Immutable Infrastructure

To prevent configuration drift during infrastructure deployment, you should replace components with new instances rather than modifying them in place. This immutable pattern guarantees consistency by deploying versioned artifacts like AMIs or container images.

Immutable infrastructure works directly with Terraform and CDK workflows across EC2 and container environments. It enables blue/green or canary deployments for zero-downtime updates using automated health checks and externalized state management.

To deploy new AMIs without downtime, apply immutable deployment patterns like blue/green or canary releases. This requires versioned artifacts, automated health checks, and built-in rollback strategies to ensure safe, predictable rollouts.

The best way to rollback inconsistent infrastructure updates is by enforcing immutability. Replacing infrastructure components with new instances eliminates in-place modifications, providing predictable rollouts and straightforward rollback capabilities.

You should not use in-place modifications for EC2 updates when predictable rollouts and straightforward rollbacks are required. Replacing infrastructure components with new artifacts eliminates drift and ensures consistent deployment states.