Infrastructure as code
A fundamental principle of DevOps is to treat infrastructure the same way developers treat code. Application code has a defined format and syntax. If the code is not written according to the rules of the programming language, applications cannot be created. Code is stored in a version management or source control system that logs a history of code development, changes, and bug fixes. When code is compiled or built into applications, we expect a consistent application to be created, and the build is repeatable and reliable.
Practicing infrastructure as code means applying the
same rigor of application code development to infrastructure provisioning. All configurations
should be defined in a declarative way and stored in a source control system such as AWS CodeCommit
Infrastructure was traditionally provisioned using a combination of scripts and manual processes. Sometimes these scripts were stored in version control systems or documented step by step in text files or run-books. Often the person writing the run books is not the same person executing these scripts or following through the run-books. If these scripts or runbooks are not updated frequently, they can potentially become a show-stopper in deployments. This results in the creation of new environments not always being repeatable, reliable, or consistent.
In contrast, AWS provides a DevOps-focused way of creating and maintaining infrastructure. Similar to the way software developers write application code, AWS provides services that enable the creation, deployment and maintenance of infrastructure in a programmatic, descriptive, and declarative way. These services provide rigor, clarity, and reliability. The AWS services discussed in this paper are core to a DevOps methodology and form the underpinnings of numerous higher-level AWS DevOps principles and practices.
AWS offers the following services to define infrastructure as code.
Services
