Automating Infrastructure as Code

Posted on by Jane Doe

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has transformed the way we provision, manage, and scale environments. In this post, we’ll explore how to automate infrastructure using popular tools like Terraform, Ansible, and GitHub Actions.

Why Automate?

Automation reduces manual errors, ensures consistency across deployments, and speeds up delivery cycles. Below are the key benefits:

Getting Started with Terraform

Terraform lets you define cloud resources in declarative HCL files. Here’s a minimal example to launch an AWS EC2 instance:


provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"

  tags = {
    Name = "WebServer"
  }
}

Run terraform init, terraform plan, then terraform apply to provision.

Configuration Management with Ansible

Ansible complements Terraform by handling post‑provisioning configuration. Example playbook to install Nginx:


- hosts: webservers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Install Nginx
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present
    - name: Start Nginx
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: true

Execute with ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml site.yml.

CI/CD Pipeline with GitHub Actions

Automate your IaC workflow using a GitHub Actions pipeline:


name: IaC Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  terraform:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Setup Terraform
        uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v2
        with:
          terraform_version: 1.6.0
      - name: Terraform Init & Apply
        run: |
          terraform init
          terraform apply -auto-approve

This pipeline runs on every push to main, ensuring your infrastructure stays in sync with code.

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