Category Archives: Test Environments

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Guide

Govern Infrastructure. Automate Provisioning. Accelerate Delivery.

In an era defined by cloud-first strategies, agile development, and continuous delivery, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has become more than a technical methodology—it’s a foundational principle for modern IT governance and operational efficiency.

This guide explores the key concepts, tools, benefits, and real-world considerations surrounding IaC. We also highlight how IaC ties into broader enterprise practices like environment management, release automation, and governance at scale.

What Is Infrastructure as Code?

Infrastructure as Code is the practice of provisioning and managing IT infrastructure through machine-readable definition files, rather than physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools.

In simple terms: your infrastructure is now code, version-controlled and managed with the same discipline as application software.

Why IaC Matters

Manually configuring infrastructure is error-prone, time-consuming, and non-repeatable. IaC addresses these challenges by enabling:

  • Consistency: Environments are identical across dev, test, and prod.

  • Speed: Infrastructure can be spun up in minutes, not weeks.

  • Auditability: Every change is logged, versioned, and reviewable.

  • Recoverability: Teams can redeploy environments quickly and reliably.

  • Scalability: Automation allows you to manage infrastructure at scale.

Key Benefits for the Enterprise

For enterprises navigating complex digital transformation journeys, IaC offers several strategic advantages:

Benefit Description
Compliance & Governance Codified infrastructure supports auditing, policy enforcement, and traceability.
Cost Control Automated tear-down of unused resources prevents waste and budget overruns.
Reduced Risk Elimination of manual configuration minimizes human error.
Developer Autonomy Self-service environments speed up delivery without sacrificing control.
Multi-Cloud Portability Abstracted templates simplify deployments across AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.

Popular IaC Tools

While the concept of IaC is tool-agnostic, several platforms have emerged as industry leaders:

Tool Type Best for
Terraform Declarative Multi-cloud and modular enterprise deployments
AWS CloudFormation Declarative (AWS only) Deep AWS integration and service mapping
Ansible Procedural Agentless provisioning and configuration
Pulumi Imperative (code-native) Developers familiar with TypeScript, Go, etc.
Chef/Puppet Configuration Mgmt Managing config drift post-deployment

The choice of tool depends on the enterprise’s architecture, skillset, compliance requirements, and ecosystem alignment.

IaC and Test Environment Management (TEM)

Where IaC becomes truly powerful is when it’s integrated into Test Environment Management (TEM) platforms like Enov8 or Apwide. This allows teams to:

  • Provision full-stack environments on-demand using Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation.

  • Integrate environments into release pipelines and CI/CD workflows.

  • Visualize environment health, versions, and bookings to optimize test execution.

  • Enable self-service capabilities for developers and testers.

In this model, IaC shifts from being an IT-centric practice to an enterprise-wide enabler of agility, visibility, and governance.

Beyond the Basics: What’s Often Overlooked

While the promise of IaC is clear, many organizations underestimate the operational complexity of running it at scale. Below are areas often neglected:

1. Modular Design Principles

IaC shouldn’t become a monolithic script. Enterprises should design using modular architecture, where:

  • Networking, compute, and storage are handled in separate reusable modules.

  • Each module can be independently versioned, tested, and deployed.

  • Parameters and outputs are used to maintain abstraction and composability.

🛠 Example: In Terraform, create isolated modules for vpc, ecs_cluster, rds_database—then call them via main.tf for each environment.

2. Security & Compliance

Security must be embedded—not bolted on. Key practices include:

  • Static analysis tools: e.g., tfsec, checkov, or cfn-lint to detect misconfigurations.

  • Secrets management: Never hardcode credentials; use Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.

  • Least privilege policies: Ensure infrastructure agents only have necessary permissions.

  • Continuous compliance: Integrate scanning tools in your CI/CD pipelines.

3. Policy as Code

To embed governance into IaC workflows, organizations should leverage Policy-as-Code (PaC) frameworks such as:

Framework Use Case
Open Policy Agent (OPA) Rego-based policies for Terraform, Kubernetes, APIs
HashiCorp Sentinel Guardrails inside Terraform Enterprise workflows

This enables teams to enforce rules like “All S3 buckets must have encryption enabled” or “Only approved AMIs may be used.”

4. Cost Awareness & Sustainability

Automation without control is a recipe for sprawl. Practices to reduce waste:

  • Resource tagging: Enforce tag policies for ownership and cost attribution.

  • Auto-expiry logic: Use TTL policies on non-prod resources.

  • Right-sizing: Analyze resource usage and adjust compute/storage footprints.

  • Budget alerts: Tie infrastructure definitions to budgets using FinOps tools.

5. Version Control & Code Review Discipline

Treat IaC with the same rigor as application development:

  • Enforce peer reviews for all pull requests.

