Provisioning

Provisioning refers to the process of preparing and configuring cloud or data center resources for use. It involves setting up the necessary virtual or physical servers, storage, networks, operating systems, and applications on cloud infrastructure.

When provisioning resources, DevOps engineers use automation tools like Ansible, Terraform, or cloud-specific CLI tools rather than manual processes. For example, an engineer could write a Terraform script to provision 3 virtual machines on AWS, configured with specific CPU, memory, storage, and networking settings. The script would automatically spin up the VMs ready to install software on. Provisioning ensures resources are consistently configured based on codified definitions. It enables infrastructure to be rebuilt quickly and saves engineers time compared to manual installation.

Provisioning may also involve integrating resources with configuration management tools like Chef or Puppet. These tools can install software packages, set configurations, and enforce desired state across provisioned resources. Provisioning and configuration management together enable fast, automated environment setup.