![\"Backblaze](\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/bb-bh-AvisiApps.jpg\" "\\"Backblaze")
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Recently, we announced<\/a> that Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage published a provider to the Terraform registry to support developers in their infrastructure as code (IaC) efforts. With the Backblaze Terraform provider<\/a>, you can provision and manage B2 Cloud Storage resources directly from a Terraform configuration file.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s post grew from a comment in our GitHub repository from Gert-Jan van de Streek, Co-founder of Avisi, a Netherlands-based software development company. That comment sparked a conversation that turned into a bigger story. We spoke with Gert-Jan to find out how the Avisi team practices IaC processes and uses the Backblaze Terraform provider to increase efficiency, accuracy, and speed through the DevOps lifecycle. We hoped it might be useful for other developers considering IaC for their operations.<\/p>\n What Is Infrastructure as Code?<\/strong><\/p>\n IaC emerged in the late 2000s as a response to the increasing complexity of scaling software developments. Rather than provisioning infrastructure via a provider\u2019s user interface, developers can design, implement, and deploy infrastructure for applications using the same tools and best practices they use to write software.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The team at Avisi<\/a> likes to think about software development as a sport. And their long-term vision is just as big and audacious as an Olympic contender\u2019s\u2014to be the best<\/em> software development company in their country.<\/p>\n Gert-Jan co-founded Avisi in 2000 with two college friends. They specialize in custom project management, process optimization, and ERP software solutions, providing implementation, installation and configuration support, integration and customization, and training and plugin development. They built the company by focusing on security, privacy, and quality, which helped them to take on projects with public utilities, healthcare providers, and organizations like the Dutch Royal Notarial Professional Organization\u2014entities that demand stable, secure, and private production environments.<\/p>\n They bring the same focus to product development, a business line Gert-Jan leads where they create \u201capps that fill gaps.\u201d He coined the tagline to describe the apps they publish on the Atlassian and monday.com marketplaces. \u201cWe know that a lot of stuff is missing from the Atlassian and monday.com tooling because we use it in our everyday life. Our goal in life is to provide that missing functionality\u2014apps to fill gaps,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n With multiple development environments for each application, managing storage becomes a maintenance problem for sophisticated DevOps teams like Avisi\u2019s. For example, let\u2019s say Gert-Jan has 10 apps to deploy. Each app has test, staging, and production environments, and each has to be deployed in three different regions. That\u2019s 90 individual storage configurations, 90 opportunities to make a mistake, and 90 times the labor it takes to provision one bucket.<\/p>\n Infrastructure in Sophisticated DevOps Environments: An Example<\/strong><\/p>\n 10 apps x three environments x three regions = 90 storage configurations<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Following DevOps best practices means Avisi writes reusable code, eliminating much of the manual labor and room for error. \u201cIt was really important for us to have IaC so we\u2019re not clicking around in user interfaces. We need to have stable test, staging, and production environments where we don\u2019t have any surprises,\u201d Gert-Jan explained.<\/p>\n Gert-Jan had already been experimenting with Terraform<\/a>, an open-source IaC tool developed by HashiCorp, when the company decided to move some of their infrastructure from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The Avisi team uses Google apps for business, so the move made configuring access permissions easier.<\/p>\n Of course, Amazon and Google don\u2019t always play nice\u2014CloudFormation, AWS\u2019s proprietary IaC tool, isn\u2019t supported across the platforms. Since Terraform is open-source, it allowed Avisi to implement IaC with GCP and a wide range of third-party integrations like StatusCake, a tool they use for URL monitoring.<\/p>\n Simultaneously, when Avisi moved some of their infrastructure from AWS to GCP, they resolved to stand up an additional public cloud provider to serve as off-site storage as part of a 3-2-1 strategy<\/a> (three copies of data on two different media, with one off-site). Gert-Jan implemented Backblaze B2, citing positive reviews, affordability, and the Backblaze European data center as key decision factors. Many of Avisi\u2019s customers reside in the European Union and are often subject to data residency requirements that stipulate data must remain in specific geographic locations. Backblaze allowed Gert-Jan to achieve a 3-2-1 strategy for customers where data residency in the EU is top of mind.<\/p>\n\nProvisioning Storage for \u201cApps That Fill Gaps\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nTerraform vs. CloudFormation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Backblaze B2 + Terraform<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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