Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the practice of provisioning and managing your IT infrastructure resources, such as servers, networks, databases, and storage, through automation. Modern businesses that heavily depend on software require the rapid deployment of many applications per day. The infrastructure is in a state of constant change. It is harder to track environment changes and prevent inconsistencies. IaC simplifies the creation with the help of a versioned, executable text file that contains all the organization's resources.

Though there are many benefits of IaC, the most essential for development teams is accelerated deployment of reliable and repeatable infrastructure. The result is a consistent environment with less “configuration drift” when IaC is well executed, reducing manual error. Due to reduced provisioning time, IaC fuels CI/CD DevOps, enabling faster, automated releases that significantly boost customer satisfaction.

The two approaches to managing infrastructure automation are the declarative and imperative approaches. It’s essential to know about the two approaches and the difference between them when choosing an IaC solution.

In the first approach, also known as the functional approach, you define the final state you want to see your infrastructure as, and the IaC software does the rest for you. It requires a very skilled administrator. The imperative approach, also known as the procedural approach, involves preparing automation scripts that are used for provisioning in a step-by-step manner.

The most widely used tool for Infrastructure as Code is Terraform by HashiCorp, known for its multi-cloud flexibility, rich module library, and a wide community ecosystem. Other standard tools include Ansible, AWS CloudFormation, and Azure Resource Manager (ARM). As an IaC implementation partner, we recommend Terraform when enterprise-scale automation is the primary goal. For more information, we recommend scheduling a consultation.

While modern cloud-based complex IT infrastructure cannot do without IaC, there are some challenges in implementing IaC. The learning curve can be pretty steep for teams that are used to manual provisioning or imperative scripting.
If you’re not partnering with a trusted IaC implementation partner, it can be confusing which tool to use, as there are many. Poor version control can backfire as a loss of traceability and conflicts between teams. Lack of standardization is another common challenge. Poorly planned IaC bleeds the team. The lack of robust security practices for implementing infrastructure as code security can introduce additional vulnerabilities.

The automation of provisioning via repeatable code that simplifies deployment aligns with DevOps's aims of rapid and reliable software delivery. Removal of manual steps reduces errors, creating space for CI/CD to function efficiently. When IaC is implemented, it helps DevOps teams to test applications in production-like environments much earlier in the SDLC. In this way, IaC should be seen as a foundational DevOps practice.