IPF Developer Environment Guidance.docx
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- Solicitation number
- HM047625R0016_Bidder_Library
About this file
This is an internal guidance document for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) outlining development environment options for Integrated Program Framework (IPF) projects. The document provides direction to developers regarding which cloud and computing environments are appropriate based on their security clearance levels and data classification requirements.
NGA offers three primary development environment options: eXternal Cloud (XC) for unclassified work on IL-2 data accessible to cleared and uncleared personnel; Commercial Cloud Services (C2S) leveraging AWS across all three security domains (UC, SC, TC) with integrated NGA toolchains and CI/CD capabilities; and Blue Factory Environment (BFE) available on UC, SC, and TC domains for scaled testing of large data or compute requirements. The document establishes a selection matrix specifying that XC serves as the standard environment for unclassified-only work, while BFE is recommended when Limited Distribution (LIMDIS) data is involved. Developers requiring BFE access with LIMDIS data must provide justification for the data requirement, explain dissemination controls and tagging methods, and obtain ISO/ISSO approval. A significant advantage of BFE onboarding is that DDI-Ops (formerly DataCorps) covers all development costs up to $500 monthly, eliminating additional expenses for IPF projects. The guidance emphasizes that software installed in XC cannot be SWAP Blacklisted and cannot access SBU resources, while BFE software must be SWAP Whitelisted.
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UNCLASSIFIED
IPF Developer Environment Guide 2023-07-19
(U) Purpose:
(U) NGA has several development environment options available for both cleared and un-cleared personnel. The environment selected will depend on a projects’ data requirements and the clearance level of the development team. Understanding the requirements and relationships of each (cloud domains, networks, security levels, Impact Levels (IL), etc) is important for IPF projects to determine the best option based on the defined needs. There are three possible environments in which development can take place. This document will provide developers the guidance as to where development should take place within the NGA construct.
(U) Environment Options
(U) eXternal Cloud (XC): Intended to support a variety of workloads running in a commercial cloud environment outside the DoD network perimeter. Software installed must not be SWAP Blacklisted; and cannot access SBU resources to include NGA License servers. If a developer does not have a Common Access Card (CAC), the developer will require approval from their NGA GPOC to access the XC environment. XC Cloud Access Portal: https://xc.awsapps.com/start#/
(U) Commercial Cloud Services (C2S) Amazon Web Services (AWS) is known as the IC cloud offerings aka C2S (Cloud Commercial Services). Available on all three security domains (UC, SC, TC), C2S is leveraged as a reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing service. In addition to the NGA tool chain of services used to manage your applications throughout the lifecycle, NGA also utilizes the advantages of cloud computing through continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) which integrate with both AWS (managed instances in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and NGA CORE Kubic (Red Hat OpenShift) to deploy software.
(U) Blue Factory Environment (BFE): Intended to supplement other development environments on UC, SC, and TC by providing cloud-based services that can scale to prove out large data or compute requirements. UC BFE can only process/store data up to UNCLASSIFIED/FOUO by default. To process/store LIMDIS data approval is required with an explanation of how the data will be tagged, and dissemination controlled. Software installed must be SWAP Whitelisted.
Links:
What is BFE? https://bluefactory.pages.gs.mil/documentation/general/What-Is-Bluefactory/BlueFactoryAdmin@nga.mil Onboarding to BFE: BFE Onboarding instructions can be found here: https://bluefactory.pages.gs.mil/documentation/general/
(U) Selecting the Proper Development Environment Type: The table below outlines the development environment options based on the clearance level of the teams and applicable data types.
Development Environment Options
| Developer |
| Test Data Type |
| Location of Development |
| DevSecOps Tools |
| Uncleared and/or Cleared |
| Unclassified Only IL-2 |
| XC |
| GEOINT Services on XC |
| Uncleared and/or Cleared |
| U/FOUO/LIMDIS with approval. Cleared developer w/CAC can only SSH to servers |
| UC Blue Factory (UC BFE) |
| GEOINT Services on UC |
| Cleared |
| U/FOUO/LIMDIS with approval |
| UC Blue Factory (UC BFE) |
| GEOINT Services on UC |
| Cleared |
| IL6 |
| SC Blue Factory (SC BFE) |
| GEOINT Services on SC |
| Cleared |
| TC |
| TC Blue Factory (TC BFE) |
| GEOINT Services on TC |
Summary:
In most scenarios, XC will be the development environment of choice. The caveat to that is when LIMDIS information/data is involved. In that instance, it’s recommended to move development into the BFE (Blue Factory Environment). There are couple of reasons why this is:
· XC is only approved for IL2 (UNCLASS only) information.
· Developers can onboard into the UC BFE:
· Provide justification why LIMDIS is needed and exactly why it’s needed
· How they would limit the dissemination to the admin email slug
· Receive approval from the ISO/ISSO An additional benefit to onboarding into the BFE is all development costs are covered by DDI-Ops (QD), formerly DataCorps up to $500/month. IPF incurs no additional cost for development.
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