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Understanding Pulumi Resource Hooks – samcogan.com

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Pulumi has recently introduced a new lifecycle management feature called Resource Hooks. Resource Hooks allow developers to inject custom behaviour at critical points during resource lifecycle management, enhancing automation and control. Hooks provide a means to enforce policies, customize deployments, and integrate third-party services. This is a big step forward to integrating infrastructure resource creation with other services, and preventing the need to write custom code outside of Pulumi’s workflow, or rely on CI/CD pipelines.

In this article, we will look at Resource Hooks in Pulumi, the benefits they provide, and real world examples of where you might use them.

Table of Contents

What Are Pulumi Resource Hooks?

Resource Hooks are custom functions that run at specific points in the lifecycle of a resource managed by Pulumi. They are particularly useful in implementing additional behaviors or enforcing logic during CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations.

How Hooks Function in a Pulumi Program

When you execute a Pulumi program, resources transition through various states. Resource Hooks can be configured to run before or after these state changes.

  • Before Hooks: These are executed before a resource is created, updated, or deleted. Use cases include pre-validation and policy enforcement.
  • After Hooks: These run after a resource has been acted upon, suitable for tasks like notifications and cleanup.

Types of Hooks Available in Pulumi

Pulumi differentiates between two primary types of hooks:

  • Pre-Hook: This type is designed for actions that need to occur before the main action on the resource. For example, you might want to validate input parameters before creating a resource.
  • Post-Hook: This executes after the resource operation. This can be helpful for follow-up tasks, such as performing logging or sending notifications about the resource’s status.

The Benefits of Using Resource Hooks

Integrating Resource Hooks into your Pulumi workflows can yield numerous advantages:

  1. Enhanced Resource Management: Hooks offer improved control over resource provisioning and lifecycle management, making it easier to enforce compliance and validation mechanisms.
  2. Customization of Resource Behaviors: Hooks allow conditional deployments based on external factors. You can use them to initiate notifications or handle cleanup tasks after resource provision.
  3. Security and Compliance Improvements: You can implement security checks and audits as pre-requisites before resource creation, ensuring that all security policies are adhered to.
  4. Flexibility: Integrating third-party services and tools through hooks enriches your infrastructure and automates various processes that would otherwise require manual intervention.

Implementation of Resource Hooks in C#

Here’s a basic example of a pre-hook for a resource that validates resource parameters before creation:

using Pulumi;
using Pulumi.Azure.Core;

public class MyStack : Stack
{
    public MyStack()
    {
        // Define a pre-hook
       var beforeHook = new ResourceHook("before", async (args, cancellationToken) =>
        {
            if (args.ResourceName.Length < 3)
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("Resource name must be at least 3 characters long.");
            }
        };
                                         
        var resource = new Resource("myResource", new ResourceArgs
        {
            // Setting resource properties
        },new CustomResourceOptions
        {
            Hooks =
            {
                BeforeCreate = { beforeHook },
                BeforeUpdate = { beforeHook },
            }
        });


    }
}

Advanced Hook Implementation

Let’s consider a post-deployment hook that sends a notification once a resource has been successfully provisioned. This uses the AfterCreate hook to implement a process once resources are created.

using Pulumi;
using Pulumi.Azure.Core;

public class MyAdvancedStack : Stack
{
    public MyAdvancedStack()
    {
        // Create a resource hook for post-notification
        var afterHook = new ResourceHook("after", async (args, cancellationToken) =>
        {
            await SendNotification($"Resource {args.ResourceName} has been successfully created!");
        });

        var resource = new Resource("myAdvancedResource", new ResourceArgs
        {
            // Resource properties
        }, new CustomResourceOptions
        {
            Hooks =
            {
                AfterCreate = { afterHook }
            }
        });
    }

    private Task SendNotification(string message)
    {
        // Logic to send a notification (e.g., via a messaging service)
        Console.WriteLine(message);
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Real-World Examples of Resource Hooks

Below are some examples of where you could use resource hooks in real world use case.

Example 1: Automated Rollbacks with Hooks

In scenarios where deployments can fail, Resource Hooks can help automate rollbacks. Here’s a brief setup for implementing a rollback mechanism:

using Pulumi;
using Pulumi.Azure.Core;

public class MyRollbackStack : Stack
{
    public MyRollbackStack()
    {
        var resource = new Resource("myRollbackResource", new ResourceArgs
        {
            // Resource properties
        }, new CustomResourceOptions
        {
            Hooks =
            {
                AfterCreate = { new ResourceHook("checkStatus", async (args, cancellationToken) =>
                {
                    bool isSuccess = false; // Check some deployment condition

                    if (!isSuccess)
                    {
                        await RollbackResource(args.ResourceName);
                    }
                })}
            }
        });
    }

    private Task RollbackResource(string resourceName)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Rolling back resource {resourceName}");
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Example 2: Policy Enforcement in a CI/CD Pipeline

In CI/CD environments, ensuring compliance before provisioning resources is critical. Here’s how you can validate a resource:

using Pulumi;
using Pulumi.Azure.Core;

public class MyPolicyStack : Stack
{
    public MyPolicyStack()
    {
        // Create a resource hook for compliance validation
        var beforeHook = new ResourceHook("policyValidation", async (args, cancellationToken) =>
        {
            var isCompliant = await ValidateResourceAgainstPolicies(args);
            if (!isCompliant)
            {
                throw new InvalidOperationException("Resource does not meet compliance standards.");
            }
        });

        var resource = new Resource("myPolicyResource", new ResourceArgs
        {
            // Resource properties
        }, new CustomResourceOptions
        {
            Hooks =
            {
                BeforeCreate = { beforeHook }
            }
        });
    }

    private Task<bool> ValidateResourceAgainstPolicies(dynamic args)
    {
        // Logic for policy validation
        return Task.FromResult(true); // Simulated compliance status
    }
}

Example 3: Notification System Integration

Integrating a notification system can provide visibility into provisioning status:

using Pulumi;
using Pulumi.Azure.Core;

public class MyNotificationStack : Stack
{
    public MyNotificationStack()
    {
        // Create a resource hook for sending alerts
        var afterHook = new ResourceHook("notifyAfterCreation", async (args, cancellationToken) =>
        {
            await SendAlert($"Resource {args.ResourceName} has been successfully provisioned.");
        });

        var resource = new Resource("myNotificationResource", new ResourceArgs
        {
            // Resource properties
        }, new CustomResourceOptions
        {
            Hooks =
            {
                AfterCreate = { afterHook }
            }
        });
    }

    private Task SendAlert(string message)
    {
        // Logic for sending an alert using webhooks or messaging APIs
        Console.WriteLine(message);
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Conclusion

Resource Hooks in Pulumi significantly enhance infrastructure lifecycle management, allowing for greater automation, compliance, and customization of resource behaviors. Undertaking tasks before or after a resource is created is a very common use case, which previously often had to be dealt with by custom code. Now we can integrate these workflows into our normal Pulumi resource operations.

Further Reading

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