Manual Infrastructure Management vs Infrastructure as Code

Developers should learn this methodology to understand foundational infrastructure concepts, troubleshoot legacy systems, or work in environments where automation is not feasible due to constraints like budget, scale, or regulatory requirements meets developers should learn infrastructure as code to achieve faster, more reliable, and scalable infrastructure deployments, especially in cloud-native and microservices environments. Here's our take.

Manual Infrastructure Management

Nice Pick

Developers should learn this methodology to understand foundational infrastructure concepts, troubleshoot legacy systems, or work in environments where automation is not feasible due to constraints like budget, scale, or regulatory requirements

Pros

• It's useful for small-scale deployments, learning server administration basics, or managing isolated systems where the overhead of automation tools isn't justified, such as in prototyping or personal projects
• Related to: linux-administration, windows-server

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Infrastructure as Code

Developers should learn Infrastructure as Code to achieve faster, more reliable, and scalable infrastructure deployments, especially in cloud-native and microservices environments

Pros

• It is crucial for automating repetitive tasks, ensuring consistency across development, staging, and production environments, and enabling infrastructure to be treated as a disposable resource
• Related to: terraform, ansible

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Manual Infrastructure Management if: You want it's useful for small-scale deployments, learning server administration basics, or managing isolated systems where the overhead of automation tools isn't justified, such as in prototyping or personal projects and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Infrastructure as Code if: You prioritize it is crucial for automating repetitive tasks, ensuring consistency across development, staging, and production environments, and enabling infrastructure to be treated as a disposable resource over what Manual Infrastructure Management offers.

The Bottom Line

Manual Infrastructure Management wins

Developers should learn this methodology to understand foundational infrastructure concepts, troubleshoot legacy systems, or work in environments where automation is not feasible due to constraints like budget, scale, or regulatory requirements