Configuration drift is the divergence between the recorded or declared configuration of infrastructure and its actual state.
Configuration drift is the difference between declared or recorded infrastructure and its actual live state. Terraform detects it by loading configuration and state, then refreshing known resources from the live environment. section 7.8.7
Terraform manages drift through three related comparisons:
It treats resources as owned when they appear in infrastructure code or the state file. section 7.8.7
It refreshes recorded resources from live infrastructure, including changes made manually. section 7.8.7
It compares refreshed state with configuration and determines the changes required to reconcile infrastructure. section 7.8.7
How Bootstrapping Microservices, Second Edition: With Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and Terraform covers it
How deep it goes
Explains ownership, state refresh, and reconciliation while stopping short of a detailed remediation workflow.
Examples
Uses manually tweaked infrastructure and an Azure resource group recorded in terraform.tfstate as concrete examples.
What it assumes
Assumes Terraform configuration, state files, and managed infrastructure, while clarifying their ownership relationship.
What you can do after
Diagnose drift by inspecting Terraform state and understanding how refresh compares live resources with declared configuration.
How it connects
Connects configuration drift with Terraform state, infrastructure as code, live infrastructure, and manual changes.
Machine Learning Platform EngineeringData drift is a change over time in the statistical distribution or characteristics of input data relative to the data used to develop a model.
Machine Learning System DesignModel drift is a change over time in a machine learning model’s behavior or performance caused by changes in its inputs, relationships, or operating environment.
Statistics Every Programmer NeedsNonstationary behavior is temporal behavior whose statistical properties, such as level or variability, change over time.
Effective Platform EngineeringConfiguration drift is the divergence between an infrastructure system's actual state and its declared or desired configuration.
Platform Engineering on KubernetesConfiguration drift is the divergence between the declared configuration of a system and the configuration actually running in that system.
concept driftincludes · Concept drift is a change over time in the data-generating process, including the distribution of inputs or the relationship between inputs and target outcomes.
reconciliationaddressed by · Reconciliation is the process of comparing related states, records, or outputs to identify differences and, when needed, resolve them or bring them into agreement.
monitoringaddressed by · Monitoring is the ongoing observation and measurement of a system’s behavior, state, or operational signals to assess its condition and detect changes or problems.
infrastructure as codeaddressed by · Infrastructure as code is the practice of defining, provisioning, and managing computing infrastructure through machine-readable code or configuration rather than manual procedures.
Terraformaddressed by · Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing infrastructure resources through declarative configuration.
This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Bootstrapping Microservices, Second Edition: With Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and Terraform. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.