  • Establish branching and tagging standards for infrastructure code.

  • Set up pre-commit hooks for validation and linting.

  • Maintain a single source of truth for each environment.

Real-World Integration: From Code to Action

Here’s a typical IaC pipeline in a mature DevOps setup:

  1. Code Commit
    Developer checks in changes to a Git repository.

  2. Static Checks
    Tools like tflint, tfsec, and opa scan the code.

  3. Plan & Review
    Terraform plan output is reviewed in a PR before approval.

  4. Automated Provisioning
    CI/CD pipeline executes terraform apply or ansible-playbook.

  5. Update TEM Dashboard
    The updated environment status is fed into a TEM dashboard for visibility.

  6. Monitoring & Alerting
    Integrate with observability tools for post-deploy tracking.

This workflow ensures transparency, traceability, and trust in every infrastructure change.

Challenges in Scaling IaC

Adopting IaC is not a plug-and-play exercise. Common hurdles include:

  • Cultural resistance: Traditional infra teams may resist giving up manual control.

  • Skills gap: Not all engineers are comfortable writing or reviewing IaC code.

  • Tool proliferation: Managing too many overlapping tools creates integration debt.

  • Lack of environment metadata: Code alone doesn’t tell you who owns what, when it was deployed, or whether it’s fit-for-purpose.

This is where platforms like Enov8 bring an advantage—offering a governance and insights layer across infrastructure, release, and environment workflows.

Where to Next?

Infrastructure as Code is not just about automation—it’s about transparency, repeatability, and control. But to maximize its value, organizations must:

  1. Treat infrastructure as a product—with versioning, QA, and ownership.

  2. Embed policy and compliance into the lifecycle.

  3. Integrate IaC into broader governance and release processes.

Final Thoughts

IaC is no longer a niche practice. It’s a core capability for enterprises striving to modernize, secure, and scale their technology operations. When integrated with platforms like Enov8, it enables a unified approach to infrastructure automation, test environment management, and delivery governance.

If you’re still relying on ticket-based provisioning or manually configuring environments—you’re not just inefficient, you’re exposed.

How Test Environment Management (TEM) Maps to the SDLC

Introduction

In today’s technology-driven world, the ability to deliver high-quality software efficiently is paramount. To achieve this, organizations must ensure their Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is underpinned by robust Test Environment Management (TEM). Despite its criticality, TEM is often overlooked or undervalued, leading to inefficiencies, increased costs, and delayed software releases. In this article, we explore how TEM aligns with each phase of the SDLC and why structured environment management is indispensable for modern software delivery.

Understanding the SDLC

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) provides a structured framework that guides the development of software applications through defined stages. The primary phases of the SDLC typically include:

  1. Requirements Gathering
  2. System Design
  3. Development / Build
  4. Testing
  5. Deployment
  6. Maintenance & Operations
  7. Executive Governance & Oversight (Extended)

Each of these phases has distinct goals and deliverables. However, the stability and quality of the environments used during these stages directly impact the overall success of the project.

The Role of Test Environment Management (TEM)

Test Environment Management is the discipline of provisioning, maintaining, monitoring, and governing non-production environments to ensure they are available, reliable, and fit-for-purpose. It involves managing infrastructure, software configurations, test data, access controls, and scheduling to support all activities before production deployment.

Mapping TEM Across the SDLC Phases

1. Requirements Gathering

TEM Activities:

  • Early identification of environment & platform needs based on Entertprise Release / Program requirements.
  • Early identification of environment & platform needs based on your DevTest lifecycle.
  • Capture environment & platform dependencies (e.g., external services, legacy systems).
  • Understand and document environment & platform performance and security expectations.
  • Identify overarching Release Demand — understanding that requirements often represent the needs of a broader release initiative that spans multiple systems and products. Early visibility of release scope and dependencies ensures the correct environments are provisioned at the right time.

Why It Matters: Without early visibility into environmental requirements and release demands, later stages can suffer from misaligned expectations, leading to costly redesigns or unplanned delays.

2. System Design

TEM Activities:

  • Design environment blueprints to mirror production landscapes.
  • Plan for necessary test environments (e.g., SIT, UAT, Performance Testing).
  • Define access controls, network configurations, and data management strategies.

Why It Matters: Effective environment design ensures consistency, security, and readiness for subsequent testing and validation stages.

3. Development / Build

TEM Activities:

  • Provision lightweight development environments (e.g., using containerization technologies like Docker).
  • Manage environment versioning to support continuous integration.
  • Facilitate developer self-service provisioning where appropriate.

Why It Matters: Stable development environments prevent the “works on my machine” syndrome and accelerate developer productivity.

