69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Validation and Verification
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weigth: 100
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description: How does CNOE ensure equality between actual and desired state
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---
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## Definition
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The CNOE docs do somewhat interchange validation and verification but for the
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most part they adhere to the general definition:
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> Validation is used when you check your approach before actually executing an
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> action.
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Examples:
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- Form validation before processing the data
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- Compiler checking syntax
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- Rust's borrow checker
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> Verification describes testing if your 'thing' complies with your spec
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Examples:
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- Unit tests
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- Testing availability (ping, curl health check)
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- Checking a ZKP of some computation
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---
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## In CNOE
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It seems that both validation and verification within the CNOE framework are
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not actually handled by some explicit component but should be addressed
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throughout the system and workflows.
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As stated in the [docs](https://cnoe.io/docs/intro/capabilities/validation),
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validation takes place in all parts of the stack by enforcing strict API usage
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and policies (signing, mitigations, security scans etc, see usage of kyverno
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for example), and using code generation (proven code), linting, formatting,
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LSP. Consequently, validation of source code, templates, etc is more a best
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practice rather than a hard fact or feature and it is up to the user
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to incorporate them into their workflows and pipelines. This is probably
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due to the complexity of the entire stack and the individual properties of
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each component and applications.
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Verification of artifacts and deployments actually exists in a somewhat similar
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state. The current CNOE reference-implementation does not provide sufficient
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verification tooling.
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However, as stated in the [docs](https://cnoe.io/docs/reference-implementation/integrations/verification)
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within the framework `cnoe-cli` is capable of extremely limited verification of
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artifacts within kubernetes. The same verification is also available as a step
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within a backstage
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[plugin](https://github.com/cnoe-io/plugin-scaffolder-actions). This is pretty
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much just a wrapper of the cli tool. The tool consumes CRD-like structures
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defining the state of pods and CRDs and checks for their existence within a
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live cluster ([example](https://github.com/cnoe-io/cnoe-cli/blob/main/pkg/cmd/prereq/ack-s3-prerequisites.yaml)).
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Depending on the aspiration of 'verification' this check is rather superficial
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and might only suffice as an initial smoke test. Furthermore, it seems like the
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feature is not actually used within the CNOE stacks repo.
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For a live product more in depth verification tools and schemes are necessary
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to verify the correct configuration and authenticity of workloads, which is, in
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the context of traditional cloud systems, only achievable to a limited degree.
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Existing tools within the stack, e.g. Argo, provide some verification
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capabilities. But further investigation into the general topic is necessary.
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