From a purely technical point of view, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the automated configuration of cloud infrastructure based on scripts, instead of manually “clicking together” a new environment whenever necessary. But the significance of IaC for how we develop and deploy cloud solutions goes far beyond “automatically creating an environment”.
Everything you need, as often as you want
Because iAC, precisely because it automates all manual work, is a way to manage and deploy everything you need for a cloud solution — whether it's a simple website or a complex integration — via code. This ensures that every environment — whether it is a test, acceptance or production environment — is rolled out in exactly the same way. So you always have the same, consistent infrastructure.
You won't experience how great that is until you have it. Because you want control over your cloud environments. You want to be able to roll them out quickly and you want to make sure they do it. And if the cloud environment is your direct responsibility, you want to be able to sleep peacefully. But without IaC, you always run the risk of getting a call from your bed and hearing every administrator's 4 least favorite words: “He won't do it.”
Peace of mind and less work
At first, IaC often seems overkill. For example, you only need a web server and a database for an application and, of course, you have set it up manually. But before you know it, someone says that a test environment is needed. And then you have to click it all together again. With the chance that you will do that just a little bit differently than the first time. This is how differences between the environments arise and that's where the risks come from. Because then it is possible that an application works on one environment and not on the other. Or that the production environment contains safety risks that you cannot see in the test environment. By working with IaC, you eliminate those risks and you can be confident that everything is set up and works in the same way. This not only gives you peace of mind, but also prevents many unnecessary mistakes and extra work.
A demo environment within an hour
Another important advantage of IaC is speed. Let's say you have a consultant who needs a demo environment for an important presentation. In the past, it could just take days to set that up. But with IaC, you can do that within an hour. That means you can respond much more quickly to customer demand or your own organization, without having to mess around with manual configurations. And the best part is: when that demo is ready, you can clean up the entire environment in no time. So you become more efficient because you only pay for resources that you actually use.
What this means for your company and product
If you're a CEO or you're working on the business side, you might be thinking, “Ok, interesting. But what's in it for me?”
Fair question, because at first glance, IaC seems to be primarily something that is pleasant for developers and architects. But the implications at product and company levels are significant. As CEO or business manager, you are mainly focused on the functionalities of your software. From your perspective, infrastructure is a precondition. These are the features that help you attract customers and stay ahead of the competition.
But cloud environments cost serious money. If you don't set up that infrastructure properly, it can even jeopardize the ROI of your project. Using IaC means that you always have a precise picture of what is running and which project it belongs to. With IaC, you can not only launch environments very quickly, but also take them back out of the air quickly. As a result, you spend less on cloud capacity that you don't use and protect your bottom line.
Consistently designed environments also prove their value if you suddenly have to scale up considerably. Your company is growing, there are many new customers coming in, you want to serve multiple countries or markets, or an investor with high expectations and ambitions is coming on board. With an infrastructure that is built manually, it becomes very difficult to make adjustments quickly without making mistakes or overlooking things.
In addition, with IaC, you are no longer dependent on who created a server or resource at what time. Everything is documented and reproducible, so you are no longer dependent on the knowledge in the minds of specific people. This makes managing and growing your cloud environment much easier and clearer, even when staff changes.
IaC is therefore not a technical issue. It is an integral part of your product and organizational vision. By using IaC from the start, you ensure that you do not have to repair afterwards, but that everything is always in the right way.
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