State of ARC - January 2024

[yeshamavani]

Dear ARC Community,
Greetings! Hope you're well. Our team has been hard at work crafting exciting updates for ARC, and this month's newsletter is brimming with cool highlights spanning across our branches ARC IAC and ARC API. Dive in and discover the latest innovations tailored just for you!

No more waiting, let's get to the good stuff!

🌐 ARC IaC

1. OpenID Connect: Happy to announce that with Vijay Stephen's contribution we have released a new module for AWS and GitHub supporting OIDC for IAM users. Integrating OpenID Connect (OIDC) adds a layer of security and flexibility to user authentication, making it easier for IAM users to access resources securely. This can streamline the authentication process and enhance the overall security posture of your applications and systems.

2. IAC Automation: Another exciting development! Adding a continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) module to our Infrastructure as Code (IaC) toolkit. This integration allows for automated testing, building, and deploying of your infrastructure changes, helping to streamline the development and deployment processes.

3. Enhanced AWS Security: Great news! The latest update to our AWS Security module introduces enhanced functionality, allowing users to customize resource names according to their preferences and seamlessly operate across various AWS partitions. These new features aim to provide users with greater flexibility and efficiency in managing security resources within diverse AWS environments. Thanks Vijay Stephen for his contribution.

4. WAF Customization: Exciting update! Our WAF module now offers additional support, empowering users to create custom conditions based on AWS Managed rules. This enhancement provides greater flexibility and control over web application firewall configurations, enabling users to tailor security measures according to their specific needs. Contributed by Vijay Stephen .

5. SSM Parameter Enhancement: Noteworthy expansion! The Document DB Module now extends support for additional SSM (Systems Manager) Parameters, enabling users to override names and securely store connection information in SSM parameters. This enhancement enhances flexibility and security, streamlining the management of Document DB configurations. Like to thank Mayank Sharma for his contribution.

⏳ Coming Soon

Get a sneak peek of our future updates:

1. ARC SaaS: We are actively fortifying our SaaS compliance by building a resilient control plane infrastructure on Amazon EKS, ensuring seamless orchestration and management of tenants. Our key priorities encompass streamlined commissioning, secure decommissioning, robust monitoring, observability, and precise metering and billing for optimal tenant management within the platform.

2. arc-cdk Updates: We will enhance our arc-cdk by adding following features-
   S3 State Storage: Storing state files in S3 enhances reliability and scalability, allowing for efficient tracking and management of infrastructure changes.
   SSM Support for Secret Values: Integration with Systems Manager (SSM) for secret values ensures a secure and centralized approach to managing sensitive information, contributing to improved security practices.
   API Protocol Switch Support: The ability to switch API protocols adds flexibility, accommodating different communication requirements, and supporting diverse use cases for improved interoperability.

🔗 Learn More About ARC IaC

🔧 ARC API

1. Version Updates: Our goal is to deliver the most recent community updates to our customers. All our extensions and services now support the latest loopback versions. With this we ensure that our customers can leverage the newest features, improvements, and security enhancements offered by the latest LoopBack versions. This commitment to staying up-to-date with community updates underscores our dedication to providing cutting-edge and optimized solutions for our users. Contributed by Sahil Jassal and Surbhi Sharma.

2. Enhanced cli: Exciting news! Our ARC CLI now offers an option to effortlessly generate microservices with a default Sequelize datasource. This streamlined process enhances development efficiency, making it easier for users to create microservices with Sequelize integration as a default, ensuring a smooth experience for database interactions. Contributed by Surbhi Sharma.

⏳ Coming Soon

Excited to share what we will be serving you soon:

1.ARC SaaS: We are optimizing our APIs to seamlessly integrate with the SaaS environment, with two key enhancements. Firstly, the ability to dynamically retrieve datasource connections in a pooled environment for increased adaptability. Secondly, we are implementing features to generate and initiate tenant-aware audits and monitoring logs, elevating our security measures within the platform.

2. Reporting Service: Our upcoming Reporting MS will enable aggregating information from distributed databases, offering a consolidated, customisable, and query-driven solution. Imagine configuring your reports and charts across multiple DBs with ease! Ensuring seamless data visualisation and analysis with ACL to maintain personalisation and data security.

🔗 Learn More About ARC API

🎨 ARC UI

No groundbreaking developments to report at the moment, request you stay tuned for future updates.

⏳ Coming Soon

Watch this space for other exciting things we are working on:

1. ARC SaaS: In the pipeline is a cutting-edge super admin app tailored to facilitate effortless tenant onboarding, streamline subscription management, and optimize billing processes. This robust tool is poised to elevate operational efficiency, ensuring a smooth and intuitive experience for overseeing and managing our platform's diverse user base.

2. Story Book in ng Boiler Plate: The separation of components not only enhances development but also facilitates better testing of features. We will soon integrate Storybook into our Angular boilerplate, providing isolation between components and pages.

🔗 Learn More About ARC UI

We can't wait to bring you these exciting updates! Keep an eye out for more details and release announcements in the near future.

That’s a wrap for this month’s updates! 🙂
We can't wait to see the things you'll create using these fresh features and enhancements. Remember, your feedback means the world to us. Whether you have questions, ideas, or just want to chat, don't hesitate to post your thoughts in the arc-general channel.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates in the months ahead, and happy coding!
Best wishes,
The ARC Team 😎