Explore infrastructure as code through a simple anecdote

In this blogpost I will explain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in a easy-to-digest way. I hope my explanation is so simple that you will be able to repeat it to a 10 year-old and have them grasp the premise!

Before we start however, I have a separate post on getting started with Terraform. Explaining IaC is a good stepping stone into getting your first project going. So please go give that a read next for a more practical perspective.

What is IaC and why should you care?

I like to simplify concepts, so let’s pretend we are explaining this to a 10-year old. Imagine we are building a structure out of wooden blocks that vary in size. No IaC approach involves grabbing up a handful of blocks and starting to arrange them right off the bat. Nothing wrong with that. You can get exactly where you need to get to. Especially with a smaller project. So you can build a perfectly fine structure without IaC. However!…

Now let’s imagine you want to do some more advanced actions, for example:

• Replicate the structure a 100 times!
• Replicate the structure in a different environment.
• Add/remove large sections of your building.
• Regularly scale it up, or down, as and when you need it.
• Build stuff with a team (easily).
• Manage complexity of a very big project with ease.
• Choose whether your block set is wooden, plastic, or metal. Think using GCP, AWS, or Azure.
• Or even tear the building down quickly without leaving anything behind!

This is what IaC (in context of Terraform) gives us. It is a tool that enables us to efficiently manage our infrastructure. To really drive the point home I have a list of technical points that correspond to the one above.

• Consistency and Reproducibility. Infrastructure deployments are predictable and consistent across different environments, reducing human error.
• Scalability and Agility. Automation enables easy scaling up or down of infrastructure resources and quick replication of environments.
• Version Control and Collaboration. Infrastructure configurations can be treated as code, enabling versioning, change tracking, and seamless collaboration among team members.

Conclusion

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a critical part of the modern development process. It enables collaboration, scalability, replicability and so much more. Not to mention, it also makes for an excellent conversation piece at a party. Puns aside, IaC is a powerful tool that is essential for any aspiring data engineer to know.

Having read around the subject, I was hard-pressed to find any significant drawbacks of the approach. The only one I am willing to give some credit is the “Learning Curve” argument. Where there exists a curve associated with mastering the tools and languages used for IaC, such as CloudFormation or the aforementioned Terraform.

Saying that we are all in business of engineering. With a sink or swim approach to learning embedded in this field, I am confident anyone reading this post is not bothered by learning. So with that positive note I will draw to a close. Remember to read up on Get started with Terraform for a practical view of IaC.

Happy Terraforming!