<s>
Infrastructure	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
code	I-Architecture
(	O
IaC	B-Architecture
)	O
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
managing	O
and	O
provisioning	O
computer	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
through	O
machine-readable	O
definition	O
files	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
physical	O
hardware	O
configuration	O
or	O
interactive	O
configuration	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IT	B-Application
infrastructure	I-Application
managed	O
by	O
this	O
process	O
comprises	O
both	O
physical	O
equipment	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
bare-metal	B-General_Concept
servers	I-General_Concept
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
,	O
and	O
associated	O
configuration	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
definitions	O
may	O
be	O
in	O
a	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
system	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
code	O
in	O
the	O
definition	O
files	O
may	O
use	O
either	O
scripts	O
or	O
declarative	B-Language
definitions	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
maintaining	O
the	O
code	O
through	O
manual	O
processes	O
,	O
but	O
IaC	B-Architecture
more	O
often	O
employs	O
declarative	B-Language
approaches	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IaC	B-Architecture
grew	O
as	O
a	O
response	O
to	O
the	O
difficulty	O
posed	O
by	O
utility	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
and	O
second-generation	O
web	O
frameworks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2006	O
,	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
Amazon	O
Web	O
Services’	O
Elastic	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Cloud	I-General_Concept
and	O
the	O
1.0	O
version	O
of	O
Ruby	B-Application
on	I-Application
Rails	I-Application
just	O
months	O
before	O
created	O
widespread	O
scaling	O
problems	O
in	O
the	O
enterprise	O
that	O
were	O
previously	O
experienced	O
only	O
at	O
large	O
,	O
multi-national	O
companies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
new	O
tools	O
emerging	O
to	O
handle	O
this	O
ever-growing	O
field	O
,	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
IaC	B-Architecture
was	O
born	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
thought	O
of	O
modeling	O
infrastructure	O
with	O
code	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
having	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
design	O
,	O
implement	O
,	O
and	O
deploy	O
application	O
infrastructure	O
with	O
known	O
software	O
best	O
practices	O
appealed	O
to	O
both	O
software	O
developers	O
and	O
IT	B-Application
infrastructure	I-Application
administrators	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ability	O
to	O
treat	O
infrastructure	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
code	I-Architecture
and	O
use	O
the	O
same	O
tools	O
as	O
any	O
other	O
software	O
project	O
would	O
allow	O
developers	O
to	O
rapidly	O
deploy	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
value	O
of	O
IaC	B-Architecture
can	O
be	O
broken	O
down	O
into	O
three	O
measurable	O
categories	O
:	O
cost	O
,	O
speed	O
,	O
and	O
risk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
generally	O
two	O
approaches	O
to	O
IaC	B-Architecture
:	O
declarative	B-Language
(	O
functional	O
)	O
vs.	O
imperative	B-Application
(	O
procedural	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
difference	O
between	O
the	O
declarative	B-Language
and	O
the	O
imperative	B-Application
approach	O
is	O
essentially	O
'	O
what	O
 '	O
versus	O
'	O
how	O
 '	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
declarative	B-Language
approach	O
focuses	O
on	O
what	O
the	O
eventual	O
target	O
configuration	O
should	O
be	O
;	O
the	O
imperative	B-Application
focuses	O
on	O
how	O
the	O
infrastructure	O
is	O
to	O
be	O
changed	O
to	O
meet	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
declarative	B-Language
approach	O
defines	O
the	O
desired	O
state	O
and	O
the	O
system	O
executes	O
what	O
needs	O
to	O
happen	O
to	O
achieve	O
that	O
desired	O
