Book Image

Infrastructure as Code for Beginners

By : Russ McKendrick
4 (1)
Book Image

Infrastructure as Code for Beginners

4 (1)
By: Russ McKendrick

Overview of this book

The Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach ensures consistent and repeatable deployment of cloud-based IaaS/PaaS services, saving you time while delivering impeccable results. Infrastructure as Code for Beginners is a practical implementation guide that helps you gain a clear understanding of the foundations of Infrastructure as Code and make informed decisions when implementing it. With this book, you’ll uncover essential IaC concepts, including planning, selecting, and implementing the right tools for your project. With step-by-step explanations and real-world examples, you'll gain a solid understanding of the benefits of IaC and the scope of application in your projects. You'll learn about the pros, cons, and best practices of different IaC tools such as Terraform and Ansible, and their use at different stages of the deployment process along with GitHub Actions. Using these tools, you'll be able to design, deploy, and secure your infrastructure on two major cloud platforms, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. In addition, you'll explore other IaC tools such as Pulumi, AWS CloudFormation, and Azure Bicep. By the end of this book, you’ll be well equipped to approach your IaC projects confidently.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Part 1: The Foundations – An Introduction to Infrastructure as Code
5
Part 2: Getting Hands-On with the Deployment
9
Part 3: CI/CD and Best Practices

Summary

We have discussed a lot in this chapter; we have talked about several similar concepts but have taken slightly different approaches depending on the tool we chose.

For me, the biggest takeaways from this chapter are as follows:

  • Version control: Use version control to track changes and collaborate with your team and colleagues easily.
  • Documentation and consistency: Ensure that your infrastructure code is well documented and has been written in line with your style guides or other IaC projects – no one wants to pick up messy or undocumented code during a crisis.
  • Keep an eye on the content: Ensure you do not expose passwords, keys, or other sensitive content by checking it into your version control system. A lot of the IaC we have spoken about is designed to be human-readable, and that is the last thing you want for sensitive information.
  • Please keep it simple: Believe me, it is very easy to go down a rabbit hole and create some very complex, and...