IaC stands for Infrastructure as Code. It’s a concept where you define and manage your infrastructure using code files instead of manually provisioning resources through a web interface or command-line tools. This approach offers several benefits like:
- Repeatability: You can easily recreate your infrastructure from scratch or in different environments by simply running the code again.
- Version control: You can track changes to your infrastructure configuration over time, similar to how you would with software code.
- Consistency: IaC ensures all your infrastructure deployments follow the same specifications, reducing errors.
What is Terraform?#
Terraform is a popular open-source tool that implements the IaC concept. It allows you to define your infrastructure resources (like servers, virtual networks, databases) in human-readable configuration files written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Terraform then provisions and manages those resources on various cloud platforms and on-premises infrastructure.
In simpler terms, IaC is the overall philosophy, and Terraform is a specific tool that lets you put IaC into practice.
