4.7 Scripting and Automation

Question 1

Scripting and automation

Answer 1

Automate and orchestrate
– You don’t have to be there
– Solve problems in your sleep
– Monitor and resolve problems before they happen
* The need for speed
– The script is as fast as the computer
– No typing or delays
– No human error
* Automate mundane tasks
– You can do something more creative

Question 2

Automation benefits

Answer 2

Save time - No typing required
– Run multiple times, over and over
* Enforce baselines
– Missing an important security patch
– Automatically install when identified
* Standard infrastructure configurations
– Use a script to build a default router configuration
– Add firewall rules to a new security appliance
– IP configurations, security rules, standard
configuration options
* Secure scaling
– Orchestrate cloud resources
– Quickly scale up and down
– Automation ensures proper security also scales
* Employee retention
– Automate the boring stuff
– Ease the workload
– Minimize the mundane tasks
– Employees work is rewarding instead of repetitive
* Reaction time
– The computer is much faster than you
– An event can be addressed immediately
– A script doesn’t need a wake-up call
* Workforce multiplier
– Scripting works 24/7
– Allows the smart people to do smarter work
somewhere else

Question 3

Cases for automation

Answer 3

User and resource provisioning
– On-boarding and off-boarding
– Assign access to specific resources
* Guard rails
– A set of automated validations
– Limit behaviors and responses
– Constantly check to ensure proper implementation
– Reduce errors

Question 4

Cases for automation

Answer 4

Security groups
– Assign (or remove) group access
– Constant audits without human intervention
* Ticket creation
– Automatically identify issues
– Script email submissions into a ticket
* Escalation
– Correct issues before involving a human
– If issue isn’t resolved, contact the on-call tech
* Controlling services and access
– Automatically enable and disable services
– No set and forget
* Continuous integration and testing
– Constant development and code updates
– Securely test and deploy
* Integrations and application programming interfaces (APIs)
– Interact with third-party devices and services
– Cloud services, firewalls, operating systems
– Talk their language

Question 5

Scripting considerations

Answer 5

Complexity
– Many moving parts
– All of the parts have to reliably work together
* Cost
– It takes money to create the script
– It takes money to implement the automation
* Single point of failure
– What happens if the script stops working?
– This could be a significant deal-breaker
* Technical debt
– Patching problems may push the issue down the road
– It’s going to be more expensive to fix later
* Ongoing supportability
– The script works great today
– The script may not work great tomorrow
– Plan for changes and updates