Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a DevOps practice that manages and provisions IT infrastructure using machine-readable configuration files, automating the process and eliminating manual configuration. Instead of configuring physical hardware or using interactive tools, IaC treats infrastructure as software, enabling teams to version, test, and deploy infrastructure using the same practices applied to application code. Configuration files, written in languages like YAML, JSON, or HCL, serve as blueprints that define the desired infrastructure, specifying the necessary servers, storage, and network settings. This approach ensures consistency across different environments, reduces errors, and accelerates deployments.
IaC offers several benefits, including cost reduction, faster deployments, improved consistency, and enhanced security. By automating infrastructure provisioning, IaC reduces the time required from weeks to minutes. It also allows for easy duplication of environments, better insight into platform status, and version control for infrastructure. Moreover, IaC enables organizations to scale their infrastructure quickly and efficiently, respond to changing customer needs, and enforce security and compliance policies through automated tests. Tools like Terraform, Ansible, AWS CloudFormation, and Pulumi are popular choices for implementing IaC, each offering unique strengths for diverse use cases, including web application deployment, cloud environment setup, and CI/CD pipelines.