Infrastructure-as-code

Definition

Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) is a modern approach to managing and provisioning IT infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files, rather than through physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools. This practice allows teams to automate the setup and management of infrastructure, ensuring consistency, repeatability, and the ability to version control infrastructure changes. IaC plays a vital role in supporting deployment strategies like blue-green deployments, canary releases, and feature flags by facilitating rapid changes and environment management.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. IaC allows developers and operations teams to treat infrastructure the same way they treat application code, leading to faster deployment cycles.
2. It enables the use of tools like Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible, which help in defining infrastructure through code.
3. By using IaC, teams can easily replicate environments for testing or production without manual setup, reducing the chance of human error.
4. IaC supports dynamic scaling and adjustment of resources based on real-time demand, making applications more resilient and cost-effective.
5. The practice of IaC ensures that environments can be destroyed and recreated with minimal effort, simplifying disaster recovery processes.

Review Questions

• How does infrastructure-as-code facilitate blue-green deployments?
  • Infrastructure-as-code enables blue-green deployments by allowing teams to quickly provision two separate environments—one for the current version (blue) and one for the new version (green). With IaC, both environments can be created with identical configurations, ensuring that the switch between them is seamless. This automation minimizes downtime and risks associated with manual setup, making it easier to test new releases in a controlled manner before directing traffic to the new environment.
• In what ways does infrastructure-as-code contribute to the effectiveness of canary releases?
  • Infrastructure-as-code contributes to canary releases by allowing teams to incrementally roll out new features or updates to a small subset of users while keeping the rest on the stable version. By defining infrastructure using code, teams can quickly adjust configurations and spin up new environments for testing without disrupting existing setups. This capability enables quick feedback from real users on new features and reduces the risk associated with large-scale rollouts, as any issues can be addressed before wider deployment.
• Evaluate how infrastructure-as-code can transform the use of feature flags in software development practices.
  • Infrastructure-as-code transforms the use of feature flags by providing a robust framework for managing not just application code but also the underlying infrastructure that supports it. This means that teams can dynamically enable or disable features at runtime across various environments without needing manual intervention. The integration of IaC allows for better alignment between application features and the infrastructure they depend on, leading to more efficient testing and smoother transitions during feature rollouts. By leveraging IaC with feature flags, organizations can maintain agility while ensuring stability throughout their deployment processes.

Related terms

Configuration Management:

A process for maintaining computer systems, servers, and software in a desired, consistent state.

Version Control:

A system that records changes to files or sets of files over time so that specific versions can be recalled later.

Continuous Deployment:

A software release process where every change that passes automated tests is automatically deployed to production.