The JSON form of a plan exposes structured resource actions, configuration and state for automation. It can also expose sensitive values in plaintext, so policy tooling must treat it as protected data.
HashiCorp's 2026 Terraform Policy beta evaluates provider-aware infrastructure policies using HCL and a dedicated tfpolicy test workflow. It changes where platform teams can encode guardrails, but it is still beta.
Some firmware updates are optional improvements; others must gate service because compatibility or security changed.
Policy is not just a config file on the gateway; in 5GC it can actively influence session behavior through dedicated network functions.
The difference between operator, runtime and backup identities is visible in the exact OpenBao paths and capabilities they receive.
Usage records become meaningful only when they can be tied back to the session, rule and network event that produced them.