Infrastructure as code
Infrastructure as code is the practice of defining infrastructure in versioned, machine-readable files rather than configuring it by hand.
What is infrastructure as code?
Infrastructure as code is the practice of defining infrastructure in versioned, machine-readable files rather than configuring it by hand.
Plain and technical
Instead of clicking through a cloud console to create servers and networks, you describe what you want in files kept in version control. The same files can recreate the environment, and every change has a history.
Infrastructure as code tools are declarative (you describe the desired state and the tool computes the changes required), and are typically applied through a plan-and-apply cycle so the changes can be reviewed. The main operational concern is drift: infrastructure modified outside the code no longer matches the declaration, which is detected by comparing state against live inventory.
What it looks like in practice
Nearby vocabulary
GitOps
GitOps is an operating model in which a system desired state is declared in Git and an automated process continuously reconciles the running system to it.
Configuration drift
Configuration drift is the divergence between the state a system was declared to have and the state it actually has, caused by out-of-band changes.
Continuous delivery
Continuous delivery is the practice of keeping software in a state where any change that has passed verification could be released to production at any time.
How DevOpsArk handles infrastructure as code
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More definitions
See these concepts in a running system
A 30-minute walkthrough against your own infrastructure rather than a slide about the theory.