What Is Infrastructure as Code and Why You Should Care

  • Orion Labs Team
  • May 8, 2025
  • 06 Min read

If you’ve ever spent hours manually configuring servers, setting up databases, or trying to recreate a production environment that “worked yesterday,” then Infrastructure as Code (IaC) might just change your life.

Infrastructure as Code is exactly what it sounds like: managing and provisioning your infrastructure through code instead of manual processes. But the implications of this simple concept are profound.

The Old Way: Manual Infrastructure Management

Picture this scenario (maybe you’ve lived it):

  1. Server Setup: SSH into a server, install packages, configure settings
  2. Database Configuration: Manually set up database users, permissions, and schemas
  3. Load Balancer: Click through a web interface to configure routing rules
  4. Monitoring: Set up alerts and dashboards through various admin panels
  5. Documentation: Write down what you did (if you remember)

Now imagine you need to:

  • Set up a staging environment that matches production
  • Scale up during a traffic spike
  • Recover from a server failure
  • Onboard a new team member who needs to understand the setup

Suddenly, that manual approach doesn’t seem so appealing.

Real-World Infrastructure Disasters

The “Works on My Machine” Nightmare: A developer’s local setup works perfectly, but production fails because the server configuration differs. Result: 4 hours of debugging, frustrated users, and lost revenue.

The “Forgotten Configuration” Crisis: A critical server goes down, but the person who set it up left the company. The team spends 8 hours recreating the environment from memory and documentation that’s 6 months out of date.

The “Scaling Panic”: Traffic spikes during a product launch, but manual scaling takes 2 hours. Result: 40% of users see errors, and the team works through the night to fix it.

These scenarios cost companies thousands in lost productivity and revenue—and they’re completely preventable with IaC.

The IaC Way: Infrastructure Defined in Code

With Infrastructure as Code, your entire infrastructure is defined in text files that can be:

  • Version controlled (like your application code)
  • Reviewed before changes are applied
  • Tested in different environments
  • Rolled back if something goes wrong
  • Shared across your team
  • Automated through CI/CD pipelines

“Infrastructure as Code is not just about automation. It’s about bringing software engineering practices to infrastructure management.”

— Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO

IaC in Action: A Simple Example

Let’s say you need to set up a web application with a database. Here’s how it might look with Terraform (one of the most popular IaC tools):

# Define a virtual machine
resource "aws_instance" "web_server" {
  ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1d0"
  instance_type = "t3.micro"
  
  tags = {
    Name = "WebServer"
    Environment = "production"
  }
}

# Define a database
resource "aws_db_instance" "main_database" {
  identifier = "main-db"
  engine     = "postgres"
  engine_version = "13.7"
  instance_class = "db.t3.micro"
  allocated_storage = 20
  
  db_name  = "myapp"
  username = "admin"
  password = var.db_password
}

# Define a load balancer
resource "aws_lb" "main" {
  name               = "main-lb"
  internal           = false
  load_balancer_type = "application"
  subnets            = [aws_subnet.public_a.id, aws_subnet.public_b.id]
}

With this code, you can:

  • Create identical environments with a single command
  • See exactly what resources exist and how they’re configured
  • Track changes over time through Git history
  • Share the setup with your entire team

Benefits for Teams of All Sizes

For Startups and Small Teams

Faster Setup: Spin up new environments in minutes, not hours

terraform apply  # Creates entire infrastructure

Cost Control: Easily tear down development environments when not needed

terraform destroy  # Removes all resources

Documentation: Your infrastructure configuration IS your documentation

Onboarding: New team members can understand and replicate your setup immediately

For Growing Companies

Consistency: Ensure development, staging, and production environments match

Scalability: Easily provision resources as you grow

# Scale from 1 to 10 servers by changing one number
count = var.server_count  # Change from 1 to 10

Compliance: Track all infrastructure changes through code reviews

Disaster Recovery: Rebuild your entire infrastructure from code if needed

For Enterprise Teams

Governance: Enforce standards and policies through code

# Ensure all resources are tagged
resource "aws_instance" "example" {
  # ... other configuration ...
  
  tags = merge(var.common_tags, {
    Name = "example-server"
  })
}

Multi-Environment Management: Manage dozens of environments consistently

Audit Trail: Complete history of who changed what and when

Integration: Seamlessly integrate with existing CI/CD and monitoring tools

Concrete Benefits with Real Numbers

Time Savings:

  • Manual environment setup: 4-8 hours → IaC: 15-30 minutes
  • New team member onboarding: 2-3 days → IaC: 2-3 hours
  • Disaster recovery: 8-24 hours → IaC: 1-2 hours

Cost Savings:

  • Automated environment teardown: $200-500/month in unused resources
  • Reduced configuration errors: 60% fewer production incidents
  • Faster scaling: 90% reduction in response time to traffic spikes

Team Productivity:

  • 40% less time spent on infrastructure maintenance
  • 70% reduction in “works on my machine” issues
  • 3x faster feature deployment cycles

