Establish and Document the Application's Per-Environment Infrastructure, Configurations, and Rules

This chapter explains how to establish and document, for each environment in which an Application runs, the infrastructure it runs on, how it is configured, and the rules that govern it there. It builds on the hosting infrastructure decided during design, described in the chapter “Establish and Document the Application’s Hosting Infrastructure,” by recording the specific detail that applies in each environment.

Why Per-Environment Documentation Matters

The infrastructure, configurations, and rules that apply to an Application vary from environment to environment. Recording them only in general terms leaves operations, engineering, and security teams unable to answer precise questions such as “what does this Instance run on?”, “how is it configured here?”, and “which rules apply here and not elsewhere?” Capturing this information directly within the Application Documentation, for each environment, provides those answers where they are needed.

Establish Per-Environment Infrastructure, Configurations, and Rules

For each IT Operating Environment in which the Application has Instances, establish:

• Infrastructure: the compute, storage, network, platform services, and locations the Instances use in that environment.

• Configurations: the settings applied in that environment, using the categories described in the chapter “Understand the IF4IT Baseline Framework for Application Configurations, Dependencies, and Rules.”

• Rules: the rules that govern the Application in that environment, such as access rules, data rules, change rules, and retention rules.

Align this information with the enterprise’s IT Operating Environment definitions and Environment Assets, so that the Application’s view and the environment’s view agree.

Document and Share Per-Environment Information

Record the infrastructure, configurations, and rules for each environment in the Application Documentation, using the per-Instance profiles described in the chapter “Establish and Document Application Instance–Specific Information Wherever Instances Differ.” Where infrastructure and configuration are defined as code, link to that code. Review this information with every Release and whenever an environment changes.

Best Practice: Establish and Document the Application’s Per-Environment Infrastructure, Configurations, and Rules

It is a best practice to both establish and document the solution for what an Application runs on and how it is governed in each environment: record, per environment, its infrastructure, configurations, and rules, aligned with the enterprise’s environment definitions and linked to any infrastructure or configuration code.

Benefits: Per-environment documentation gives every team precise, environment-specific answers instead of general descriptions that may not apply where they are working. Keeping it aligned with the enterprise’s environment definitions ensures that the Application’s documentation and the environment’s records tell the same story.

Connections to Related IF4IT Practices and Inventories

The IT Operating Environments Best Practices addresses Environment Instances, Environment Assets, and documenting configuration differences between environments.