Step-by-Step Guide: Driving Azure Environment Purpose Key Features

and AWS Deployments Using resources, low-

testing
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for security configs
the Financial Industry to Reduce Pre- Production-like
Waste, Eliminate Staging production environment,
Manual/Repetitive Tasks, and testing limited access
Prevent Problem Recurrence Highly secure,
Live
Production scalable, HA
environment
Key Tools for IaC Deployment: configurations
Terraform: For cloud-agnostic 1.3. Plan for Compliance & Cost
infrastructure management. Optimization
 Use AWS Trusted Advisor and
Terragrunt: Enhances
Terraform by managing multiple Azure Cost Management for
environments and configurations. real-time cost and compliance
Ansible: For configuration monitoring.
 Define resource tags for easy
management and automation.
AWS CloudFormation cost allocation (e.g., project,
(optional): An alternative to environment, cost center).
Terraform for AWS-only Step 2: Prepare Infrastructure as
deployments. Code (IaC) Tools
Azure Resource Manager 2.1. Install Terraform & Terragrunt
(ARM) Templates: For Azure- # Install Terraform
only IaC. curl -fsSL
https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg |
Step 1: Architect and Plan sudo apt-key add -
1.1. Identify Cloud Providers and sudo apt-add-repository "deb
Resources https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $
(lsb_release -cs) main"
 AWS and Azure are the primary
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get
providers. install terraform
 Financial industry
requirements: # Install Terragrunt
o Compliance (e.g., PCI brew install terragrunt
DSS, GDPR)
o High availability 2.2. Set up Configuration
o Security (encryption, Management with Ansible
RBAC) # Install Ansible
o Cost management sudo apt update
1.2. Define the Environment sudo apt install ansible
Structure
Environment Purpose Key Features
Development Feature Cost-efficient
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 name = "financial-resource-group"
location = var.location
Step 3: Implement IaC Code }
Structure AWS Example: S3 Bucket for
3.1. Terraform File Structure Compliance Logs
iac/ resource "aws_s3_bucket"
├── terragrunt.hcl # Common "compliance_logs" {
configuration bucket = "compliance-logs-bucket"
├── modules/ # Reusable acl = "private"
modules versioning {
│ ├── vpc/ # VPC enabled = true
configuration }
│ ├── eks/ # EKS module lifecycle {
│ ├── rds/ # RDS module prevent_destroy = true
├── environments/ }
│ ├── dev/ # Development }
environment configuration Azure Example: SQL Server for
│ ├── staging/ # Staging Sensitive Data
environment configuration resource "azurerm_mssql_server"
│ ├── production/ # Production "sql_server" {
environment configuration name =
3.2. Terragrunt Structure "financialsqlserver"
environments/ location = var.location
├── dev/ resource_group_name =
│ └── terragrunt.hcl # Inputs for var.resource_group_name
dev environment version = "12.0"
├── staging/ administrator_login =
│ └── terragrunt.hcl # Inputs for var.admin_user
staging environment administrator_login_password =
├── production/ var.admin_password
│ └── terragrunt.hcl # Inputs for }
production environment 4.2. Set Up Variables and Outputs
Step 4: Automate Cloud Variables File (variables.tf)
Infrastructure with Terraform variable "region" {
4.1. Create Terraform Resources description = "The AWS region"
AWS Example: VPC Creation default = "us-west-1"
}
resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
variable "vpc_cidr" {
cidr_block = var.vpc_cidr
description = "The CIDR block for the
enable_dns_support = true
VPC"
enable_dns_hostnames = true
default = "10.0.0.0/16"
}
}
Azure Example: Resource Group
resource "azurerm_resource_group"
Outputs File (outputs.tf)
output "vpc_id" {
"main" {
description = "The ID of the VPC"
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 value = aws_vpc.main.id Run Ansible Playbook
} ansible-playbook -i inventory deploy.yml
4.3. Apply Terraform Configuration
terraform init 6.2. Ensure Configuration Drift
terraform plan Prevention
terraform apply
 Use Ansible to periodically

Step 5: Implement Terragrunt for check and enforce

Environment Management configurations on AWS or Azure
5.1. Terragrunt Configuration VMs, ensuring that no
Example unauthorized changes are
Production Environment made.
(production/terragrunt.hcl) Step 7: Continuous Monitoring and
terraform {
source = "../../modules/vpc" Cost Optimization
} 7.1. Monitor Resource
Consumption with Cloud Tools
inputs = {  AWS: Use AWS CloudWatch
region = "us-west-1" and AWS Cost Explorer for
vpc_cidr = "10.0.0.0/16"
resource consumption and
}
Run Terragrunt optimization.
 Azure: Use Azure Monitor and
terragrunt init
terragrunt plan Azure Cost Management.
terragrunt apply
7.2. Set Up Alerts for Cost
Step 6: Configuration Management Anomalies
with Ansible # Example: AWS CLI command to set
6.1. Example: Deploy Nginx for up an alarm for high cost
Web Server
Ansible Playbook (deploy.yml) aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm --
- name: Deploy Nginx Web Server alarm-name "HighCostAlarm" --metric-
hosts: web_servers name "EstimatedCharges" --namespace
become: yes "AWS/Billing" --statistic "Maximum" --
tasks: period 21600 --threshold 100 --
- name: Install Nginx comparison-operator
apt: "GreaterThanThreshold" --evaluation-
name: nginx periods 1 --alarm-actions
state: latest arn:aws:sns:us-west-
1:123456789012:alert-topic
- name: Ensure Nginx is running
service:
name: nginx
state: started
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 destination_address_prefix = "*"
}
}

Step 8: Security & Compliance Step 9: Automate Disaster

Automation Recovery and Backups
8.1. Implement Security Best 9.1. Implement Backup Strategies
Practices in IaC for AWS and Azure
AWS: Security Groups AWS S3 Backup Automation
resource "aws_s3_bucket_object"
resource "aws_security_group"
"backup" {
"web_sg" {
bucket = "financial-backups"
name_prefix = "web-sg"
key = "backup/$(date +%Y-%m-
ingress { %d).tar.gz"
from_port = 443 source = "/path/to/database-
to_port = 443 backup.tar.gz"
protocol = "tcp" }
cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] Azure Blob Storage Backup
} resource "azurerm_storage_account"
"backup" {
egress { name =
from_port = 0 "financialbackupstorage"
to_port = 0 resource_group_name =
protocol = "-1" var.resource_group_name
cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] location = var.location
} account_tier = "Standard"
} account_replication_type = "LRS"
Azure: Network Security Group }
resource
"azurerm_network_security_group" Conclusion
"nsg" { This step-by-step guide outlines the
name = "web-nsg" process of using Infrastructure as
location = var.location Code (IaC) for cloud deployments in
resource_group_name =
var.resource_group_name
the financial industry. By automating
cloud resource management,
security_rule { configuration, and security, you can
name = "AllowHTTPS" reduce waste, eliminate manual
priority = 1000 tasks, and improve compliance and
direction = "Inbound" security. Implementing IaC with tools
access = "Allow"
protocol = "Tcp"
like Terraform, Terragrunt, and
source_port_range = "*" Ansible ensures the efficient
destination_port_range = "443" deployment of highly available,
source_address_prefix = "*" secure, and cost-effective
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infrastructures on AWS and Azure.