Infrastructure as Code can be considered everything that is needed to run an application. What exactly does this mean and why is it important for businesses around the world?
The world of technology is constantly changing. We are currently experiencing what may be peak adoption of containers and the cloud. These two technologies alone changed the entire business scenario. At the same time, cloud and containerization have made enterprise technology exponentially more complicated. Deploying and managing containers and hybrid clouds isn't exactly a task for junior-level administrators.
In fact, most container and cloud deployments require entire teams to keep them up and running. That's how complex systems are. Because of this, there is always a push to do everything possible to simplify the deployment and management of these platforms.
It's not easy.
These two technologies have also spawned many acronyms in the industry, one of which is somewhat confusing at first glance. Without explanation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) seems a bit behind the times. How can infrastructure be thought of in terms of code? Well, everything is in the explanation.
What is IAC?
The first question we must ask is: what is IaC? Simply put, IaC is everything that is needed to create an environment conducive to running an application. By “everything” we mean things like servers, configurations, networks, databases, storage, version control, automated testing, CI/CD, and local development.
IaC relies on DevOps methodology as a guide for deploying networks, virtual machines, containers, load balancing and failover so that, with everything together, you have a complete environment to deploy applications and services.
One of the most important aspects of IaC is repeatability. The goal is to be able to activate an environment quickly, repeatedly. By using this approach, you can reliably and easily deploy these environments for development or production purposes.
But again, we're back to asking the question: how can “servers” be code? Here's an easy example that most DevOps admins and members can understand. Have you ever deployed a virtual machine or container? From the virtual machine (VM) or container, you can add multiple environments (e.g. development frameworks, automation tools, versioning, software repositories) so that you can develop inside the VM. Even better, you can create a VM, install everything you need to use in that VM (like libraries, frameworks, languages, application stacks, servers, and databases), and then (when the VM is exactly how you want it) clone it. it whenever you need it.
No manual configuration required
IaC not only focuses on repeatability but also avoids manual configuration. Imagine, if you will, you could configure the state of every aspect of an environment in a single JSON file and then activate that environment with a single command. By doing this, you avoid the time-consuming task of configuring an environment whenever you need it, and you avoid things like configuration drift (when the actual state of a system deviates from the original intended state) or missing dependencies.
The amount of time IaC can save your DevOps team can be considerable. While it requires a little time upfront (to get used to the technology), the time your administrators, developers, and operations managers will save can be of immeasurable importance. With all that extra time back, team members can perform other crucial tasks (instead of creating environments to deploy).
Automation, Automation, Automation
Another aspect of IaC is automation. Once you have your infrastructure configured in a JSON file and ready for deployment, you can automate it so that whenever task X is completed, a new environment is automatically deployed.
Even better, with the help of CI/CD, you could eventually automate environment creation from a single source of truth in a software repository like GitHub. With all your configuration files in this repository, automation systems would read the configurations and automatically deploy the new environment based on the contents of one or more JSON files.
Once again, you've made your pipeline more efficient, repeatable, and reliable. One of the most interesting aspects of automation is the removal of human error. As long as your source of truth is configured correctly, there is no chance that an automation platform will incorrectly deploy the necessary infrastructure.
The pros of IaC
IaC has a number of important benefits that all companies can take advantage of:
Trust
With IaC in place, your DevOps teams will experience a boost in confidence. Since everyone involved knows that every time an environment is deployed, it will be correct, meaning team members won't have to waste time troubleshooting the deployed infrastructure. It will just work .
Speed
IaC is much faster at provisioning environments than a human could ever achieve. And given the addition of automation, there's simply no way to compare the two.
Reproducibility
Once your JSON configurations are correct, you can be sure that your infrastructure will reproduce the same way every time.
No need to document
Because IaC works from a single source of truth, all necessary documentation will be found in your GitHub repository.
Records and observability
With IaC, you can easily create logs and observability so you always know what happened, what is happening, and what will happen. With this type of data in hand, you will be better able to adjust and improve environments and/or predict when problems arise.
Easier testing/debugging
A very useful feature of IaC is that it makes it easier to test and debug your infrastructure. This is much easier than testing/debugging traditional infrastructure, which can require extensive hardware, software, and network testing.
Consistency
With IaC, you always know that a new environment will not only work correctly, but always work. It is not possible to achieve this level of consistency (especially at scale or speed) using traditional infrastructure.
Automation
Yes, you can automate hardware provisioning with resources like Ansible, but automating the deployment of an entire environment on traditional infrastructure can be a serious challenge. With IaC, you can automate every aspect of deployment to help ease the burden on your DevOps teams and make your business run much more seamlessly.
Secrets management
Your environments will require secrets such as passwords, API tokens, and certificates. Managing these items with traditional hardware is not only complicated, but can also lead to security issues. With the help of IaC and various parts of the stack, you can more easily control these secrets so that they are encrypted and less likely to be used against you.
The cons of IaC
While IaC can be a real boon for your company, it's not perfect. Here are some negatives of the technology:
Complexities
Once you have IaC up and running as needed, things can be very simple. However, getting to that point can be quite complicated. Not only can there be a number of moving parts in your infrastructure stack, but these parts can be very difficult to master. Because of this, you'll want to make sure your DevOps team has plenty of time to get up to speed with technology.
Too much code
Depending on how complicated or large your IaC stack is, there can be an exorbitant amount of code involved. This means you'll need an efficient way to manage this code. To do this, you'll want to employ companies like GitHub and have team members who are fluent on the platform.
Code complexity
Much of the code used in IaC can be quite complicated. Additionally, you will likely have members of your DevOps team needing to inspect or change code they didn't write. This means they will need time to become familiar with this code. This is especially true if your company has a high turnover rate.
The velocity
The speed at which IaC works is impressive, especially after everything is automated. While this is a huge advantage, it can sometimes be seen as a disadvantage. There will be occasional problems, and trying to disrupt an environment before it is deployed can be challenging, simply because IaC automation works exponentially faster than a human. Therefore, you will need to ensure that you have safeguards in your code that make it easy to pause deployments so that your DevOps teams can fix any issues.
At the same time, if you have an IaC stack deployed in multiple locations (like across the world), by the time you discover a problem, automation will have already deployed it. This can require a lot of rolling back and troubleshooting. And given how quickly IaC works, your teams will have to be extremely vigilant in discovering and fixing problems.
Conclusion
Infrastructure as code isn't just a buzzword, it's a way for your company to work more reliably, efficiently and repeatedly. With the right level of automation, your DevOps teams can work with a system that makes their jobs exponentially easier, which in turn will make your business more profitable.
What company wouldn't benefit from this?
If you liked this, be sure to check out our other DevOps articles.
- Infrastructure is becoming code
- Is DevOps right for your company?
- Is it time for decentralized IT?
- Why Businesses Are Moving to 'IT as a Service'
- What your developers need to know before they start working with Kubernetes
