In our latest multi-cloud architecture podcast, Eric Nielsen (@ericnpro) and I (@davidj7494) sat down with Cody Carlson to explore concepts associated with automating the deployment of infrastructure in both the data center and the cloud. As part of that discussion, we also looked at the role that Terraform by HashiCorp and VMware vRealize Automation play in this process.
Cody is Senior Solution Architect working within VMware’s Global Customer Support Organization. Unlike many of our prior guests, who work with customers before they deploy VMware technologies, Cody most often works with customers after they have already deployed a large and complex solution.
Cody’s works with some of these customers to help them address deeply thorny and complicated issues related to the choices they made when they first architected their solution. Once the issues are resolved, Cody then works with the greater VMware community to educate them on the customer’s issues, which in turn helps to improve how VMware builds and supports its products and services.
Infrastructure as code
Without a doubt, Terraform by HashiCorp has emerged as one of the most attractive solutions for automating the deployment of infrastructure stacks across more than one cloud. At the same time, VMware vRealize Automation continues to be the leading solution for teams that have a need to automate and govern the deployment of resources in the data center. With the release of VMware vRealize Automation Cloud, more and more teams are now looking to leverage vRealize Automation for multi-cloud provisioning as well.
Automating the use of infrastructure has evolved from simple concepts of configuration management into something that is often referred to as managing “infrastructure as code” or IaC. IaC is all about dealing with infrastructure with the same rigor app dev teams use when it comes to dealing with application-level code. You make it atomic, you version control it, and you make it immutable.
Both Terraform and vRealize Automation can be great technologies for helping teams master the use of IaC. But are these two solutions purely competitive in nature or is there a scenario where these two, highly used solutions, can work together to provide more value than either one does independently?
Listen to the podcast
On the podcast, Cody first gives us a quick tutorial on both IaC and the reasons why Terraform has become so attractive to teams that have to build and deploy environments across multiple clouds. We then go on to discuss with Cody how teams can use vRealize Automation alongside of Terraform to create a much richer set of capabilities then either product could deliver independent of the other.
Cody was both a great and unusual guest on our podcast series. Given his role, he has a unique perspective on how to architect our solutions to achieve maximum and sustained value. You can listen to the podcast on SoundCloud, YouTube or Spotify. If want to check out other podcast related to multi-cloud architecture and how VMware technologies can help address challenges in this area check out the SoundCloud playlist on this topic.
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