Host sets created with this plugin define filters which select and group like instances within AWS; these host sets can in turn be added to targets within Boundary as host sources.

At creation or update of a host catalog of this type, configuration of the plugin is performed via the attribute/secret values passed to the create or update calls actions. These values are input as JSON objects; the expected types are indicated below with the valid fields.

The plugin fetches hosts through the DescribeInstances call.

Credential Rotation

Although credentials are stored encrypted within Boundary, by default this plugin will attempt to rotate credentials when they are supplied through the secrets object on a create or update call to the host catalog resource. The given credentials will be used to create a new credential, and then the given credential will be revoked. In this way, after rotation, only Boundary knows the client secret in use by this plugin.

Getting Started

Refer to Attributes and Secrets for more detail on configuration options for host catalogs and sets.

To create a host catalog (using default scope created by boundary dev):

boundary host-catalogs create plugin \
 -scope-id p_1234567890 \
 -name "Example Plugin-Based Host Catalog" \
 -description "Description for plugin-based host catalog" \
 -plugin-name aws \
 -attr region=REGION \
 -secret access_key_id='KEY' \
 -secret secret_access_key='SECRET'

To create a host set, filtering the host set based on tag keys foo or bar (either tag can be present), ensuring that any targets set to this host set only connect to external addresses in the 54.0.0.0/8 class A subnet:

boundary host-sets create plugin \
 -host-catalog-id HOST_CATALOG_ID \
 -name "Example Plugin-Based Host Set" \
 -description "Description for plugin-based host set" \
 -attr filters=tag-key=foo,bar \
 -preferred-endpoint "cidr:54.0.0.0/8"

As above, but instances must have both tags (both foo and bar must be present):

boundary host-sets create plugin \
 -host-catalog-id HOST_CATALOG_ID \
 -name "Example Plugin-Based Host Set" \
 -description "Description for plugin-based host set" \
 -attr filters=tag-key=foo \
 -attr filters=tag-key=bar \
 -preferred-endpoint "cidr:54.0.0.0/8"

As above, but matching on tag key and launch date:

boundary host-sets create plugin \
 -host-catalog-id HOST_CATALOG_ID \
 -name "Example Plugin-Based Host Set" \
 -description "Description for plugin-based host set" \
 -attr filters=tag-key=foo \
 -attr filters=launch-time=2022-01-04T* \
 -preferred-endpoint "cidr:54.0.0.0/8"

Required IAM Privileges

The following IAM privileges, at the very least, are required to be attached to a configured IAM user for this provider:

ec2:DescribeInstances, configured to * (DescribeInstances cannot be scoped to a resource ARN). Example policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "ec2:DescribeInstances"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

iam:GetUser, iam:CreateAccessKey, and iam:DeleteAccessKey, configured to the IAM user to allow credential rotation. Example policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "iam:DeleteAccessKey",
        "iam:GetUser",
        "iam:CreateAccessKey"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/JohnDoe"
    }
  ]
}

Attributes and Secrets

Host Catalog

The following attributes are valid on an AWS host catalog resource:

disable_credential_rotation (bool): If true, credential rotation will not be performed. See the Credential Rotation section above.
region (string): The region to configure the host catalog for. All host sets in this catalog will be configured for this region.

The following secrets are valid on an AWS host catalog resource:

access_key_id (string): The access key ID for the IAM user to use with this host catalog.
secret_access_key (string): The secret access key for the IAM user to use with this host catalog.

Host Set

The following attributes are valid on an AWS host Set resource:

filters (array of strings): An array of string filters in the format key=val1,val2. The key corresponds to a filter option, and the value(s) are a comma-separated list. For a list of filter options, check out describe-instances in the AWS CLI reference.