In this post, I’ll be recapping the Infrahub Overview webinar delivered by Pete Crocker, Director – Solution Architecture and Wim Van Deun, Senior Solution Engineer.

Introduction to Infrahub

In the world of infrastructure automation, complexity often leads to frustration. Organizations face challenges in maintaining their automation stacks, leading to tech debt and inefficiencies. Infrahub from OpsMill aims to address these challenges by providing a comprehensive platform that integrates various aspects of infrastructure management into a single, cohesive solution.

Infrahub is an innovative infrastructure automation platform designed to deliver a source of truth with an extendable schema, versioning, and native continuous integration capabilities. It was developed by OpsMill, a company founded by experts who recognized the need for a more reliable and efficient infrastructure automation solution.

The Genesis of Infrahub

About seven years ago, founder Damien Garros began exploring ways to solve the fundamental challenges faced by organizations in developing and maintaining infrastructure automation. He teamed up with Raphael Maunier, who had encountered similar challenges in his previous roles. Together, they built a team of automation experts to create Infrahub, which was released on GitHub in June 2024.

The Current State of Network Automation

According to EMA Research, many organizations investing in automation are not satisfied with their results. Only 20% of surveyed teams expressed happiness with their source of truth, which is crucial for infrastructure automation. The prevalent issue is the creation of a “Frankenstack” of open-source and commercial tools, leading to complexity and fragility.

Challenges in Maintaining Homegrown Automation Stacks

Organizations often start their automation journey with simple goals and quick wins. However, as they scale, they encounter challenges such as:

• Fragmentation of data across different tools and vendors
• Lack of visibility and traceability
• Increased maintenance and update times
• Complex integrations that create tech debt

These challenges make it difficult to maintain a reliable and efficient automation stack, ultimately leading to dissatisfaction among teams.

Infrahub’s Solution

Infrahub addresses the issues faced by organizations by providing a unified platform that combines infrastructure data and GitOps principles. It allows teams to build a reliable and sustainable automation process without the complexity of maintaining a fragmented stack.

Key Features of Infrahub

• Extendable Schema and Data Models: Infrahub allows organizations to define their schema and data models for their infrastructure according to their needs.
• Version Control: Infrahub incorporates git-like concepts such as branching, diff, and merge.
• Transformations: Infrahub can generate artifacts in various formats.
• Continuous Integration Pipeline: The built-in CI pipeline validates changes and streamlines deployment.

Understanding Data Management Challenges

Data management is a critical challenge in many organizations. Infrahub addresses this by providing a central repository for teams to access and manage their infrastructure data.

The Importance of an Extendable Schema and Data Model

Organizations require adaptability in their data management. Infrahub’s extendable schema and model allows teams to start small and evolve.

Version Control: Enhancing Collaboration

Infrahub’s version control features facilitate collaboration among teams. By allowing users to create branches for planned changes, teams can review and merge changes efficiently.

Transformations and CI Pipeline

Transformations play a vital role in Infrahub’s functionality. They allow users to pull relevant data and render it in a structured manner. The CI pipeline ensures all data and templates are validated, improving deployment efficiency.

Integrating with Existing Tools

Infrahub is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing tools and frameworks. It can sync data with sources like ServiceNow CMDB and works with tools like Ansible and Terraform.

Real-World Use Cases

• Unified Source of Truth: Consolidate infrastructure and business data into a single source.
• Scaling Automation Across Teams: Multiple teams automate simultaneously.
• Design-Driven Automation: Create service catalogs for safer and more efficient change requests.

Getting Started with Infrahub

Infrahub is available on GitHub and can be spun up quickly using GitHub Codespaces or Docker/Kubernetes. Extensive documentation and tutorials are available.

Future Developments

OpsMill plans to release a production-ready version of Infrahub and a SaaS offering later this year.

Conclusion

Infrahub is set to revolutionize infrastructure automation with a comprehensive, flexible, and user-friendly platform. It addresses complexity and fragmentation, empowering organizations to streamline operations and enhance collaboration.