Modern companies are increasingly using VDS services. Cloud technologies allow the use of remote virtual servers. For example, to operate your own website, local network, store and process data, and provide various online services, you use the capacities of a provider that provides vps hosting. However, renting a VPS requires competent configuration and management of the system. For this purpose, the Infrastructure as Code approach is used. This is the management of the remote server infrastructure using program code – various scripts or configuration files, rather than manual command entry or working with a graphical interface. The use of IaC allows you to simplify many processes, and renting a virtual server becomes more profitable for the user. Let’s take a look at how IaC works and why you should implement this automation approach.
What is ‘Infrastructure as Code’
In simple terms, IaC allows you to determine the desired state of the system and its settings not manually, but with the help of a specially developed code. VDS hosting allows you to use such a customization technology.
One approach to IaC is declarative. In this approach, you describe the desired state of the infrastructure. For example, you specify that you need to have two virtual machines on the network with certain access rules, but not the specific steps to achieve this state. With the help of special tools, you can create the necessary code to achieve this goal and organize the settings for VDS hosting. This approach is the most common.
There is also an imperative approach. It has clearly defined steps and a sequence of actions that are required for a specific purpose. For example, this approach specifies every single step in setting up a virtual server.
Advantages of using IaC on a VPS
Using IaC on a VPS has many advantages. First of all, it reduces the risks of errors during the deployment and configuration of the system itself. You can install various operating systems, software, set up databases, etc. on a VDS server. If you do this manually, there are risks of errors and misconfiguration. At best, these errors will be detected immediately. At worst, they will have to be corrected when the VDS server is fully operational. Renting a VPS costs money, so companies are interested in making all the settings as quickly as possible and fully utilizing the VDS server.
With IaC, the entire infrastructure configuration is described in the form of code in a special file. This allows you to create universal scripts for different types of systems. This standardization helps to configure virtual servers as accurately as possible and eliminates system administrator errors. In addition, the use of program code significantly speeds up the system configuration process.
Before a script is used, it is checked by testing. This helps to correct possible errors and optimize the process – make it more accurate and faster, add or remove certain settings.
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IaC tools for VPS
Various specialized tools are used to implement IaC. The most popular of them include the following:
These tools provide a means to describe infrastructure in the form of code and automate management processes. They can use different approaches to code implementation – declarative or imperative. The main differences in these tools are in the approach to describing the configuration, the programming language used to write the code, scalability, flexibility, and integration with other systems and services.
You can use these tools to create configuration files in formats such as YAML or JSON, or scripts in Python or Bash.
Implementation of IaC on the example of VPS
Let’s take a look at an example of Ansible code for deploying and configuring a VPS with the Nginx web server installed on the Ubuntu operating system.
name: Deploy web server
hosts: vps
become: yes
tasks:
– name: Update apt package cache
apt:
update_cache: yes
– name: Install Nginx
apt:
name: nginx
state: present
– name: Ensure Nginx service is running and enabled
systemd:
name: nginx
state: started
enabled: yes
Using this code, we set up a connection to the virtual server and perform several tasks – updating the apt cache, installing the Nginx package using the apt package manager, and ensuring that Nginx starts automatically when the system is rebooted. As a result, after executing this configuration file, we get a deployed and configured Nginx web server on the VPS.
Key concepts and practices of IaC:
Configuration files and scripts can be reused for VPS hosting. You can use the same script or configuration file to create and configure multiple VPS servers. It is like a manual that can be used many times. There is no need to create new code every time. For many tasks, the necessary configuration files already exist.
IaC makes infrastructure scaling simple and efficient. You can easily make changes to the infrastructure by adjusting the code. This way, you can improve it, add the necessary changes and features. You can also see all the changes that have been made. For example, this is easy to do with a version control system such as Git. This allows you to revert to previous versions of the IaC if the changes in the code were unsuccessful.
Challenges and limitations of IaC on VPS:
Using IaC greatly simplifies the process of setting up virtual servers, speeds it up, and avoids many problems. However, using this approach has its difficulties. First of all, it can only be done by experienced professionals who have special tools and programming languages. For an ordinary user, it will be quite difficult to create their own configuration files, and they may contain errors and require careful checking and testing before they can be used.
The creation of configuration files and scripts should also take into account the cybersecurity aspect. The code must be protected from new vulnerabilities that security experts regularly find.
In order to avoid these problems, various specialists from programmers and cybersecurity specialists to testers and analysts work on creating the code and implementing IaC. Therefore, this process can take a long time before VPS hosting can use the script.
An example of successful IaC implementation on a VPS
Many different companies use IaC. For example, an IT firm may provide software and website support for various online stores. In order to process orders, create databases, work with the internal accounting system, etc., a virtual machine needs to be created. This is the most profitable solution for a small store, as renting a VDS server does not require significant costs. You do not need to buy your own equipment and set up a server. Moreover, a small online store does not require large capacities. Therefore, you can rent a VPS cheaply from VPS-UP. However, the store owner cannot do this on his own, so he turns to specialists for help.
An IT company can set up an IaC server for such a store and it will not be difficult. However, if such orders come in constantly, it makes sense to use IaC. This will significantly save time for setting up virtual machines. Besides, this approach will make the process more accurate and help to avoid mistakes in the configuration.
Conclusion
So we see that using IaC requires a professional approach and the work of many developers. However, it greatly simplifies the creation of a working environment and virtual server settings. IaC allows you to automate many processes, scale the system, and make the necessary changes. Therefore, this technique is used by many companies and IT professionals to deploy and work with shared hosting.
