Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Infrastructure as Code is where infrastructure (networks, virtual machines and more) is delivered and managed as computer-read files. IaC is used during DevOps as an alternative to hardware or cloud-based infrastructure.
IaC allows DevOps teams to update the entire infrastructure at once. This ensures all developers work from the same source, creating consistency and enabling iteration across the entire development cycle.
During traditional development, administrators provide infrastructure resources to developers through a process called provisioning. This is done manually and can lead to environment drift, which is when a developer makes a change to an individual infrastructure component, but not the entire infrastructure. Environment drift can cause inefficiencies and issues with development.
Since an update is pushed to every provisioned IaC component, environment drift is eliminated. This enables teams to collaborate and make quick updates. It’s also easier to provision IaC, paving the way for automation and faster scale.
