Both MCS and PVS focus solely on provisioning and rely on administrators to manually maintain master images and configurations.

However, most operational effort occurs before and after provisioning and includes:

• building images
• patching OS
• installing/updating apps
• maintaining best practices
• managing hybrid environments.

MCS and PVS do not automate image creation, application packaging, hybrid deployment, versioning or operational workflows, which leads to complexity, risk and increased cost as organizations scale.

XOAP can provision infrastructure, not just manage existing environments. It does this through Scripted Actions and prebuilt automation templates that let you create and configure:

• EC2 instances.
• IAM roles and policies.
• VPCs and security groups.
• S3 buckets and encryption settings.
• GuardDuty, Config, CloudTrail and other AWS services.

Instead of declaring resources in HCL, you write scripts – or use ready-made ones available in your XOAP Workspace – that tell AWS exactly what to do, which gives you:

• More flexibility to define infrastructure your way.
• Easier cross-account and multi-region provisioning.
• The ability to use conditional logic, loops and dynamic inputs.
• Simpler onboarding with no need to learn Terraform internals.

XOAP can be your provisioning engine and your operations tool, especially if you prefer scripting over declarative IaC.

Here’s how it usually works:

1. A new AWS account gets created.
2. Someone (usually a DevOps or security engineer) goes through a checklist.
3. They set up CloudTrail, enable Config, turn on GuardDuty, enforce MFA, etc.
4. Repeat for every region and every new account.

This process is not only repetitive, but it also introduces inconsistencies, especially as your environment grows.

Rather than treating all workloads the same, segment and prioritize based on:

• Business criticality and downtime sensitivity
• Migration complexity (e.g., shared storage, networking requirements)
• Resource usage patterns
• Organizational or compliance requirements
• Application owner input and change windows

Download the script from the official AWS GitHub repository here. You can find the documentation in the AWS Administrator Guide.

Provisioning a device is one thing; making sure it’s secure and compliant is another.

With XOAPs Configuration Management module, you can:

• Enforce CIS, STIG, or BSI compliance automatically during or after deployment
• Integrate Windows LAPS, firewall settings, and configuration policies by design
• Use configuration as code to ensure all systems remain aligned with security policies

This level of control goes far beyond what Autopilot alone provides.

Read more about:

→ CIS compliance
→ STIG security standards
→ NIS2 compliance

When your data and services are spread across different platforms, keeping everything secure becomes more difficult. It’s also harder to meet privacy and compliance requirements, especially if your business operates in multiple regions.

Each place where data is stored or accessed is a potential risk. The more platforms you use, the harder it becomes to keep track of where your data is, who has access to it, and how it’s being protected.

On top of that, different countries and industries have their own rules for how data should be handled. If your systems aren’t aligned, you could accidentally fall out of compliance, leading to fines or data breaches.