Top 10 Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Tools to Know in 2024

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has become essential in trendy software development and IT operations. When organizations treat infrastructure like code, they can automate setting up, managing, and deploying their IT resources. This makes things more efficient, consistent, and scalable. As we move into 2024, several IaC tools have emerged as industry leaders, offering robust features and seamless integration with various cloud platforms and DevOps workflows. This article will explore the top 10 Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools you should know in 2024.

1. Terraform: Terraform, created by a company called HashiCorp, is a really popular tool used for infrastructure such as code (IaC). It's great because it gives you a way to describe and set up your infrastructure resources using clear, declarative language. Plus, it works not just for one cloud provider but across many different ones, as well as on your own on-premises systems. Terraform boasts compatibility with an extensive array of providers, ensuring its adaptability for managing infrastructure across various systems and platforms like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and many others, making it a popular choice among DevOps teams. Terraform's state management capabilities and its ability to plan and apply operations make it a powerful tool for managing infrastructure changes.
2. AWS CloudFormation: AWS CloudFormation, part of the AWS Developer Tools suite offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), is a native Infrastructure as Code (IaC) service. It enables users to define and provision AWS resources using JSON or YAML templates. CloudFormation supports a wide range of AWS services, including EC2 instances, VPCs, ELBs, and RDS databases, making it an excellent choice for organizations primarily operating within the AWS ecosystem.
3. Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates Companies that use Microsoft Azure frequently rely on Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates for infrastructure such as code. These templates, written in JSON, describe and set up Azure resources like virtual machines, storage accounts, and networking parts. ARM templates integrate seamlessly with other Azure services and can be managed through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.
4. Ansible: Ansible, an open-source automation tool, is universal for tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, and infrastructure provisioning. While not a dedicated IaC tool, Ansible's playbooks and roles allow users to define and manage infrastructure resources across multiple platforms, including cloud providers, virtualization environments, and bare-metal servers. Ansible's agentless architecture and simple syntax make it a powerful and flexible choice for IaC.
5. Pulumi: Pulumi is a modern tool for managing infrastructure. It stands out because it lets you use familiar programming languages like Python, Go, TypeScript, and .NET to define and handle your infrastructure. This means developers can use their existing skills in these languages to manage infrastructure more effectively. Pulumi helps multiple cloud providers and can be integrated with various CI/CD pipelines.
6. Google Cloud Deployment Manager: ?For those primarily working with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Cloud Deployment Manager is the go-to tool for Infrastructure as Code. It lets you specify and set up GCP resources using clear YAML templates. It allows users to define and deploy GCP resources using declarative YAML templates. Cloud Deployment Manager integrates seamlessly with other GCP services and provides features such as preview mode, automatic rollback, and access control.
7. Chef: Chef is a robust configuration management tool widely popular among Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools. It uses a Ruby-based domain-specific language (DSL) to define and manage infrastructure resources. Chef Infra, the core component of Chef, provides a client-server architecture for managing nodes (servers and VMs) across multiple environments. Chef is known for its scalability, compliance features, and extensive community support.
8. SaltStack: SaltStack is a free tool for managing configurations and infrastructure. It uses straightforward YAML language to describe the resources you need. SaltStack's remote execution engine allows for efficient and parallel execution of tasks across multiple nodes, making it a scalable solution for large-scale infrastructure management. SaltStack supports a wide range of platforms, including cloud providers, virtualization environments, and bare-metal servers.

1. Kubernetes: While not a dedicated Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool itself, Kubernetes Manifests have become a de facto standard for defining and managing containerized applications and their underlying infrastructure resources within Kubernetes environments. Kubernetes Manifests leverage YAML syntax to describe resources like Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, and Persistent Volumes. As Kubernetes adoption continues to grow, familiarity with Kubernetes Manifests will become increasingly important for infrastructure management, effectively functioning as an IaC solution specifically tailored to Kubernetes orchestration.
2. Crossplane: Crossplane is a free tool that expands the capabilities of Kubernetes. It lets you use Kubernetes to control and manage infrastructure resources, whether they're in different cloud services or on your own servers. By leveraging the Kubernetes API and its declarative YAML syntax, Crossplane enables users to define and provision infrastructure resources using the same tools and workflows they use for managing containerized applications. Crossplane supports a growing list of providers and can be integrated with other IaC tools like Terraform and Ansible.

As we move into 2024, the importance of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) will continue to grow, driven by the need for efficient and scalable infrastructure management in the cloud-native era. The Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Tools mentioned above represent some of the most popular and powerful IaC solutions available, each with its own strengths and use cases.

When choosing an IaC tool, organizations should consider their existing technology stack, cloud provider preferences (including leveraging AWS Consulting Services for expert guidance on AWS-specific IaC implementations), team skills, and specific infrastructure requirements.

By adopting IaC practices and leveraging the right tools, organizations can streamline their infrastructure management, reduce errors, and increase overall productivity and agility.