Infrastructure as Code (IAC).

IAC is an IT practice that codifies and manages underlying IT infrastructure as software. The purpose of IAC is to enable developers or operations teams to automatically manage, monitor and provision resources, rather than manually configure discrete hardware and Operating Systems. By using IAC tools we can automate tasks, reduce manual errors and rapidly sign up new resources, enabling faster time to market and greater agility.

Why IAC?

Here are some reasons why Infrastructure as Code (IAC) is important:

• Efficiency: IAC enables teams to automate infrastructure management tasks, reducing the time and effort required to manage resources.

• Consistency: IAC allows teams to manage resources in a consistent and repeatable way, reducing manual errors and ensuring compliance.

• Scalability: IAC enables teams to manage infrastructure resources at scale, regardless of the complexity or size of the environment.

• Collaboration: IAC enables teams to work collaboratively on infrastructure resources, improving knowledge sharing and reducing the risk of errors.

• Agility: IAC enables teams to rapidly spin up new resources and scale up or down as needed, enabling faster time-to-market and greater agility.

Terraform

Terraform is an open-source infrastructure As Code (IAC) tool developed by Hashicrop. Terraform allows users to define and manage infrastructure in a declarative way. It means that users define the desired state of their infrastructure and Terraform determines how to achieve that state. It enables developers to use a high-level configuration language called HCL(Hashicrop Configuration Language) to describe the desired state of cloud or on-premises infrastructure for running an application.

Why Terraform is popular in modern infrastructure management:

Here are some reasons why Terraform is popular in modern infrastructure management:

• Multi-Cloud: Terraform supports a wide range of cloud providers, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and others, making it easier to manage infrastructure resources across multiple cloud platforms.

• Declarative syntax: Terraform uses a declarative syntax that enables teams to define infrastructure resources in a simple, human-readable format, reducing the time and effort required to create, configure, and manage resources.

• Version control: Terraform's configuration files can be stored and managed using version control systems like Git, enabling teams to track changes and review infrastructure updates over time.

• Infrastructure as code: Terraform treats infrastructure resources as code, enabling teams to manage resources in a more efficient, consistent, and scalable way, with greater collaboration and accountability.

• Plan and apply workflow: Terraform's plan and apply workflow allows teams to preview changes to infrastructure resources before applying them, enabling them to verify the changes and avoid unintended consequences.

• Modularity: Terraform allows teams to organize infrastructure resources into reusable modules, which can be shared across teams and projects, reducing duplication of effort and improving consistency.