Managing all infrastructure as code is a way of ensuring that no configuration drift occurs and that performance is as expected. This is critical when you’re managing applications at scale where the impact of configuration drift is exponential. In this tutorial blog we’ll demonstrate how CockroachDB Dedicated (our DBaaS) can be managed as code via our integration with Terraform. With this integration you are able to integrate your database with the other elements of the software stack you are deploying. And then you can use pipeline tools to deploy your application as a complete stack including the database.

Automation tools like HashiCorp Terraform solve an important problem: they remove the burden of manual processes like the creation of cloud infrastructure or the deployment of applications. Terraform does this by allowing you to define the desired state of your infrastructure or application, and when you run the software, will talk to the relevant APIs of the requested service provider. It will then make the desired changes to deploy or amend the required infrastructure to deliver the desired outcome (this is called Infrastructure as Code (IaC)).