Getting Started with AWS Config – A Beginners Guide 2023

AWS Config is a service that offers you an AWS resource inventory, configuration history, and notification of configuration changes for security and governance purposes. AWS Config helps you monitor and record the configuration changes of your AWS resources. It enables you to compare recorded configurations to desired setups automatically. 

You can use AWS Config to audit and assess your AWS resource configurations to confirm adherence to internal policies or industry laws. AWS Config also simplifies resource management, troubleshooting, and security analysis.

AWS Config may assist in analyzing, auditing, and evaluating if your AWS resources have been properly set up by continuously monitoring and logging their configurations.

Additionally, AWS Config can help you identify any resources that have been improperly configured and can even help you troubleshoot and fix those configurations.

These days, AWS Config is becoming increasingly popular as organizations strive to meet compliance requirements and maintain a high level of security for their AWS resources. This article will go through all you need to understand about AWS Config.

Features of AWS Config

AWS Config also provides several features that can make it easier to manage your resources, including the ability to set up automated checks and to apply changes that you have approved automatically. Let us discuss the features of AWS Config one by one.

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1. Configuration History of AWS Resources

AWS Config keeps track of the configurations of your AWS resources. It maintains a history of configurations so that you can evaluate whether your resources are being adequately configured over time. Additionally, this feature can help you troubleshoot configuration changes, identify when resources were improperly configured, and even roll back to previous configurations if necessary.

2. Configuration Change Notifications

AWS Config can notify you of any changes to the configuration of your AWS resources via Amazon SNS. This allows you to be proactive in your governance and ensure that your resources are permanently configured.

3. AWS Resource Inventory

AWS Config provides an inventory of all your AWS resources and their corresponding configurations. This can help identify which resources are correctly configured and which need to be fixed.

4. Integrated with AWS CloudTrail

AWS Config is integrated with AWS CloudTrail, allowing you to monitor your AWS resources’ configuration changes in real-time. This can help detect unauthorized changes to your resources and even help you undo those changes if necessary.

5. AWS Config Rules

Using AWS Config Rules, you can set up a system to regularly compare the actual settings of your AWS resources with the ideal settings. This can help you enforce compliance standards like those set by the PCI DSS. Additionally, you can use AWS Config rules to fix non-compliant resources automatically.

Benefits of AWS Config 

AWS Config has various advantages that can be incredibly beneficial to your firm:

1. Increased Visibility into AWS Resource Configurations

AWS Config gives you visibility into your AWS resource configurations, which can be helpful for auditing and compliance purposes. With AWS Config, you can see which resources are configured, how they are configured, and when any changes are made to their configurations. You can use this  information to identify potential security risks and compliance issues.

2. Improved Security and Governance

AWS Config can help you improve the security and governance of your AWS resources. AWS Config allows you to audit and assess your resource configurations to guarantee compliance with corporate policies or industry laws. You can also use AWS Config to simplify resource management, troubleshooting, and security analysis.

3. Reduced Costs

AWS Config can help reduce the costs associated with your AWS resources. With AWS Config, you can track which resources are being used and identify unused or underutilized resources. This data can be used to optimize AWS resource utilization and lower AWS costs.

4. Continuous Monitoring and Assessment

AWS Config provides continuous monitoring and assessment of your AWS resources. With AWS Config, you can receive alerts when changes are made to your resources, which can help you prevent potential security issues or compliance violations. You can also use AWS Config to automate the monitoring and assessment of your resource configurations.

5. Data Protection Analysis and Resource Planning

AWS Config can help protect your data and plan for future resource needs. With AWS Config, you can analyze your resource configurations to identify potential data sources that could be at risk. You can also use AWS Config to generate reports that can be used for capacity planning or resource planning purposes.

How Does AWS Config Work? 

AWS Config works by recording and keeping track of all the changes made to your AWS resources. It does this by continuously monitoring and comparing your AWS resource configurations to the configurations recorded in the AWS Config rules you create.

If a resource does not comply with a rule, AWS Config flags the resource as non-compliant. You can then view the list of non-compliant resources and take corrective action to remediate the resources.

1. Creating AWS Config Rules

You can create AWS Config rules to check whether your AWS resources comply with your desired configurations. For example, you can create a rule to check whether an Amazon EC2 instance has the required security group attached to it. If the instance does not have the necessary security group, the rule will flag the model as non-compliant.

You can also create rules to check whether your resources follow best practices. For example, you can create a rule to check whether an Amazon S3 bucket is publicly accessible. If the bucket is publicly accessible, the rule will flag the bucket as non-compliant.

2. Viewing Compliance Status

After you have created some AWS Config rules, you can view the compliance status of your resources by resource type, resource ID, and rule name. You can also view a list ofresources that comply with a particular rulethe resources that are non-compliant with a specific rule.

You can use the AWS Config console or the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) to view compliance information.

 3. Taking Corrective Action

If you have resources that are non-compliant with your AWS Config rules, you can take corrective action to remediate the resources. For example, if you have an Amazon EC2 instance that is non-compliant with a security group rule, you can add the required security group.

You can use the AWS Config console or the AWS CLI to take corrective action.

4. AWS Config and AWS Identity and Access Management

AWS Config work in conjunction with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). IAM is a web service you may use to manage AWS users and permissions. You can use IAM to grant or deny permission to AWS Config to perform actions on your behalf. 

For example, you can use IAM to grant permission to AWS Config to list your AWS resources or to check the compliance status of your resources.

You can also use IAM to control which users can view compliance information in the AWS Config console. For example, you can grant permission to a user to view only the compliance information for the resources they have been assigned to.

Getting Started with AWS Config

AWS Config is an Amazon Web Services service feature that lets you track modifications to your AWS resources. This might be handy for auditing or tracking changes made by other users in your AWS account. Let us explain how to get started using AWS Config.

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• First, you’ll need to create an AWS Config rule. This rule will specify which resources you want to track and what changes you want to follow. For example, you should track all changes to your Amazon S3 buckets. To do this, you would create a rule that looks for changes to the “s3:*” resources in your AWS account.
• Once you’ve created your AWS Config rule, you’ll need to specify an Amazon SNS topic. This topic will notify you when updates are made to your tracked resources. You can establish an Amazon SNS subject by going to the Amazon SNS console.
• You must then construct an Amazon SQS queue. This line of traffic will receive Amazon SNS topic notifications. By visiting the Amazon SQS console, you can build an Amazon SQS queue.
• Finally, you must develop an AWS Lambda function. This function will be employed to handle Amazon SNS notifications. The AWS Lambda function will parse the notification and call the AWS Config API. This will allow the operation to fetch the details of the changed resource.

A response will be sent to the Amazon SQS queue by the AWS Lambda function. This notification will give information about the resource modification.

This GitHub repository contains the source code for the AWS Lambda function. With the AWS Config rule, Amazon SNS topic, Amazon SQS queue, and AWS Lambda function in place, you’ll be able to track changes made to your AWS resources.

Summing Up

AWS Config is a powerful tool that can help you audit and manage your AWS resources. By understanding how it works and what it can do, you can help ensure compliance and keep your resources secure. 

While AWS Config is becoming increasingly popular, there is still much to learn about this service. This blog covers everything you need to know to launch your AWS Config deployment. 

If you still want to learn more about AWS Config, join saasguru Slack Community and resolve all your doubts by discussing with industry experts. 

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