Drift Review Principles

Configuration drift occurs when the actual environment no longer matches its documented and approved state.

Review areas

• Deployed services versus the documented service inventory
• Container images and versions versus approved definitions
• Reverse proxy, DNS, and authentication entries versus intended exposure
• Cloud resources versus approved architecture and cost controls
• Monitoring coverage versus the services that matter
• Backup expectations versus actual protected data
• Documentation versus the current operating state

Safe review process

1. Collect read-only evidence.
2. Compare actual state with the authoritative repository.
3. Record discrepancies without exposing secrets.
4. Classify each discrepancy as expected change, documentation debt, configuration drift, or security concern.
5. Correct the authoritative record or the environment through an approved change.
6. Verify and record closure.

Publication boundary

Public documentation may explain the governance process and generalized checks. Exact live resource identifiers, firewall rules, internal addresses, incident details, and recovery commands remain private.