Challenges with Traditional IT Infrastructure

In this lesson, we explore the evolution of application delivery—from the traditional IT approach to modern cloud computing and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). This discussion begins with an overview of how infrastructure provisioning has historically been handled and the challenges associated with traditional methods.

Traditional Infrastructure Provisioning

Imagine an organization planning to launch a new application. The process kicks off with the business defining the application's requirements. A business analyst gathers these needs, analyzes them, and translates them into high-level technical specifications. These requirements are then handed over to a solution architect who designs the deployment architecture. This design includes infrastructure considerations such as the type, specifications, and quantity of servers required for various roles: front-end web servers, back-end servers, databases, load balancers, etc.

Under the traditional IT model, these servers are hosted in the organization's on-premises data center. If extra hardware is needed, the procurement team orders the equipment from vendors—a process that can take days, weeks, or even months.

Once the hardware arrives, field engineers perform the racking and stacking of equipment. Then, system administrators configure the systems, network administrators manage connectivity, storage teams allocate necessary storage, and backup administrators set up data protection mechanisms. Only after these steps is the infrastructure ready for the application teams to deploy their services.

Key challenges of the traditional deployment model include:

• Long turnaround times: The period from hardware procurement to application deployment can span several weeks or months.
• Limited scalability: Dynamically scaling the infrastructure up or down is challenging.
• High overall costs: Both deployment and ongoing maintenance incur significant expenses.
• Manual processes: Many provisioning tasks—like cabling and equipment configuration—are manual, raising the risk of human error and inconsistencies.
• Underutilization of resources: To handle peak loads, infrastructure is often over-provisioned, leading to resource wastage during off-peak periods.

The Shift to Cloud Computing

Over the past decade, many organizations have transitioned to virtualization and cloud platforms provided by industry leaders such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Migrating to the cloud significantly reduces the time required to spin up infrastructure and deploy applications.

In a cloud environment, you no longer need to manage physical hardware. Instead, cloud providers handle the underlying data center infrastructure and services. This transformation means that a virtual machine can be provisioned in minutes rather than the several months required by traditional methods. Cloud platforms not only lower costs by reducing the need for on-premises management and labor but also offer robust API support to streamline automation.

Built-in auto-scaling and elasticity in cloud infrastructures further minimize resource wastage. However, even with these benefits, manual provisioning through cloud management consoles can still be inefficient in highly elastic and scalable environments. Multiple teams and processes can introduce delays and inconsistencies, primarily when human intervention is required.

The Emergence of Infrastructure as Code

In response to these challenges, organizations began developing scripts and tools to automate infrastructure provisioning. Early solutions included shell scripts and programs written in Python, Ruby, Perl, or PowerShell to interact with cloud APIs, enabling faster and more consistent deployments.

Over time, these practices evolved into what is now known as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) — a modern approach that treats infrastructure provision and management as software. IaC not only accelerates the deployment process but also enhances consistency, reduces the likelihood of human error, and simplifies infrastructure scaling.

Conclusion

The traditional IT model, characterized by manual processes and long lead times, poses several challenges for modern application delivery. The shift to cloud computing has mitigated many of these issues, but manual interventions still remain a bottleneck. Infrastructure as Code offers a robust solution, enabling organizations to automate and streamline infrastructure management in a scalable and efficient manner.

In the next lesson, we will delve deeper into Infrastructure as Code, examining its key components and the benefits it brings to modern infrastructure management.