state	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Imperative	B-Application
defines	O
specific	O
commands	O
that	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
executed	O
in	O
the	O
appropriate	O
order	O
to	O
end	O
with	O
the	O
desired	O
conclusion	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
two	O
methods	O
of	O
IaC	B-Architecture
:	O
push	B-General_Concept
and	O
pull	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
push	B-General_Concept
method	O
,	O
the	O
controlling	O
server	B-General_Concept
pushes	I-General_Concept
the	O
configuration	O
to	O
the	O
destination	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
many	O
tools	O
that	O
fulfill	O
infrastructure	O
automation	O
capabilities	O
and	O
use	O
IaC	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Broadly	O
speaking	O
,	O
any	O
framework	O
or	O
tool	O
that	O
performs	O
changes	O
or	O
configures	O
infrastructure	O
declaratively	O
or	O
imperatively	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
programmatic	O
approach	O
can	O
be	O
considered	O
IaC	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditionally	O
,	O
server	O
(	O
lifecycle	O
)	O
automation	O
and	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
tools	O
were	O
used	O
to	O
accomplish	O
IaC	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Now	O
enterprises	O
are	O
also	O
using	O
continuous	O
configuration	O
automation	O
tools	O
or	O
stand-alone	O
IaC	B-Architecture
frameworks	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	O
’s	O
PowerShell	B-Application
DSC	O
or	O
AWS	B-Application
CloudFormation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
continuous	O
configuration	O
automation	O
(	O
CCA	O
)	O
tools	O
can	O
be	O
thought	O
of	O
as	O
an	O
extension	O
of	O
traditional	O
IaC	B-Architecture
frameworks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
leverage	O
IaC	B-Architecture
to	O
change	O
,	O
configure	O
,	O
and	O
automate	O
infrastructure	O
,	O
and	O
they	O
also	O
provide	O
visibility	O
,	O
efficiency	O
and	O
flexibility	O
in	O
how	O
infrastructure	O
is	O
managed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Established	O
vendors	O
such	O
as	O
Puppet	B-Application
and	O
Chef	B-Application
have	O
created	O
their	O
own	O
communities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Chef	B-Application
has	O
Chef	B-Application
Community	I-Application
Repository	I-Application
and	O
Puppet	B-Application
has	O
PuppetForge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
vendors	O
rely	O
on	O
adjacent	O
communities	O
and	O
leverage	O
other	O
IaC	B-Architecture
frameworks	O
such	O
as	O
PowerShell	B-Application
DSC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
field	O
continues	O
to	O
develop	O
and	O
change	O
,	O
the	O
community-based	O
content	O
will	O
become	O
ever	O
more	O
important	O
to	O
how	O
IaC	B-Architecture
tools	O
are	O
used	O
,	O
unless	O
they	O
are	O
model-driven	O
and	O
object-oriented	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
tools	O
include	O
AWS	B-Application
CloudFormation	O
,	O
cdist	B-Application
,	O
StackStorm	B-Application
,	O
Juju	B-Language
and	O
Step	O
CI	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IaC	B-Architecture
can	O
be	O
a	O
key	O
attribute	O
of	O
enabling	O
best	O
practices	O
in	O
DevOps	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tools	O
that	O
utilize	O
IaC	B-Architecture
bring	O
visibility	O
to	O
the	O
state	O
and	O
configuration	O
of	O
servers	O
and	O
ultimately	O
provide	O
the	O
visibility	O
to	O
users	O
within	O
the	O
enterprise	O
,	O
aiming	O
to	O
bring	O
teams	O
together	O
to	O
maximize	O
their	O
efforts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IaC	B-Architecture
is	O
intended	O
to	O
reduce	O
the	O
complexity	O
that	O
kills	O
efficiency	O
out	O
of	O
manual	O
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
2020	O
Cloud	O
Threat	O
Report	O
released	O
by	O
Unit	O
42	O
(	O
the	O
threat	O
intelligence	O
unit	O
of	O
cybersecurity	O
provider	O
Palo	O
Alto	O
Networks	O
)	O
identified	O
around	O
200,000	O
potential	O
vulnerabilities	O
in	O
infrastructure	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
code	I-Architecture
templates	O
.	O
</s>
