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Platform Architecture

Welcome to the architectural overview of the CSE DevSecOps Platform — a secure, modular, and GitOps-native system built to support mission-critical, cloud-native workloads on Azure.

Architecture Principles

Our platform is guided by the following foundational principles:

  • Security-First: Integrated DevSecOps, zero-trust access, continuous compliance.
  • GitOps-Driven: All configuration and deployments are versioned and automated via Git.
  • Cloud-Native: Built entirely on Azure-managed services using Kubernetes (AKS), ARM/Bicep, and Terraform.
  • Modular and Scalable: Pluggable components that can scale with mission needs.
  • Developer Experience Focused: Fast onboarding, CLI tooling, and internal developer portal.

High-Level Architecture

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flowchart TB
    subgraph Developer
        A[DevOps Engineer]
        B[Security Engineer]
        C[Platform Engineer]
    end

    subgraph GitOps
        G1(GitHub Repository)
        G2(FluxCD + Kustomize)
    end

    subgraph Platform
        P1[Azure AKS Cluster]
        P2[Istio Gateway]
        P3[ArgoCD for App Deployments]
        P4[Azure Key Vault + CSI]
        P5[Azure Container Registry]
    end

    subgraph Tooling
        T1[GitHub Actions CI]
        T2[Terraform Modules]
        T3[Helm Charts]
    end

    A --> G1
    B --> G1
    C --> G1

    G1 --> G2
    G2 --> P1
    G2 --> P2
    G2 --> P3
    G2 --> P4

    T1 --> G1
    T2 --> G2
    T3 --> G2

Core Components

Component Purpose
AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) Orchestrates containers and workloads securely and at scale.
FluxCD GitOps agent to sync Kubernetes with Git state.
ArgoCD (optional) GitOps engine for application layer deployments.
Istio Service mesh with ingress gateway, mTLS, and policy enforcement.
Azure Key Vault Centralized secrets and key management.
Azure Container Registry Hosts and secures trusted OCI-compliant container images.
Terraform Infrastructure-as-code to define the underlying Azure resources.

Security & Compliance

  • RBAC across Kubernetes, GitHub, and Azure.
  • OPA/Gatekeeper policies for governance.
  • Image scanning via Azure Defender or NeuVector.
  • Audit logging piped to Azure Monitor / Log Analytics.
  • Private clusters with secure ingress via Istio and Azure Firewall.

CI/CD Flow

  1. Developer pushes code to GitHub.
  2. GitHub Actions triggers CI workflows and runs tests.
  3. On approval, a new image is pushed to ACR.
  4. GitOps (FluxCD) reconciles desired state from main or release branch.
  5. AKS deploys the updated stack using Kustomize overlays.

Observability Stack

Tool Purpose
Prometheus + Grafana Metrics collection and visualization.
Loki Centralized logs aggregation.
Jaeger Distributed tracing (optional).
Azure Monitor Native telemetry and alerts integration.

Network Topology

  • Private AKS cluster
  • Hub-spoke VNet architecture
  • Azure Firewall & NSGs
  • Internal DNS resolution
  • Istio ingress with TLS termination

Scalability

  • Horizontal scaling of microservices via HPA.
  • Multi-cluster support with FluxCD sync targets.
  • Custom resource layering with Kustomize patches.
  • Agent-based extensions (e.g., security agents, data collectors).

📎 Appendix

"Built by engineers, for engineers — without compromise on security, speed, or scalability."