Configuring AWS Config rules to remediate issues

What is AWS Config, and how does it support compliance and remediation activities?

AWS Config is a service that enables you to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources. It supports compliance by continuously monitoring and recording your AWS resource configurations and allowing you to automate the evaluation of recorded configurations against desired configurations. For remediation activities, AWS Config can be integrated with AWS Systems Manager Automation documents or AWS Lambda functions to automatically fix non-compliant resource configurations.

How can AWS Config rules be triggered?

AWS Config rules can be triggered in two ways: on a periodic basis (time-based, such as every 24 hours) or based on configuration changes (event-based, triggered by a change to the resource that the rule applies to).

What is required to automatically remediate issues using AWS Config?

To automatically remediate issues using AWS Config, you need to set up AWS Config rules that are associated with remediation actions. These actions can be defined using AWS Systems Manager Automation documents or AWS Lambda functions. You must also have the necessary IAM permissions assigned to AWS Config and to the AWS resources involved in the remediation actions.

Can you name some of the managed rules provided by AWS Config that can be used to monitor compliance on common AWS resources?

Yes, AWS Config provides many managed rules that target common AWS resources and compliance checks. Examples include “required-tags”, which checks for certain tags on resources, “ec2-volume-in-use-check” for EBS volumes status, “iam-password-policy” for IAM password policies, and “s3-bucket-public-read-prohibited” for ensuring that S3 buckets are not publicly readable.

How would you set up a custom AWS Config rule for a custom compliance check not covered by managed rules?

To set up a custom AWS Config rule, you need to define the desired configuration and create an AWS Lambda function that contains the logic for evaluating your AWS resources against that configuration. Then, you need to create the custom rule in AWS Config and associate it with the Lambda function.

What is the purpose of the input parameters in an AWS Config rule?

Input parameters in an AWS Config rule allow you to customize the behavior of the rule by providing specific details that the rule should consider during evaluation. For instance, you could define an input parameter for a required tag name or a particular configuration setting that the rule checks for.

Explain the difference between AWS Config conformance packs and individual AWS Config rules.

AWS Config conformance packs are collections of AWS Config rules and remediation actions that can be deployed as a single entity to manage configuration compliance across an entire organization or specific AWS accounts. Conformance packs are used for grouping and managing common compliance requirements, while individual AWS Config rules target specific compliance checks for individual resources or resource types.

How do you test the effectiveness of AWS Config rules and the associated remediation actions?

You can test AWS Config rules and remediation actions by creating non-compliant resources intentionally and observing whether AWS Config flags those resources and if the remediation actions are automatically triggered to correct the issue. Additionally, you can use test events for AWS Lambda functions to simulate different configurations that the rule evaluates.

What role does AWS Systems Manager play in AWS Config’s remediation actions?

AWS Systems Manager provides Automation documents, which are pre-defined or custom scripts that can be executed to manage and automate activities on AWS resources. AWS Config can use these Automation documents as part of a remediation action to automatically resolve non-compliant configurations detected by AWS Config rules.

How do you enable AWS Config to deliver compliance and configuration history to an Amazon S3 bucket for auditing purposes?

To deliver compliance and configuration history to an Amazon S3 bucket, you must first set up the bucket with the appropriate bucket policy to allow AWS Config to write data to it. Then, when setting up AWS Config, specify the bucket as the destination for the configuration snapshots and changes, as well as compliance history files.

Can you enforce AWS Config rules across multiple AWS accounts and regions?

Yes, AWS Config supports the ability to enforce rules across multiple AWS accounts and regions by using AWS Organizations. With this setup, you can centralize governance and apply uniform compliance checks across all accounts and regions within an organization.

How do AWS Config rules integrate with other AWS services for notification and management of compliance status?

AWS Config rules can integrate with Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) to notify administrators or systems when a compliance change occurs. They also integrate with services like AWS CloudTrail for logging API calls, AWS CloudWatch for creating alarms based on compliance changes, and AWS Systems Manager for executing automated remediation actions.