Managing Private Marketplace across Multiple AWS Organizations

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The Need for Multi-Organization Management
  3. Solution Overview
  4. Step-by-Step Implementation
  5. Conclusion
  6. FAQ

Introduction

Imagine running a business where each department operates like a mini-enterprise with unique software needs. This complexity is often amplified in large, multi-national companies or government entities. Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a streamlined solution to this problem through its Private Marketplace feature. But what happens when these large entities operate under multiple AWS organizations?

Managing Private Marketplace across multiple AWS organizations becomes crucial. This guide will delve into a serverless, distributed approach for managing Private Marketplace from a central administration point. By the end, you'll understand how to synchronize marketplace experiences across various organizations while maintaining control and ensuring compliance.

The Need for Multi-Organization Management

Organizations often adopt a multi-account strategy in AWS to isolate resources, meet compliance requirements, and enhance security. However, this architecture introduces complexities in operational management, especially in software procurement and deployment. AWS Control Tower enables multi-account setups, but it primarily focuses on a single AWS organization.

For entities like multinationals and consortia, managing multiple AWS organizations is vital. Private Marketplace allows for curated catalogs of approved software, but administrating these across numerous organizations needs a more sophisticated approach. This blog seeks to address that.

Solution Overview

This solution provides a centralized method for managing Private Marketplace experiences across multiple AWS organizations using two key components: a management organization and member organizations. It addresses common scenarios:

  1. A single management experience to govern multiple member organizations.
  2. Independent management experiences for various member organizations.

Both cases ensure that member organizations adhere to the centrally curated and approved software catalog.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Enabling Private Marketplace and Delegated Administration

Begin by enabling Private Marketplace in each organization. To improve security, delegate administration tasks to an account other than the management account. This ensures that critical management functions are not exposed to unnecessary risks. Note down each AWS account ID involved in this delegation.

Step 2: Creating Member Experiences

Set up Private Marketplace experiences in each member organization to be centrally managed. Attach these experiences to your AWS Organization's root. Once they are live, they will govern all accounts in that organization. It's crucial to note that these experiences will enforce policy compliance for any new software procurements.

Step 3: Setting Up Management Experience

Create a management experience within your central management organization. This experience will act as the blueprint for synchronization across all member experiences. Log in with the delegated administration account to perform these tasks, similar to setting up the member experiences.

Step 4: Deploying the Management Component

Deploy the management component in the account you've designated for managing the experiences. This deployment involves specific AWS resources like Lambda functions and CloudFormation stacks to monitor and initiate synchronization tasks. Post-deployment, you will receive output parameters necessary for the next step.

Step 5: Deploying the Member Component

With the output parameters from the management component, deploy the member component in each member organization. Modify environment variables if you wish to limit synchronization to specific experiences. This ensures that only approved software is available to procure, maintaining compliance and security.

Step 6: Validating and Synchronizing

Initially, synchronization occurs every hour by default. To expedite the initial validation, manually trigger the synchronization process. Add a product to the management experience and confirm its appearance in the member organizations. The first synchronization might take longer, but subsequent updates will be quicker.

Cleanup

If you need to deactivate this setup, delete the CloudFormation stacks created in both management and member organizations. Start with member organizations to prevent discrepancies. Also, archive any experiences created to restore default product availability.

Conclusion

Managing Private Marketplace across multiple AWS organizations can be transformative for businesses with complex structures. This serverless, centralized solution ensures regulatory compliance, centralized management, and reduced administrative overhead. Organizations in highly regulated industries can particularly benefit from the visibility and control offered by this architecture.

In adopting this solution, businesses can streamline software procurement processes, minimize risks, and adhere to internal policies more effectively. By leveraging AWS's robust tools and this distributed architecture, multi-organization management becomes seamless and efficient.

FAQ

1. What are the prerequisites for deploying this solution?

  • You need a basic understanding of AWS Organizations, CloudFormation, and Lambda. Additionally, you need to have Private Marketplace enabled in each AWS organization involved.

2. Can this solution manage multiple experiences independently across different organizations?

  • Yes, the solution is flexible enough to manage experiences independently across various member organizations.

3. How often does the synchronization process occur?

  • By default, synchronization is triggered every hour. However, it can be manually triggered if needed.

4. What happens if a new product is added to the management experience?

  • The new product will be propagated to all synchronized member experiences during the next synchronization cycle.

5. How do I deactivate this setup?

  • Delete the CloudFormation stacks in the member organizations first, followed by the management organization. Also, archive the experiences created in the Private Marketplace to restore default availability.

By following this guide, you'll streamline the management of Private Marketplace across multiple AWS organizations, ensuring coherence, compliance, and centralized control over your software procurement processes.

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