What is Immutable Infrastructure?

Q: What's the difference between mutable and immutable infrastructure?

The differences between the two concepts are as follows: Mutable Infrastructure: Update and modify your existing servers rather than creating new ones. This is the traditional approach in SaaS. Immutable Infrastructure: Replace servers with newer ones when you need to make changes. This is cloud-native and a newer approach among SaaS apps.

Q: What are the best practices for immutable infrastructure?

Practices to implement include: Automation: Use infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and similar tools to automate your infrastructure provisioning/management. Version Control Everything: Version all of your aspects for rollbacks/traceability, including dependencies and configurations. Enable robust logging and monitoring: You can identify potential issues during or after new deployments. Start Small, Iterate: Use immutable infrastructure on non-essential elements before utilizing it on others when you know what to do.

Cloud-Native Development

Learn about immutable infrastructure in the cloud: Discover how it works, why it's important for modern applications, key benefits and best practices, and its place in the cloud-native world.

What is Immutable Infrastructure in the Cloud?

An immutable infrastructure is when you create a server and then do not modify it directly. You have to replace the old version with a new one if you have to make adjustments, and it should eliminate “configuration drift” (i.e. inconsistencies that creep into systems over time).

After implementing an immutable infrastructure, your cloud environment should be predictable and reliable.

What's the difference between mutable and immutable infrastructure?

The differences between the two concepts are as follows:

Mutable Infrastructure: Update and modify your existing servers rather than creating new ones. This is the traditional approach in SaaS.
Immutable Infrastructure: Replace servers with newer ones when you need to make changes. This is cloud-native and a newer approach among SaaS apps.

What are the benefits of using immutable infrastructure?

Companies use immutable infrastructures for the following reasons:

Deployment and configuration: These should be consistent, and drift should be avoided to ensure stability.
Risk Mitigation: Minimize the impact of unforeseen challenges by having the option to revert to earlier versions and reduce the likelihood of encountering deployment problems.
Scalability considerations: Explore scaling your app by adding new and identical server instances.
Use automation: Identify frameworks that can be automated to limit deployment times.

What are the best practices for immutable infrastructure?

Practices to implement include:

Automation: Use infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and similar tools to automate your infrastructure provisioning/management.
Version Control Everything: Version all of your aspects for rollbacks/traceability, including dependencies and configurations.
Enable robust logging and monitoring: You can identify potential issues during or after new deployments.
Start Small, Iterate: Use immutable infrastructure on non-essential elements before utilizing it on others when you know what to do.

How does immutable infrastructure fit into the cloud-native landscape?

Immutable infrastructure is used alongside DevOps, Kubernetes, and other technologies/teams.

Kubernetes: Deployment simplification and managing containerized apps, allowing for immutable infrastructure adoption.
DevOps: Align continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) with immutable infrastructure practices for software delivery.

Immutable infrastructure requires shifting tooling and mindsets, but you may get reliability/scalability.

Tip

Use immutable infrastructure in your cloud environment. Deploy new and updated servers instead of changing the existing ones if you need to make adjustments.

Conclusion

You should strongly consider immutable infrastructure in your cloud-native development. While there’s a chance that adopting those changes might improve the program’s reliability, it’s worth noting that the impact on scalability remains to be seen. Although it might take time to adapt to the new mindset/tooling, it may lead to positive outcomes in the long run – as long as you’re willing to adapt and start slowly.

Key takeaways

Server Fixed in Stone: Cloud servers cannot be modified after initial setup, reducing variability. Deploy a new one if you need to make changes.

Predictability & Scalability: Immutable infrastructures are something to consider if you need flexibility with your scaling.

Embrace Automation & Version Control: Infrastructure-as-code, diligent version control, and similar tools are necessary with immutable infrastructure implementation. These provide functionality for rolling back changes and deployment management.