• Prometheus: For collecting and querying metrics from services and endpoints.
• Gmail: For status notifications and alerts.

Project Structure

• config/: Configuration files for Kubernetes, Jenkins, SonarQube, etc.
• scripts/: Deployment and automation scripts.
• src/: Contains the source code of the demonstration application, Gcloud Infra and installation scripts, Kubernetes configuration files, etc.
• terraform/ : Terraform configuration files.
• Jenkinsfile: Declarative Jenkins pipeline definition.

Screenshots

Workflow

1. Development:
   • Developers create feature branches and push code to GitHub.
2. CI/CD Pipeline Trigger:
   • Code changes trigger the Jenkins CI/CD pipeline.
3. Build and Unit Testing:
   • [Build tool] compiles the code and executes unit tests.
4. Code Quality and Security:
   • SonarQube performs code quality analysis.
   • Aqua Trivy scans for vulnerabilities in code dependencies.
5. Artifact Creation:
   • A build artifact (e.g., JAR, WAR) is generated.
6. Artifact Publishing:
   • The artifact is pushed to Nexus Repository.
7. Container Image Build:
   • Docker creates a container image using the artifact.
8. Image Vulnerability Scan:
   • Aqua Trivy scans the image for vulnerabilities.
9. Deployment:
   • If all checks pass, the image is deployed to Kubernetes.
10. Monitoring and Notifications:
    • Monitoring solutions track system and website health.
    • Emails are sent for deployment status and critical alerts.