What is DevOps, and how does Infrastructure as Code support it?

DevOps is a culture and set of methods for close collaboration between development and IT operations. IaC gives both sides one shared, reviewable description of the systems.

DevOps combines Dev (software development) and Ops (system administration and operations), and also involves quality assurance and users. Through shared processes and tools, they should work together more effectively than in the old model where developers "throw code over the wall" to operations.

IaC is a foundation for this because:

• Developers can write the configuration they need in the automation language.
• Operators can review those changes and give feedback before anything is applied.
• The same code then makes sure, reproducibly, that the systems are in the state the developers expect.

So instead of a ticket saying "please install X and set Y", there is a code change both teams can read, discuss and test.

Go deeper:

• Understanding DevOps (Red Hat) — the culture, automation and feedback loops behind DevOps.
• What is DevOps? (IBM Technology) — lightboard walk-through of the dev/ops collaboration model.
• DevOps (Wikipedia) — history, definitions and related practices.