# Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

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Infrastructure as code is the practice of storing the definition of infrastructure as one or more files. 
This replaces the traditional model where infrastructure as a service is provisioned manually, 
usually through shell scripts or other configuration tools.

## Problem it addresses

Building applications in a cloud native way requires infrastructure to be disposable and reproducible. 
It also needs to [scale](https://glossary.cncf.io/scalability/) on-demand in an automated and repeatable way, potentially without human intervention. 
Manual provisioning cannot meet the responsiveness and scale requirements of [cloud native applications](https://glossary.cncf.io/cloud-native-apps/). 
Manual infrastructure changes are not reproducible, quickly run into scale limits, and introduces misconfiguration errors.

## How it helps

By representing the data center resources such as servers, load balancers, and subnets as code, 
it allows infrastructure teams to have a single source of truth for all configurations and 
also allows them to manage their data center in a [CI](https://glossary.cncf.io/continuous-integration/)/[CD](https://glossary.cncf.io/continuous-delivery/) pipeline, 
implementing version control and deployment strategies.

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- Canonical URL: https://glossary.cncf.io/infrastructure-as-code/
- Status: Completed
- Last modified November 30, 2023: ` chore: remove duplicated lines ` ([e57ed31](https://github.com/cncf/glossary/commit/e57ed3109d8084268bac253d77a19e799d83bcf9))
- Source: https://github.com/cncf/glossary/blob/main/content/en/infrastructure-as-code.md
- License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)