Securing AI Training Pipelines with GitHub Branch Protection

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Securing an AI training pipeline involves multiple steps and considerations, but one of the critical aspects is protecting the code and configuration that define the pipeline. This is where branch protection rules in GitHub come into play, ensuring that changes to important branches go through a review process and meet certain criteria before being merged.

Using Pulumi with the GitHub provider, we can programmatically enforce branch protection rules. Below is a Pulumi program that sets up branch protection for a repository, requiring pull request reviews before merging, enforcing code owner reviews, and preventing force-pushes and branch deletions.

This program does several things:

1. It enforces branch protection on the `main` branch.
2. It requires one approving review on pull requests before merging.
3. It enforces code owner reviews, so changes to certain parts of the codebase must be reviewed by designated team members.
4. It prevents the `main` branch from being deleted or force-pushed to, which helps maintain a clean commit history.

Here is the Python program that accomplishes this:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_github as github

# The name of the GitHub repository where you want to enforce branch protection.
repo_name = "your-repository-name"

# Define the branch protection for the 'main' branch.
branch_protection = github.BranchProtection("main-branch-protection",
    repository_id=repo_name,
    pattern="main",  # The name of the branch you want to protect.
    enforce_admins=True,  # Enforces the configured restrictions for administrators.
    requires_signed_commits=True,  # Requires all commits to be signed with GPG.
    allow_force_pushes=False,  # Disallows force pushing to the protected branch.
    allow_deletions=False,  # Prevents the branch from being deleted.
    required_status_checks=github.BranchProtectionRequiredStatusCheckArray(
        # Defines the status checks that must pass before merging.
        github.BranchProtectionRequiredStatusCheckArgs(
            strict=True,  # Requires branches to be up to date before merging.
            contexts=["ci/travis-ci"]  # Replace with the status checks used in your CI/CD pipeline.
        )
    ),
    required_pull_request_reviews=github.BranchProtectionRequiredPullRequestReviewArray(
        # Enforces required review settings for pull requests targeting the branch.
        github.BranchProtectionRequiredPullRequestReviewArgs(
            dismiss_stale_reviews=True,  # Dismisses approving reviews when a new commit is pushed.
            require_code_owner_reviews=True,  # Requires review from a code owner.
            required_approving_review_count=1  # The number of required approving reviews.
        )
    )
)

# Export the ID of the branch protection for reference.
pulumi.export('branch_protection_id', branch_protection.id)
```

In this program:

- Replace `"your-repository-name"` with the name of your GitHub repository.
- The `pattern` parameter specifies the branch pattern. In this case, we're protecting the `main` branch.
- `enforce_admins` ensures that these rules also apply to repository administrators.
- A signed commit requirement is established with `requires_signed_commits`.
- `allow_force_pushes` and `allow_deletions` settings help to prevent potential destructive operations on the `main` branch.
- The `required_status_checks` setting configures required checks that must pass before the branch can be merged. These checks will often be from your CI/CD system.
- `required_pull_request_reviews` ensures that any pull requests must be reviewed by a specified number of reviewers, who are also required to be code owners if `require_code_owner_reviews` is set to `True`.

You can tailor the provided code to match your project's needs by adjusting the settings like `required_approving_review_count`, `contexts`, and others as necessary.

Make sure you have the GitHub provider configured in Pulumi. Notice that the program exports the `branch_protection_id` at the end; having an export in Pulumi programs is customary as it provides a simple way of retrieving the IDs of created resources which is useful for referencing or using in other parts of your infrastructure.

Remember to replace any placeholder values with the actual ones for your setup before running this Pulumi program.