In the past decade, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has revolutionized cloud provisioning with tools like Terraform and CloudFormation, establishing the foundation for DevOps maturity. However, as cloud systems grow more complex, IaC’s limitations become evident, especially regarding state drift and operational management. To address these challenges, the modern operational stack is evolving into three layers: IaC for provisioning, a Platform/Orchestration layer for structured operations, and AI agents for automating Day 2 tasks. This layered approach facilitates declarative provisioning, operational guardrails, and streamlined workflows, ensuring developers have self-service access while maintaining compliance. The incorporation of AI enhances capabilities, allowing for diagnostics and remediation of incidents. However, AI must operate within a safeguarded framework to prevent risky changes. Organizations embracing this three-layer model will boost operational efficiency, reduce bottlenecks, and foster a safer cloud environment, positioning themselves for the future with enhanced automation and architecture.
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