Benefits
This section covers some of the benefits of using IaC and EDP to solve common problems with managing or provisioning IT infrastructure resources.
IaC benefits
IaC can help you represent and preserve the state of IT infrastructure resources through version control. This approach solves multiple problems, but the two most important problems are the following:
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Ability to revert to a previous configuration or state if a resource fails – Typically, resources and their configurations are backed up and restored without IaC, but IaC can use a version control system to help you revert (or roll back) one or more versions from a backup timeline. You can also tag deployments so that versions that are unsuccessful due to configuration values can be identified and eventually discarded.
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An accurate representation of resource state – If a resource is successfully created, updated, or involved in a rollback, the template's resources will match the actual resources. This means that you can scan and query the repository to understand a resource's state. Additionally, an IaC approach doesn't require developers to have administrator permissions (for example, in a production environment). If you have an accurate representations of resource states, you can better ensure a tight security posture.
EDP benefits
EDP can help you plan for and solve issues that arise from future events without the need for an engineer (that is, human effort). Instead, you can use event-driven code to respond to potential issues. EDP also offers the following benefits:
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Reduced deployment time – An EDP approach reduces the time it takes to deploy changes because code is invoked immediately after an event.
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Scalable resources – An EDP approach helps you automatically scale modified resources, which would otherwise be done manually.
