EPS DynamoDB POC

Build
Release

Versions and deployments

Version release history can be found ot https://github.com/NHSDigital/eps-dynamodb-poc/releases.
Deployment history can be found at https://nhsdigital.github.io/eps-dynamodb-poc/

Introduction

This is a Proof of Concept for using DynamoDB (in place of Riak) as the datastore for the Spine EPS interaction.

• scripts/ Utilities helpful to developers.
• SAMtemplates/ Contains the SAM templates used to define the stacks.
• .devcontainer Contains a dockerfile and vscode devcontainer definition.
• .github Contains github workflows that are used for building and deploying from pull requests and releases.
• .vscode Contains vscode workspace file.

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome from anyone. Please refer to the guidelines for contribution and the community code of conduct.

Licensing

This code is dual licensed under the MIT license and the OGL (Open Government License). Any new work added to this repository must conform to the conditions of these licenses. In particular this means that this project may not depend on GPL-licensed or AGPL-licensed libraries, as these would violate the terms of those libraries' licenses.

The contents of this repository are protected by Crown Copyright (C).

Development

It is recommended that you use Visual Studio Code in a Linux environment with a dev container, as this will install all necessary components and correct versions of tools and languages.

WSL

If you are using a Windows machine, you will need to install WSL v2+ as detailed here.

Docker

You will need Docker. This is straightforward enough in a Linux environment, but if you are using WSL then you'll need to install Docker Desktop for Windows as detailed here and then do the following:

• Go to Docker Desktop
• Click the Settings cog icon at the top
• Click Resources, then WSL integration
• Enable WSL integration for your WSL distribution by enabling the slider

Restart your machine and run sudo docker ps command in WSL to check that the setup is complete.

You will need to install the Dev Containers extension for VS Code. The extension will then prompt you to Reopen in Container. Do this.

Commit signing

All commits must be made using signed commits.

Once the steps at the link above have been completed. Add to your ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf as below:

use-agent
pinentry-mode loopback

and to your ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf as below:

allow-loopback-pinentry

As described here

You will need to create the files, if they do not already exist. This will ensure that your VSCode bash terminal prompts you for your GPG key password.

You can cache the gpg key passphrase by following instructions at https://superuser.com/questions/624343/keep-gnupg-credentials-cached-for-entire-user-session

AWS

It is intended that the DynamoDB table (and any other resources) created via the workflows defined in this repository are interacted with via the Spine codebase. There is a long-running feature branch in the Spine repo (feature/eps-dynamodb-poc) to hold our code changes. Follow the steps defined below on your Spine VM to allow connection to the DynamoDB table:

Authenticate

Navigate to the AWS SSO portal in your browser (and authenticate if necessary). Obtain the Access Keys for the NHS England EPS Development account and add them to a /home/spineii-user/.aws/credentials file as below:

[default]
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<aws_access_key_id>
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<aws_secret_access_key>
AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=<aws_session_token>

These will remain active for a set period, so will need to be refreshed occasionally throughout the day. The services making use of the DynamoDB datastore will need to be restarted when the credentials are refreshed.

You also need to add the following line to your .vscode/.env file:

AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/home/spineii-user/.aws/credentials

Pre-commit hooks

Some pre-commit hooks are installed as part of the install above, to run basic lint checks and ensure you can't accidentally commit invalid changes. The pre-commit hook uses python package pre-commit and is configured in the file .pre-commit-config.yaml. A combination of these checks are also run in CI.

Make commands

There are make commands that are run as part of the CI pipeline and help alias some functionality during development.

Install targets

• install-python Installs python dependencies.
• install-hooks Installs git pre-commit hooks.
• install Runs all install targets.

SAM targets

These are used to invoke common commands:

• sam-build Prepares the lambdas and SAM definition file to be used in subsequent steps.
• sam-validate Validates the main SAM template.

These need AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE and STACK_NAME environment variables set:

• sam-delete Deletes the deployed SAM cloud formation stack and associated resources.

• sam-deploy Deploys the compiled SAM template from sam-build to AWS.

• sam-list-outputs Lists outputs from the current stack.

• sam-list-resources Lists resources created for the current stack.

• sam-sync Sync to the current stack deployed in AWS. This keeps running and automatically uploads any changes to the table made locally.

• sam-deploy-package Deploys a package created by sam-build. Used in CI builds. Needs the following environment variables set.

  • ARTIFACT_BUCKET - bucket where uploaded packaged files are
  • ARTIFACT_BUCKET_PREFIX - prefix in bucket of where uploaded packaged files are
  • STACK_NAME - name of stack to deploy
  • TEMPLATE_FILE - name of template file created by sam-package
  • CLOUD_FORMATION_EXECUTION_ROLE - ARN of role that cloud formation assumes when applying the changeset

Clean and deep-clean targets

• clean Clears up any files that have been generated by building or testing locally.
• deep-clean Runs clean target and removes any python libraries installed locally.

Linting and testing

• lint Runs lint for all code.
• lint-github-actions Runs lint for github actions workflows.
• lint-github-action-scripts Runs shellcheck for github actions scripts.
• lint-python Runs lint for python code.
• lint-sam-templates Runs lint for SAM templates.
• test Runs unit tests for all code.

Check licenses

• check-licenses Checks licenses for all python code.

CLI Login to AWS

• aws-configure Configures a connection to AWS.
• aws-login Reconnects to AWS from a previously configured connection.

Github folder

This .github folder contains workflows and templates related to GitHub, along with actions and scripts pertaining to Jira.

• pull_request_template.yml Template for pull requests.
• dependabot.yml Dependabot definition file.

Scripts are in the .github/scripts folder:

• delete_stacks.sh Checks and deletes active CloudFormation stacks associated with closed pull requests.
• deploy_code.sh Releases code by deploying it using AWS SAM after packaging it.

Workflows are in the .github/workflows folder:

• ci.yml Workflow run when code merged to main. Deploys to dev and qa environments.
• combine_dependabot_prs.yml Workflow for combining dependabot pull requests. Runs on demand.
• delete_old_cloudformation_stacks.yml Workflow for deleting old cloud formation stacks. Runs daily.
• dependabot_auto_approve_and_merge.yml Workflow to auto merge dependabot updates.
• deploy_code.yml Release code and api built by package_and_upload_code.yml to an environment.
• package_and_upload_code.yml Packages code and api and uploads to a github artifact for later deployment.
• pr_title_check.yaml Checks title of pull request is valid.
• pull_request.yml Called when pull request is opened or updated. Calls package_and_upload_code and deploy_code to build and deploy the code. Deploys to dev AWS account. The main stack deployed adopts the naming convention ddb-poc-pr-<PULL_REQUEST_ID>.
• quality_checks.yml Runs check-licenses, lint, test and SonarCloud scan against the repo. Called from ci.yml, pull_request.yml and release.yml
• release.yml Runs on demand to create a release and deploy to all environments.