Continuous implementation through standardized and compliant infrastructure as code

Abstract

With cloud computing becoming the new norm and organizations embracing cloud services benefits, the infrastructure provisioning methods of the old are quickly becoming obsolete. Infrastructure as Code concept introduced as an answer for this with provisioning infrastructure in an automated manner, with specifications defined on a machine-readable code. IaC made dynamic provisioning and modification on cloud resources possible, enabling organizations to utilize the full benefits of the cloud. However, IaC without proper standardization and compliance could result in disastrous outcomes. In order to achieve this, the industry looked into the Software Engineering practices, due to IaC’s similarities to coding. Though it may look similar, this proved to be less effective. Therefore, testing, compliance, and standardization methods, specifically tailored for IaC are required. A standardized and compliant IaC will make way to implement Continuous Implementation. Immutable infrastructure is a major roadblock that can inhibit harnessing the benefits of cloud ecosystems. Though many organizations use Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployments (CD) for code deployments, the infrastructure & configurations mostly remain unchanged. However, infrastructure should follow the same principle of frequent updates, to get the best out of ever-changing cloud infrastructure. This research focuses on introducing the concept of Continuous Implementation. Continuous Implementation pipelines will be evaluated with the traditional and currently widely-used infrastructure provisioning methods. A standardized IaC framework will be used to support fully automated infrastructure provisioning, modification, and configuration management, on imposing the organizational and security policies. Through the results obtained, a study was conducted on determining the importance of Continuous Implementation for cloud-based infrastructure.