Mastering cloud infrastructure as code and automation

This blog post was authored by Hunter Dubel - Senior Consultant, Enterprise Cloud on Protiviti's technology insights blog.

In the rapidly changing landscape of modern business, the role of the cloud has become pivotal in achieving success. However, it’s no secret that companies face an array of cloud-related challenges daily. These challenges, whether acknowledged or not, can significantly impact future revenues and overall technical debt. From the necessity of infrastructure automation to the realms of scalability, high availability and disaster recovery, these aren’t just industry terms – they are crucial factors in establishing a strong foothold in a competitive cloud environment.

At the core of every thriving company lies a well-thought-out plan – a blueprint for achieving greatness. This principle extends to cloud architecture and infrastructure as well. Ignoring essential guidelines and leading practices in this area can cause an increase in time and financial costs associated with deployment and infrastructure upkeep. In today’s landscape, major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), offer their own versions of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and policy management services. Failing to fully utilise these resources creates unnecessary barriers, hindering future success and ultimately delaying the inevitable consequences.

Think of a puzzle, each piece representing a different challenge that businesses face today. These challenges span a spectrum and have the potential to hinder growth or spark innovation. Four pieces – infrastructure automation, scalability, high availability and disaster recovery – stand out as key concerns in the cloud arena. While they might sound like abstract concepts, they have the power to reshape not only the technology framework but also the overall business strategy.

Topics

Cloud

Infrastructure automation

Infrastructure automation stands as a core challenge in this landscape. As a business’s cloud presence expands, so does the complexity of managing its infrastructure. This is where IaC steps in, acting as a guiding light for future development, global expansion and a uniform user experience. Today, various options are available, from native tools like AWS CloudFormation and Azure Resource Manager to third-party solutions such as Ansible and Terraform. While this might sound overwhelming, embracing IaC can yield substantial benefits.

Leaders must consider the significant transformation that can occur when months of development work are condensed into a matter of hours. This shift is made possible through the adoption of IaC. Tools like Terraform replace the complex manual steps involved in cloud deployments with streamlined, automated processes. The results are enhanced efficiency, smoother deployments and the elimination of bottlenecks within the architecture.

Scalability

Terraform, a standout tool in the IaC toolbox, introduces a universal language called HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). This common language bridges the gaps between different environments, allowing for code-driven deployment that transcends the boundaries of AWS, Azure and the various other individual cloud providers. Terraform allows users to extend their reach while maintaining a consistent coding language, enabling them to tap into multi-cloud capabilities. This strategic shift opens doors to future expansions that align with the evolving needs of clients.

Moreover, integrating IaC and a common language across all cloud and infrastructure engineers fosters seamless scalability, heightened availability and an effective disaster recovery strategy. Scalability becomes a matter of defining a few Terraform resources, with autoscaling rules implemented across all deployed cloud environments. Through automation defined rules, monitoring resources becomes a breeze and additional servers can be allocated during peak traffic periods, ensuring optimal performance and a seamless user experience.

High availability

In addition to scalability, IaC also supports the implementation of high availability – the ability to maintain operations even when components fail. Achieving high availability becomes attainable through IaC by enabling redundancy definition, failover mechanisms and load balancing within the infrastructure code. When a server or service encounters an issue, IaC ensures that a backup instance is automatically spun up to maintain uninterrupted service. This proactive approach minimises disruptions, safeguards user experience and protects a brand’s reputation.

Disaster recovery

The point where scalability and high availability intersect serves as a solid foundation for an effective disaster recovery solution. Disasters, whether natural or technological, are inevitable. How a business responds to these challenges speaks to its resilience. Here, IaC emerges as a powerful tool for crafting precise disaster recovery strategies. By embedding recovery processes or standby measures into the infrastructure code, the process of restoring operations after a disruption is streamlined. Whether it’s deploying backup instances, restoring data or reconfiguring networking to redirect to appropriate applications or databases, IaC ensures swift and accurate recovery. This minimises downtime, mitigates financial losses and reinforces consumer trust by showcasing the business’s ability to navigate challenges with minimal impact.

Within the realm of challenges lies the arena of transformation. Infrastructure automation transcends trends to emerge as a practical path forward. As the cloud landscape continues to evolve and businesses adapt, the importance of these challenges becomes increasingly evident. In a competitive environment, those who harness the power of IaC, scalability, high availability and disaster recovery are poised to emerge as leaders.

Read the results of our 2023 Global IT Executive Survey: The Innovation vs. Technical Debt Tug of War.

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