Infrastructure as Code

Infrastructure as Code is the practice of managing and provisioning infrastructure through machine-readable definition files, rather than through manual processes.
IaC brings repeatability, auditability, and scalability to infrastructure management, and is essential for modern DevOps and cloud-native operations.

Level 1 – Initial (Ad Hoc)

Infrastructure is managed manually via scripts, UIs, or CLI tools.
There is little to no version control, documentation, or standardisation.

  • Provisioning is inconsistent and error-prone
  • Infrastructure changes are made directly in live environments
  • No repeatability or history of changes
  • Environments drift over time, leading to unreliable deployments
  • Recovery from failure is slow and unpredictable

Level 2 – Managed (Emerging Practice)

Some teams begin managing infrastructure using scripts or templating tools, but adoption is fragmented.

  • Shell scripts or cloud provider templates are used sporadically
  • Infrastructure artefacts may or may not be version controlled
  • Naming conventions, tagging, and environments are not standardised
  • Some repeatability exists, but fragile and undocumented
  • Infrastructure provisioning may still require manual intervention

Level 3 – Defined (Standardised)

IaC is adopted across teams using declarative tools (e.g. Terraform, Bicep, Pulumi, CloudFormation).
Environments are reproducible, traceable, and consistent.

  • All infrastructure definitions are version-controlled and peer-reviewed
  • Environments can be reliably rebuilt from code
  • Standard modules and reusable templates are developed and maintained
  • IaC is integrated into CI/CD workflows for consistent provisioning
  • Developers and platform teams collaborate on infra-as-code patterns

Level 4 – Quantitatively Managed (Measured & Controlled)

IaC is governed with metrics, policies, and observability.
Infrastructure delivery becomes predictable, fast, and secure.

  • Drift detection and change tracking are automated
  • Metrics track provisioning time, change failure rate, reusability, and cost efficiency
  • Policy-as-code tools (e.g. Open Policy Agent) enforce compliance automatically
  • Reusable modules follow versioning and semantic release principles
  • Teams monitor usage patterns and optimise environments proactively

Level 5 – Optimising (Continuous Improvement)

IaC is a foundation for scalable, resilient, and self-healing infrastructure.
It continuously evolves to support business agility and platform engineering excellence.

  • IaC supports ephemeral environments, dynamic scaling, and autonomous recovery
  • Feedback from production drives infrastructure evolution (e.g. autoscaling tuned via usage patterns)
  • Teams experiment with advanced provisioning patterns (e.g. GitOps, declarative pipelines)
  • IaC practices are democratised across teams via platforms and self-service portals
  • Infrastructure contributes to innovation and product velocity, not just operations