Strategy for Migrating to Infrastructure as Code

There are several existing resources that document strategies for migrating infrastructure to code. This post is about my experiences based on the reality, the challenges and best practices.

The Setting

You’re in charge of the infrastructure that the entire organization relies upon. Your product is a 24/7 web application, service or destination. The internet property is secure and five nines of uptime is expected. During a meeting with Sr. Leadership, a directive comes down: “We’re moving to the cloud”.