Terraform

  • Market Share: 65% of IaC users
  • Best for: Multi-cloud deployments, complex infrastructure
  • Language: HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language)
  • Learning Curve: 3-4 weeks for basic proficiency
  • Strengths: Mature ecosystem, excellent state management, strong community

AWS CloudFormation

  • Market Share: 25% (AWS users)
  • Best for: AWS-only deployments
  • Language: JSON or YAML
  • Learning Curve: 4-6 weeks
  • Strengths: Native AWS integration, no additional tools needed

Pulumi

  • Market Share: 8% (growing rapidly)
  • Best for: Teams that prefer general-purpose programming languages
  • Language: TypeScript, Python, Go, C#, Java
  • Learning Curve: 2-3 weeks (if you know the language)
  • Strengths: Familiar programming constructs, strong typing, modern approach

Ansible

  • Market Share: 15% (configuration management)
  • Best for: Configuration management and simple provisioning
  • Language: YAML
  • Learning Curve: 1-2 weeks
  • Strengths: Agentless, great for server configuration, simple syntax

GitOps: Infrastructure changes are automatically applied when code is merged to main branch Multi-Cloud: Deploy the same infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP Policy as Code: Enforce security and compliance rules automatically Infrastructure Testing: Validate configurations before applying to production Cost Optimization: Automatically right-size resources and remove unused infrastructure

Getting Started: A Practical Roadmap

Phase 1: Start Small (Week 1-2)

  1. Choose a tool: Start with Terraform or your cloud provider’s native tool
  2. Pick one resource: Begin with something simple like a virtual machine
  3. Version control: Put your IaC files in Git from day one
  4. Document: Add README files explaining what each file does

Success Indicators: Can create/destroy a VM with one command, code is in Git

Phase 2: Expand Coverage (Week 3-4)

  1. Add more resources: Include databases, load balancers, networking
  2. Use variables: Make your code reusable across environments
  3. Implement modules: Create reusable components for common patterns
  4. Add validation: Use tools to check your code before applying

Success Indicators: Can recreate entire environment in under 30 minutes

Phase 3: Automate Everything (Month 2)

  1. CI/CD integration: Automatically apply changes through pipelines
  2. Testing: Validate your infrastructure in staging before production
  3. Monitoring: Track the health of your IaC-managed resources
  4. Backup strategies: Ensure you can recover from failures

Success Indicators: Zero manual infrastructure changes, automated deployments

Quick Wins You Can Achieve This Week

  1. Day 1: Set up a simple VM with Terraform
  2. Day 3: Add a database to your infrastructure
  3. Day 5: Create a staging environment that matches production
  4. Week 2: Automate environment teardown to save costs

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

❌ Not Using Version Control

  • Problem: Changes get lost, no audit trail
  • Warning Signs: Infrastructure changes made directly in cloud console, no change history
  • Solution: Treat IaC like application code—always use Git

❌ Ignoring State Management

  • Problem: Infrastructure gets out of sync with code
  • Warning Signs: “terraform plan” shows unexpected changes, resources created outside of IaC
  • Solution: Use remote state storage and state locking

❌ No Testing Strategy

  • Problem: Broken changes reach production
  • Warning Signs: Production deployments fail regularly, no staging environment
  • Solution: Test in staging environments first

❌ Overly Complex Initial Setup

  • Problem: Team gets overwhelmed and abandons IaC
  • Warning Signs: Team members avoid making infrastructure changes, long setup times
  • Solution: Start simple, add complexity gradually

❌ Not Planning for Secrets

  • Problem: Passwords and API keys end up in code
  • Warning Signs: Credentials in Git history, hardcoded passwords in configuration
  • Solution: Use secret management tools from the start

Measuring Success: Your IaC Readiness Assessment

Score each area 1-5 (1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent)

  1. Environment Consistency: Do dev/staging/prod environments match?
  2. Change Automation: Are infrastructure changes automated?
  3. Documentation: Is infrastructure configuration self-documenting?
  4. Team Knowledge: Can multiple team members manage infrastructure?
  5. Recovery Time: How quickly can you rebuild from scratch?

Scoring Guide:

  • 20-25: IaC champion - you’re leading the way!
  • 15-19: Good progress - focus on automation and testing
  • 10-14: Getting started - prioritize consistency and documentation
  • 5-9: Early stages - start with basic resources and version control

The Bottom Line

Infrastructure as Code isn’t just a DevOps buzzword—it’s a fundamental shift in how we think about infrastructure management. By treating infrastructure like software, we can apply the same practices that have made software development more reliable, scalable, and collaborative.

Whether you’re a startup trying to move fast or an enterprise trying to manage complexity, IaC can help you:

  • Reduce manual errors through automation
  • Increase consistency across environments
  • Improve collaboration through shared, version-controlled configurations
  • Scale more effectively as your infrastructure needs grow

The best time to start with Infrastructure as Code was yesterday. The second-best time is today.

Ready to implement Infrastructure as Code for your team? Our DevOps experts can help you choose the right tools and create a migration strategy that works for your specific needs. Get in touch to discuss your infrastructure challenges.