4. Testing

TEM Activities:

  • Provision and configure formal test environments (QA, SIT, UAT).
  • Manage production-like test data (creation, masking, refreshes).
  • Coordinate environment bookings and prevent conflicts.
  • Monitor environment health and availability.

Why It Matters: Testing on inconsistent or unstable environments produces unreliable results, increases defect leakage into production, and undermines stakeholder confidence.

5. Deployment

TEM Activities:

  • Manage pre-production environments for deployment rehearsals.
  • Facilitate deployment validation, rollback tests, and cutover simulations.
  • Maintain environment synchronization with production.

Why It Matters: Well-managed pre-production environments reduce last-minute surprises during go-live, ensuring smoother, less risky deployments.

6. Maintenance & Operations

TEM Activities:

  • Regularly patch, refresh, and optimize environments.
  • Decommission obsolete environments securely.
  • Monitor usage and capacity to align with operational needs.

Why It Matters: Ongoing maintenance ensures environments remain compliant, secure, and performant, supporting continuous delivery initiatives.

7. Executive Governance & Oversight (Extended)

TEM Activities:

  • Aggregate data to support executive decision-making around cost control, security posture, and compliance.
  • Provide real-time dashboards showing environment usage, SLA adherence, and audit readiness.
  • Identify systemic risks across the delivery pipeline and support mitigation planning.

Why It Matters: Executives need visibility across all layers of the delivery lifecycle. TEM platforms that expose relevant KPIs and governance insights enable better strategic planning, risk management, and regulatory compliance.

Common Challenges Without Effective TEM

Organizations that neglect structured TEM face recurring challenges:

  • Environment Drift: Differences between test and production environments causing undetected issues.
  • Environment Contention: Teams competing for limited environment access, causing scheduling delays.
  • Configuration Errors: Inconsistent setups leading to testing inaccuracies.
  • Security Risks: Poor access management creating vulnerabilities.
  • Cost Overruns: Excessive spending on idle, redundant, or poorly utilized resources.

Benefits of Integrated TEM within the SDLC

By embedding TEM practices into each SDLC phase, organizations achieve:

  • Faster Time-to-Market: Reducing environment-related bottlenecks speeds up software releases.
  • Higher Quality: Stable environments improve test accuracy and defect detection.
  • Reduced Costs: Optimized environment usage avoids unnecessary expenses.
  • Improved Compliance: Better control of data and configurations ensures regulatory requirements are met.
  • Greater Visibility: Centralized environment tracking enhances governance and audit readiness.

Best Practices for Effective Test Environment Management

  1. Early Engagement: Involve TEM teams during requirement gathering and design phases.
  2. Automation: Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and environment provisioning automation.
  3. Centralized Scheduling: Use centralized booking tools to manage environment usage.
  4. Monitoring and Alerting: Proactively monitor environment health and usage metrics.
  5. Test Data Management: Implement policies for data masking, subsetting, and refresh.
  6. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Secure environments by limiting access based on roles.
  7. Continuous Improvement: Regularly review and optimize TEM practices based on feedback and metrics.

Conclusion

Test Environment Management is not an optional administrative function; it is a strategic enabler for successful software development. Mapping TEM activities closely to the SDLC ensures that each phase is supported by reliable, fit-for-purpose environments, thereby enhancing quality, reducing risk, and accelerating delivery timelines.

Organizations that prioritize and mature their TEM capabilities position themselves to better meet the increasing demands of agility, security, and innovation in today’s competitive software landscape.

By making TEM an integrated part of your SDLC, you lay the foundation for operational excellence and long-term software delivery success.

Author’s Note: For those looking to strengthen their TEM capabilities, consider investing in purpose-built TEM tools, fostering a culture of environment ownership across teams, and leveraging automation wherever possible to maximize impact. Leading solutions like Enov8 and Planview Plutora are specifically designed to address the complexities of Test Environment Management, providing advanced governance, orchestration, and visibility across the SDLC.

The Cost of Convenience: ServiceNow and the SDLC Misfit

Executive Summary

As digital transformation accelerates, enterprise IT organizations are under increasing pressure to deliver software faster, with greater reliability and lower risk. At the heart of this effort lies the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and the effective orchestration of Non-Production Environments. While many organizations rely on ServiceNow for IT Service Management (ITSM), a growing number are attempting to extend its reach into SDLC and Test Environment Management (TEM).

The rationale is often rooted in convenience and familiarity. However, this paper explores why that approach introduces significant cost, complexity, and architectural misalignment, and why enterprises should instead consider purpose-built platforms such as Enov8 or Planview.

Before we go further, consider this:

Using ServiceNow to manage your SDLC and Non-Production / Test Environments is like driving a Formula 1 car over cobblestones. You can do it, but it’s going to be expensive, uncomfortable, and you won’t get very far.

