Diving into the World of IaC: What is it and How to Define it?

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has become an essential aspect of modern software development and IT operations. According to Markets and Markets, the IaC market size is expected to grow from $2.84 billion in 2019 to $8.7 billion by 2024 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24.3% during the forecast period. IaC radically simplifies infrastructure management by automating and standardizing traditional manual processes. In this glossary, we will delve into the definition, benefits, use cases, and best practices of IaC, as well as some of the most recommended books on the topic.

“The true promise of Infrastructure as Code lies not in its ability to automate, but in its capacity to transform how we think about, design, and interact with technology infrastructure.” – Kief Morris, author of “Infrastructure as Code”

What is IaC? Definition of Infrastructure as Code

IaC is a new approach to managing and provisioning infrastructure resources through machine-readable definition files, rather than using physical hardware configurations or interactive configuration tools. It brings the programming principles of software development to the world of infrastructure, allowing developers and sysadmins to define, version, and deploy infrastructure resources as easily as writing and deploying code.

ℹ️ Synonyms: Infrastructure as Code, Configuration as Code, Continuous Configuration, Programmable Infrastructure.

How it Works

IaC eliminates manual processes and allows IT teams to manage infrastructure using code. The typical workflow involves the following steps:

1. Define infrastructure resources and their relationships in code using a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) or a general-purpose programming language.
2. Store the code in a Version Control System (VCS) for tracking changes and enabling collaboration.
3. Use a provisioning tool such as Terraform, Ansible, or Chef to automatically create, update, or delete infrastructure resources based on the code.
4. Verify and validate the infrastructure using automated tests and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

Benefits of using IaC

• Speed and agility: IaC enables rapid provisioning and re-provisioning of infrastructure, reducing manual errors and speeding up development cycles.
• Consistency and repeatability: By defining infrastructure as code, you can enforce and maintain consistency across environments and reduce configuration drift issues.
• Efficient collaboration: IaC allows teams to work together efficiently by maintaining a single source of truth for infrastructure, facilitating communication, and minimizing conflicts.
• Reduced costs: By automating repetitive tasks and optimizing resource usage, IaC helps organizations lower infrastructure costs, increase operational efficiency, and minimize human error.
• Better risk management: IaC enables rollback of infrastructure changes and promotes best practices in security and compliance by enforcing consistent configurations.

IaC use cases

1. Cloud infrastructure provisioning: With IaC, you can automate the creation and management of cloud resources, such as virtual machines, storage, and networking components.
2. Configuration management: IaC can be used to create and maintain consistent configuration settings and enforce them across multiple environments or instances of an application.
3. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): By integrating IaC into CI/CD pipelines, teams can reliably deploy and manage infrastructure as part of their application release cycles.
4. Disaster Recovery: IaC can streamline the recovery process by providing a reliable and automated way to recreate infrastructure resources in the event of a disaster.

Best Practices

To make the most of IaC implementation, it is essential to follow these best practices: first, use version control systems to track changes and enable collaboration; second, ensure proper documentation of infrastructure code and maintain a clear separation between environment-specific variables and resources; third, adopt proper modularity in code by organizing resources and reusable modules efficiently; fourth, integrate IaC into CI/CD pipelines for continuous validation, testing, and deployment of infrastructure; finally, monitor infrastructure health and performance consistently to identify issues early and keep your IaC codebase up to date with the actual infrastructure.

Most recommended books about IaC

1. Infrastructure as Code: Managing Servers in the Cloud by Kief Morris.
2. Terraform: Up & Running by Yevgeniy Brikman.
3. Ansible for DevOps by Jeff Geerling.
4. The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford.
5. Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Jez Humble and David Farley.

Conclusion

IaC helps IT organizations more effectively manage and control their infrastructure resources. By adopting IaC, teams can enjoy faster provisioning, increased consistency, better collaboration, reduced costs, and improved risk management. As more organizations make the shift to IaC, it’s essential to stay informed about best practices and continuously improve your skills in this critical area of infrastructure management.