Infrastructure as Code can help your organization manage IT infrastructure needs while also improving consistency and reducing errors and manual configuration.

When you use the cloud, you most likely conduct all your activities using a web interface (e.g., ClickOps). After some time has passed, and you feel that you have gained sufficient familiarity, you will probably begin writing your first scripts using the Command Line Interface (CLI) or PowerShell. And when you want to have full power, you switch to programming languages such as Python, Java, or Ruby and administer your cloud environment by making SDK (software development kit) calls. Moreover, Even while all of these tools are quite strong and may help you automate your work, they are not the best choice for doing activities such as deploying servers or establishing virtual networks.

What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?

The technique of automatically maintaining your information technology infrastructure via scripts rather than doing it by hand is called "Infrastructure as Code" or "IaC." One of the most important aspects of the DevOps software development methodology is that it enables the complete automation of deployment and setup, paving the way for continuous delivery.

The term "infrastructure" refers to the collection of elements that must be present to facilitate your application's functioning. It comprises several kinds of hardware like servers, data centers, and desktop computers, as well as different kinds of software like operating systems, web servers, etc. In the past, a company would physically construct and oversee its Infrastructure on-site. This practice is still common today. Cloud hosting, offered by companies like Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, is now the most common technique for housing infrastructure in the modern world.

Companies in every sector want to begin using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to write their Infrastructure as code for various reasons, including a scarcity of qualified workers, a recent migration to the cloud, and an effort to reduce the risk of making mistakes due to human error.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are just two examples of cloud service providers that make it feasible and increasingly simple to set up a virtual server in minutes. Spinning up a server linked with the appropriate managed services and settings to function in stride with your existing Infrastructure becomes the hardest part.

How does Infrastructure as Code work?

If the team did not have IaC, each deployment would need the team to individually set up the Infrastructure (servers, databases, load balancers, containers, etc.). It takes time for environments that were supposed to be identical to develop inconsistencies (these environments are sometimes referred to as "snowflakes"), which makes it more difficult to configure them and thus slows down deployments.

IaC thus uses software tools to automate performing administrative chores by specifying Infrastructure in code.

It's implemented like this:

• The group uses the necessary programming language to draught the infrastructure settings.
• The files, including the source code, are uploaded to a code repository.
• The code is executed by an IaC tool, which also carries out the necessary operations.

Managing Infrastructure as code

"Managing infrastructure as code," or IAC refers to creating, supplying, and managing infrastructure resources using code rather than human procedures. The process of establishing and maintaining infrastructure resources may be automated with the aid of tools such as Terraform and CloudFormation. This makes it much simpler to manage and maintain Infrastructure on a large scale.

The following is a list of the general stages involved in managing Infrastructure as code with the help of various tools:

1. Define infrastructure resources:

Code should be used to define the necessary infrastructure resources for your application. Virtual machines, load balancers, databases, and other resources may fall under this category.

2. Create infrastructure resources:

Use the code to create the necessary resources using your chosen tool, such as CloudFormation or Terraform. The resources will be created in the cloud provider of your choosing, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, via the tool.

3. Manage infrastructure resources:

Utilize the code to handle the infrastructure resources after they have been generated. This involves keeping the resources updated as required, keeping track of their current state, and adjusting them as necessary.

5. Test infrastructure changes:

Test the code before making any modifications to the Infrastructure to ensure it will still function as intended after the changes. This helps prevent problems and lowers the possibility of making mistakes while applying modifications.

6. Deploy infrastructure changes:

After the code has been validated and checked over, the modifications should be deployed to the Infrastructure. You can do this automatically using tools like Jenkins or Travis CI, or you can do it manually by running the code through the automated tool.

Benefits of Infrastructure as Code

Reduced costs.

Cloud computing is more cost-effective than traditional methods since spending money on expensive gear or staff is unnecessary to maintain it. When you automate using IoC, you reduce the work required to run your Infrastructure, which frees up your staff to concentrate on the more critical duties that create value for your company. As a result, you save money on infrastructure expenditures. In addition, you will only be charged for the resources you use.

Consistency.

Manual deployment results in many discrepancies and variants, as previously discussed. IaC prevents configuration or environment drift by guaranteeing that deployments are repeatable and setting up the same configuration each time. This is done using a declarative manner, which will be discussed in more detail later.

Version control.

In IaC, the settings of the underlying Infrastructure are written into a text file that can be easily modified and shared. It may be checked into source control, versioned, and evaluated along with your application's source code using the procedures already in place, just like any other code. It is also possible for the infrastructure code to be directly connected with CI/CD systems to automate deployments.

Conclusion

If you follow these instructions, you can manage your Infrastructure as code with the help of technologies like Terraform and CloudFormation. This strategy makes it possible for you to generate, manage, and keep your infrastructure resources up to date consistently and repeatedly. As a result, the possibility of making a mistake is decreased, and you are given the ability to scale your infrastructure resources effectively.