Using IaC with Kubernetes helps standardize Kubernetes cluster configuration and manage add-ons
Infrastructure as code (IaC) is the ability to provision and manage infrastructure using a configuration language. It offers repeatability, transparency and the application of modern software development practices to the management of infrastructure including networks, load balancers, virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters and monitoring.
IaC helps to reduce error and configuration drift while allowing engineers to spend time on higher-value tasks. IaC defines what the end state of infrastructure should look like, instead of defining a process to be executed.
So Why Aren’t All Companies Using IaC?
There are three main reasons why companies may not yet be embracing IaC.
Many industries and engineers have not fully embraced or adapted to the paradigm shift of infrastructure APIs and code
A lot of us think about infrastructure as touchable, involving physical installation and cabling. It’s only relatively recently in enterprise IT years that the industry has adopted APIs that allow borrowing and configuring infrastructure on-demand without the physicality. Engineers are good at standing up infrastructure using a time-tested, battle-hardened process. Incremental learning and integrating IaC into processes and culture helps to digest an otherwise daunting and challenging project.
Industries are hard at work adapting security controls and regulations to incorporate the opportunity of cloud and automation without compromising high standards for privacy, safety and security. Engineers using IaC to improve their own efficiency can help champion its use in wider circles. One such example of this success is the 18F office which helps improve how the government serves the public through technology.
IaC may feel like a loss of security or control
Increasing the awareness of how and why infrastructure is configured can invite questions or feedback that initially may feel uncomfortable to those who have made infrastructure decisions. The ease with which others can make changes to infrastructure may feel dangerous or devaluing to engineers who have always pushed those buttons.
IaC provides an opportunity for improving single human points of failure and knowledge bottlenecks without jeopardizing necessary controls. Access to infrastructure code and IaC tools can still match organizational structure, culture and approval processes. Infrastructure engineers remain integral to its evolution and success, and they are more available to tackle next-level problem-solving.
‘We move too quickly to take the time to ramp up with IaC, and we’re fast at clicking in user interfaces’
The repeatability achieved by IaC means artisanally created infrastructure does not need to be kept around because it may be needed next month and parallel infrastructure can be created for testing and destroyed tomorrow. Start using IaC for something small such as spinning up that occasional temporary VM, then create a limited-access service account that someone else can use along with your IaC when they need that VM. Your IaC efficiency will grow with your organization’s body of IaC knowledge and code.
Kubernetes and IaC
Using IaC with Kubernetes helps standardize Kubernetes cluster configuration and manage add-ons. Infrastructure now can be versioned and committed to a Git repository, and it can more easily be “stood up” elsewhere when the company needs to expand to new regions or clouds. IaC benefits are vast and include:
- Reduced human error and increased predictability: Create new test environments without impacting production and make changes across multiple environments using code review processes. Focus and attention to detail are less impacted by repetitive manual work.
- Consistency: The repeatability of IaC with Kubernetes allows for the rapid creation of consistent infrastructure. This frees up time to address other challenges.
- Improved changed tracking and auditability: When infrastructure is represented in a versioned repository such as Git, commits to the Git repository can reflect who, when and why changes were made. The code provides a record of how environments were built and evolved.
- Faster speed to recovery: The reliability of an application is impacted by the ability to pivot and the speed to redeploy. Infrastructure as code can help you know what the recovery process looks like and practice that process more often.
Start Using IaC and Kubernetes
As a company moves into the world of containers, cloud-native apps and Kubernetes, IaC will help teams improve application reliability and stability, streamline development and operations and support a better user experience.
In a Kubernetes environment, reliability becomes much easier to achieve with IaC because teams are deploying standard configurations. DevOps teams can use IaC to embrace the ephemeral nature of containers and Kubernetes pods, as well as avoid single points of failure.