This analogy reflects the mismatch between a tool designed for stability and control (ServiceNow) and the fast-moving, experimental nature of modern software delivery.

1. ServiceNow: Strength in the Wrong Place

ServiceNow is a recognized leader in the ITSM space. Its capabilities in incident management, change control, asset tracking, and governance are well suited for Production environments. In fact, its strength lies in enforcing structure, approvals, and auditability, critical for managing live systems.

However, the SDLC is fundamentally different. It is a space defined by change, agility, and experimentation. Teams are iterating constantly, infrastructure is dynamic, and environments are frequently provisioned, decommissioned, or reconfigured to meet fast-evolving requirements. Applying a production-first tool like ServiceNow in this space imposes rigidity where flexibility is essential.

2. The Core Challenges of ServiceNow in SDLC & TEM

2.1 Rigid Workflows and Poor Agility
At its core, ServiceNow operates as a workflow-based system. Every request, change, or action is routed through predefined paths and often requires human intervention. While this is ideal for regulated Production processes, it is an impediment to the dynamic nature of Dev/Test environments. Teams often require instant environment provisioning, ad-hoc system bookings, or rapid rollback—capabilities not easily supported by ServiceNow without extensive customization.

2.2 Lack of SDLC Context
ServiceNow lacks native awareness of core SDLC concepts such as:

  • System Instances and Environment Lanes
  • Microservices and Service Meshes
  • Release Trains and Implementation Plans
  • Test Data Lifecycles and Compliance

To compensate, enterprises must engage in significant customization—developing custom apps, extending the CMDB, and integrating third-party DevOps tools. The cost of this re-architecture is high, both financially and operationally.

2.3 Limited Environment Intelligence
ServiceNow’s CMDB provides visibility of configuration items, but it is static and lacks real-time awareness. It doesn’t track environment drift, usage trends, test data readiness, or booking conflicts. Nor does it support proactive alerting for environment outages, dependency breaks, or test cycle disruptions.

2.4 Developer Friction and Shadow IT
When environments are hard to access or manage, teams look for workarounds. Spreadsheets, ad-hoc scripts, or shadow booking systems emerge—undermining governance and observability. Ironically, the use of ServiceNow to enforce control often results in less control over SDLC operations.

2.5 High Switching Costs and Vendor Lock-in
Once customized for SDLC or TEM, ServiceNow becomes a tightly coupled part of the delivery toolchain. Switching away becomes difficult and expensive, especially as custom workflows proliferate. Organizations may find themselves trapped in a tool that was never purpose-built for software delivery.

3. The Hidden Cost of Convenience

The primary driver for using ServiceNow in SDLC is perceived convenience: “We already use it, so let’s extend it.” But this short-term mindset carries long-term consequences:

  • Slower time-to-market due to manual workflows
  • Increased operational overhead
  • Poor developer satisfaction and tool adoption
  • Gaps in compliance, reporting, and automation
  • A brittle architecture that hinders innovation

In effect, the decision to extend ServiceNow beyond its intended purpose creates friction at precisely the point where agility is most needed.

4. Purpose-Built Alternatives: Enov8 and Planview

Organizations seeking to modernize their SDLC environment management should consider platforms designed specifically for that domain. Two such solutions are Enov8 and Planview:

  • Enov8 Environment & Release Manager brings visibility, control, and automation to the entire SDLC environment estate. It helps organizations manage system instances, microservices, test data, releases, and compliance from a single pane of glass.
  • Planview (Plutora) offers robust capabilities in enterprise release orchestration and environment coordination. It supports planning, governance, and system dependency mapping across large, complex delivery portfolios.

Both solutions address the fundamental limitations of using ITSM tools for SDLC and provide the dynamic control, integration, and insight required to support continuous delivery at scale.

5. Recommendations for Technology Leaders

If you’re currently using—or considering using—ServiceNow to manage your Non-Production Environments or SDLC workflows, it may be time to pause and reassess. Ask yourself:

  • Are my teams able to provision environments and data with speed?
  • Do I have visibility into environment usage, conflicts, and drift?
  • Am I relying on customizations that make change difficult and costly?
  • Are developers working with the platform—or around it?

If the answer to these questions is concerning, the issue may not be your teams or your processes. It may be the platform itself.

Conclusion: Right Tool, Right Job

ServiceNow remains an excellent ITSM platform. But in the world of software delivery, especially in Dev/Test environments, its architecture and priorities do not align with the demands of modern SDLC.

Success in today’s enterprise delivery landscape requires more than control. It requires insight, automation, and the flexibility to support continual change. Purpose-built solutions like Enov8 and Planview offer a better path forward, one designed not for operational stability, but for delivery excellence.

The cost of convenience is real. Make sure you’re not paying for it with agility, velocity, and innovation.