May 1, 2024
Updated June 3, 2025
29 minute read
Infrastructure as Code: Building Tomorrow's IT, Today
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a foundational practice in modern IT, transforming how organizations manage and provision their technology resources. At its core, IaC involves defining and managing infrastructure—such as networks, virtual machines, load balancers, and connection topology—through machine-readable definition files, rather than through physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools. This approach brings the discipline, practices, and tools from software development to infrastructure management. Instead of manual setups, engineers write code to automate the creation, deployment, and updating of infrastructure components, leading to more consistent, reliable, and efficient operations.
Working with Infrastructure as Code can be an engaging and exciting endeavor for several reasons. Firstly, it empowers engineers to build and dismantle entire environments with unprecedented speed and repeatability, fostering a dynamic space for innovation and experimentation. Secondly, the collaborative nature of IaC, often managed through version control systems, means that teams can work together seamlessly on infrastructure design and evolution, much like software development teams collaborate on application code. Finally, as organizations increasingly migrate to the cloud and adopt DevOps practices, IaC skills are becoming highly sought after, offering a rewarding career path at the forefront of technological advancement.
Introduction to Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
This section provides a foundational understanding of Infrastructure as Code, exploring its definition, historical context, and its pivotal role in contemporary IT practices like DevOps and cloud computing.
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Find a path to becoming a Infrastructure as Code. Learn more at:
OpenCourser.com/topic/v3xfw5/infrastructure
Reading list
We've selected 26 books
that we think will supplement your
learning. Use these to
develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a
deeper understanding of the topics covered in
Infrastructure as Code.
The most recent edition, this book offers contemporary insights into IaC, focusing on emerging patterns and a more componentized approach. It reflects the shift towards cloud-native application runtimes like containers and serverless. This must-read for professionals and graduate students looking for the latest thinking and practices in IaC.
Provides a foundational understanding of Infrastructure as Code principles and practices. It's an excellent starting point for anyone new to the concept, explaining the 'why' and 'how' behind managing infrastructure through code. It covers various tools and techniques, making it valuable for beginners and those seeking a broad overview.
Practical guide to using Terraform, a widely adopted IaC tool. It's excellent for gaining a deeper understanding of how to implement IaC using a specific technology. It covers writing, testing, and managing infrastructure code with Terraform, making it highly relevant for the courses listed.
Focuses on effective patterns and practices for implementing IaC, which is crucial for building scalable and maintainable infrastructure codebases. It goes beyond basic tool usage and delves into architectural considerations and team collaboration.
A practical, action-oriented guide to using Terraform for IaC. provides hands-on examples and covers various aspects of using Terraform for provisioning and managing infrastructure. It's particularly useful for those who want to learn by doing.
Offers practical guidance on using Terraform across multiple major cloud providers. It's valuable for those who need to work in a multi-cloud environment and want to deepen their Terraform skills.
Explores the infrastructure patterns and practices for cloud-native applications. It aligns closely with the modern use cases of IaC, particularly in containerized and dynamic environments. It's a good resource for understanding how IaC fits into a cloud-native strategy.
Focused on Ansible, another popular IaC and configuration management tool, this book provides hands-on guidance for automating infrastructure. It's valuable for understanding a different approach to IaC compared to Terraform and is highly relevant given the course topics. It's a practical guide for implementing automation.
Focused specifically on AWS, this book delves into automating infrastructure on the AWS platform using IaC tools like CloudFormation and CDK. It's a great resource for those specializing in AWS environments.
Offers insights into how Google manages its large-scale systems, with a strong emphasis on automation and reliability, which are core to IaC. It provides valuable context on the operational aspects and benefits of implementing IaC effectively. It's an important reference for understanding the impact of IaC on system stability and scalability.
Given the prevalence of Kubernetes and Docker in modern infrastructure, this book is highly relevant. It covers containerization and orchestration, which are often managed using IaC tools. It helps in understanding the environment where IaC is applied for containerized workloads.
A companion to the 'Site Reliability Engineering' book, this workbook provides practical exercises and guidance for implementing SRE principles, many of which involve IaC and automation. It's a valuable resource for applying IaC in a site reliability context.
While not solely focused on IaC, this book foundational text for understanding the broader DevOps culture and practices that heavily rely on IaC. It provides essential context for why IaC is crucial in modern software delivery. It's a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the environment in which IaC thrives.
This guide offers a broad overview of IaC management, including immutable infrastructure and various tools and approaches. It's a solid resource for gaining a comprehensive understanding of the different facets of IaC.
This cookbook provides practical, recipe-based examples for using Terraform to solve common infrastructure automation tasks. It's a useful reference for quick solutions and learning specific Terraform implementations.
Another cookbook-style resource, this book offers practical examples for resolving common IaC issues using various tools and platforms. It's a good supplementary read for gaining hands-on problem-solving skills in IaC.
Presented as a novel, this book illustrates the principles of DevOps, including the importance of automation and flow, which are directly related to IaC. It's a highly engaging read that provides a valuable understanding of the cultural shift enabled by IaC and DevOps.
Provides a deep dive into Docker and Kubernetes, essential technologies managed by IaC in modern deployments. Understanding these technologies is crucial for effective IaC in containerized environments.
Is crucial for understanding the architectural style that often goes hand-in-hand with IaC. Microservices rely heavily on automated infrastructure provisioning and management. Reading this book provides valuable context for designing systems that are well-suited for an IaC approach.
Provides a detailed overview of the principles and practices of scalable web architecture. While it does not focus specifically on IaC, it valuable resource for anyone looking to develop scalable and reliable web applications.
Classic guide to continuous delivery. It covers everything from the basics of CI/CD to more advanced topics such as testing and deployment. While it does not focus specifically on IaC, it valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their software delivery process.
Provides a comprehensive overview of cloud computing. It covers everything from the basics of cloud computing to more advanced topics such as cloud architecture and cloud security. While it does not focus specifically on IaC, it valuable resource for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of the cloud computing landscape.
While not strictly an IaC book, this text provides foundational knowledge on building reliable, scalable, and maintainable systems, which are key goals enabled by IaC. It offers crucial context for understanding the impact of IaC on system design.
For more information about how these books relate to this course, visit:
OpenCourser.com/topic/v3xfw5/infrastructure
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