Infrastructure as Code Flashcards

What is Pulumi in the IaC ecosystem?

Answer: An IaC tool that uses general-purpose programming languages (Python, TypeScript, Go) instead of DSL

Pulumi lets you define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages like Python, TypeScript, or Go, enabling loops, conditionals, and abstractions natively.

What is an Ansible 'playbook'?

Answer: A YAML file that defines an ordered set of tasks to execute on managed hosts

An Ansible playbook is a YAML file containing one or more plays that map groups of hosts to roles and tasks to configure or deploy applications.

What does the `terraform destroy` command do?

Answer: Destroys all infrastructure resources managed by the current Terraform state

`terraform destroy` plans and executes the removal of all resources tracked in the state file, effectively tearing down the managed infrastructure.

What is the principle behind GitOps?

Answer: Using Git as the single source of truth for declarative infrastructure and application configuration

GitOps uses Git as the source of truth for both application and infrastructure configuration, where any change to the Git repo triggers automated reconciliation of the live environment.

What is AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit)?

Answer: An IaC framework that lets you define AWS infrastructure using TypeScript, Python, Java, or C#

AWS CDK allows developers to define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages, which then synthesizes into CloudFormation templates under the hood.

What is 'policy as code' in a DevOps context?

Answer: Encoding compliance and security rules as machine-readable code enforced automatically in pipelines

Policy as code tools like OPA (Open Policy Agent) and Sentinel encode governance, security, and compliance rules as code that can be tested and enforced in CI/CD pipelines.