In modern cloud environments, automation and the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach not only accelerate resource deployment but also make it more predictable and reproducible. This section of the documentation will cover the key tools useful for working with cloud infrastructure:
- OpenStack CLI:
Enables management of cloud resources (virtual machines, networks, volumes) directly from the command line. - Cloud-init:
The standard mechanism for initialising virtual machines on first boot, automating OS configuration, package installation and execution of user scripts. - Ignition:
A low-level system configuration tool used in Linux distributions based on CoreOS. - Terraform:
HashiCorp’s declarative engine for describing and managing infrastructure as code, providing change planning, dependency management and repeatable deployments. - Kubernetes (K8s):
A container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It supports declarative configuration, cluster self-healing, and flexible resource management.
We will then explore the capabilities of each tool in detail and present examples of common usage scenarios.