Infrastructure as code: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Data center management method}}

{{Short description|Process of managing and provisioning computer data centers through machine-readable definition files}}

{{multiple issues|

{{Advert|date=March 2018}}

{{Technical|date=November 2021}}

}}

'''Infrastructure as code''' ('''IaC''') is the process of managing and provisioning computer [[data center]]s [[Resource|resources]] through machine-readable definition files, rather than physical [[Computer hardware|hardware]] configuration or interactive configuration tools.<ref name="AWS in Action, IaC" />

The [[IT infrastructure]] managed by this process comprises both physical equipment, such as [[bare-metal server]]s, as well as [[virtual machine]]s, and associated configuration resources.

The definitions may be in a [[Version Control System|version control system]], rather than maintaining the code through manual processes.

The code in the definition files may use either scripts or declarative definitions, rather than maintaining the code through manual processes, but IaC more often employs [[declarative programming|declarative]] approaches.

==Overview==

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| title= Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave

| journal= [[Harvard Business Review]]

}}</ref> created widespread scaling problemsdifficulties in the enterprise that were previously experienced only at large, multi-national companies.<ref name="CCA" >{{cite report

|last1= Fletcher | first1= Colin | last2= Cosgrove | first2=Terrence

|title=Innovation Insight for Continuous Configuration Automation Tools

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==Types of approaches ==

There are generally two approaches to IaC: [[declarative programming|declarative]] (functional) vs. [[imperative programming|imperative]] (procedural). The difference between the declarative and the imperative approach is essentially '' 'what' '' versus '' 'how' ''. {{anchor|Declarative}}The declarative approach focuses on what the eventual target configuration should be; the {{anchor|Imperative}}imperative focuses on how the [[infrastructure]] is to be changed to meet this.<ref >{{cite web

| url= https://www.scriptrock.com/blog/articles/declarative-vs.-imperative-models-for-configuration-management

| title= Declarative v. Imperative Models for Configuration Management: Which Is Really Better?

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==Methods==

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) allows you to manage servers and their configurations using code. There are two methodsways ofto IaCsend these configurations to servers: the '[[push technology|push]]' and '[[pull technology|pull]]' methods. TheIn mainthe difference'push' ismethod, the mannersystem in whichcontrolling the serversconfiguration aredirectly toldsends howinstructions to bethe configuredserver. In the 'pull' method, the server toretrieves beits configuredown will pull its configurationinstructions from the controlling serversystem.<ref>{{cite Inweb the|last=Venezia push|first=Paul method,|date=21 theNovember controlling2013 server|title=Puppet pushesvs. theChef configurationvs. toAnsible the destination systemvs.<ref>{{cite webSalt | url=http://www.networkworld.com/article/2172097/virtualization/puppet-vs--chef-vs--ansible-vs--salt.html | title=Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt | last=Venezia | first=Paul | date=21 November 2013 | website=networkworld.com | publisher=Network World | accessurl-datestatus=14 December 2015dead | archive-date=18 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718030604/https://www.networkworld.com/article/2172097/virtualization/puppet-vs--chef-vs--ansible-vs--salt.html |archive-date=18 urlJuly 2018 |access-statusdate=dead14 December 2015 |website=[[Network World]] |publisher=Network World}}</ref>

==Tools==

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|url=https://philsturgeon.uk/devops/2012/10/28/puppet-or-chef/

|title=Puppet or Chef?

| last= Sturgeon
|first= Phil

| date= 28 October 2012

|access-date=29 January 2016

}}</ref> Other vendors rely on adjacent communities and leverage other IaC frameworks such as [[PowerShell]] DSC.<ref name=powershell/> New vendors are emerging that are not content-driven, but model-driven with the intelligence in the product to deliver content. These visual, object-oriented systems work well for developers, but they are especially useful to production-oriented DevOps and operations constituents that value models versus scripting for content. As the field continues to develop and change, the community-based content will become ever more important to how IaC tools are used, unless they are model-driven and object-oriented.

|archive-date=1 February 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201185444/https://philsturgeon.uk/devops/2012/10/28/puppet-or-chef/

|url-status=dead

}}</ref> Other vendors rely on adjacent communities and leverage other IaC frameworks such as [[PowerShell]] DSC.<ref name=powershell/> New vendors are emerging that are not content-driven, but model-driven with the intelligence in the product to deliver content. These visual, object-oriented systems work well for developers, but they are especially useful to production-oriented DevOps and operations constituents that value models versus scripting for content. As the field continues to develop and change, the community-based content will become ever more important to how IaC tools are used, unless they are model-driven and object-oriented.

Notable CCA tools include:

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! Tool !! Released by !! Method !! Approach !! Written in !! Comments

|-

![[CFEngine]]

![[Chef (software)|Chef]]

|Northern.tech (1993)

|Chef (2009)

|Pull

|Declarative and imperative

|[[RubyC (programming language)|RubyC]]

| -

|-

![[Otter (software)|Otter]]

|[[Inedo]] (2015)

|Push

|Declarative and imperative

| -

| Windows-oriented

|-

![[Puppet (software)|Puppet]]

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|Declarative and imperative

| [[C++]] & [[Clojure]] since 4.0, [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]

| -

|-

![[Chef (software)|Chef]]

|Chef (2009)

|Pull

|Declarative and imperative

|[[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]

| -

|-

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| -

|-

! [[Ansible (software)|Ansible]] / [[Ansible (software)#Ansible Automation Platform|Ansible Tower]]

![[CFEngine]]

| [[Red Hat]] (2012)

|Northern.tech

| Push and Pull

| Declarative and imperative

|[[CPython (programming language)|CPython]]

| -

|-

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| -

|-

!Otter

! [[Pulumi]]

| [[Pulumi]]Inedo (20182015)

| Push

| Declarative and imperative

| -

| Windows-oriented

|-

! [[Pulumi]]

|Pulumi (2018)

|Push

|Declarative and imperative

|[[Go (programming language)|Go]]

| -

|-

! [[OpenTofu]]

! [[Ansible (software)|Ansible]] / [[Ansible (software)#Ansible Automation Platform|Ansible Tower]]

| [[RedLinux HatFoundation]] and contributors (20122023)

| Push

| Declarative and imperative

| [[PythonGo (programming language)|PythonGo]]

| Terraform fork

| -

|}

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== See also ==

!* [[OtterDocker (software)|Otter Docker]]

* [[IT infrastructure]]

* [[Infrastructure as a service]]

* [[Orchestration (computing)|Orchestration]]

* [[Continuous configuration automation]]

* [[Landing zone (software)]]

==References==

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[[Category:Orchestration software]]

[[Category:Cloud computing]]

[[Category:As a service]]