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AWS Collector Development

The AWS collector source code lives in the plugins/aws directory within the someengineering/fixinventory repository on GitHub.

Adding New Resources​

Resource definitions are organized by service within fix_plugin_aws/resource.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown on how to add a new resource to the AWS collector:

  1. Generate the models.

    Resource models are the backbone of the collector. To kickstart support for new resources, there's a nifty model_gen tool.

    1. In the models dictionary, we add the AwsFixModel for the desired resource and run the script. There are plenty of examples in the file already for easy reference.
    2. The correct result_shape can be found in the Botocore data in the local venv, typically in a file called service-2.json where output shapes for all API calls are listed.
    3. The models are then added to the respective service file under plugins/aws/fix_plugin_aws/resource.
    4. Since there is variation across different AWS services, it's good practice to verify the auto-generated model. Put timestamps, id, name, etc. under the respective properties as defined in the base classes AwsResource and BaseResource.
    5. At the end of each service file, there is a list of AwsResources. New resources should be added here. If a new service is implemented, this list also needs to be added to collector.py in the parent directory.

  2. Collect additional information.

    Every AwsResource model comes with a collect() class method. This method can be overridden if we need to make additional API calls to get all the information.

    There are three common scenarios:

    1. A two-step collection process, where first only a list of the existing resources can be retrieved and then follow-up API call get a description for each one. See for example AwsDynamoDbTable.collect().

    2. Separate collection of tags for a resource, e.g. in AwsCloudwatchAlarm.collect()

    3. Dependent resources, where the second one needs an additional API call parameter. One example case is the collection of Jobs in AWS Glacier, which are specific to a Vault. Their collection can therefore only happen within the collection of the vaults. See AwsGlacierVault.collect().

  3. Connect to other resources.

    Once the new resource(s) are being collected (and new nodes in the graph have been created), edges representing the relationships between connected resources need to be added as well.

    There are two ways to add these connections:

    1. Upon collecting dependent resources, edges between the two resource instances can be added immediately.

    2. Each AwsResource model has a connect_in_graph() method in which connections can be defined.

    info
    • See AwsApiGatewayResource.connect_in_graph() for defining a single default edge.
    • See AwsBeanstalkEnvironment for defining a two-way edge. dependant_node is a shortcut to add both a default edge and a delete edge.
    • Deletion edges are necessary when one of the two resources can't be deleted while the other one is still around.
    • In both cases the direction of the edges can be manipulated by using the reverse and/or delete_same_as_default parameters.
    • The target node of an edge is identified by keyword arguments. Most commonly used is the class (clazz) of the target node and id/name/arn as a distinct identifier.
    • All edges that were added to a resource need to be reflected in the reference_kinds attribute of the resource class. This is used to make sure no circularity has been introduced. reference_kinds is a simple dictionary that contains predecessors and successors along both edges. See AwsBeanstalkEnvironment.reference_kinds as an example.

  4. Add tagging and deletion methods.

    Fix Inventory offers tagging and deletion for resources with a unified command that is provider- and service-agnostic. To make this possible, these methods need to be implemented for each resource.

    Please refer to existing resources for examples, e.g., AwsBeanstalkApplication.

  5. Test the new resources.

    Fix Inventory has test coverage for the collector itself and for each service. Tests for the AWS collector are located within the test directory.

    1. To verify if the collector produces the expected number of nodes and edges, update the counters in collector_test.test_collect().

    2. The test suite uses a file-based client for API calls. To verify if the new resources are complete and mapped correctly, provide sample responses in the test/resources/files directory.

      These files and the resource tests are clustered by service, similar to how resource definitions are organized in fix_plugin_aws/resource. For every "NewAwsResource" we implemented, we can do a round_trip_for(NewAwsResource). All existing tests can serve as reference, see dynamodb_test.py for example.

  6. Lint and analyze code.

    Execute tox in the terminal from fixinventory/plugins/aws as working directory to run flake8, pytest, black, and mypy. These checks are required for CI to pass and PRs to be merged.