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Frequently asked questions

Here are the key details about Infrahub:

About Infrahub​

What is Infrahub?​

Infrahub is an open-source platform that enables infrastructure as code by providing a unified system to model, store, version, validate, and generate infrastructure data and configurations. It acts as a centralized source of truth for all infrastructure resources across an organization.

What are the main features and capabilities?​

  • User-Defined Schema: Build and update data models to support business requirements for infrastructure resources.
  • Unified Storage: Version control for data and files
  • Versioning: Track current state and future intended state of the infrastructure with built-in peer review and a CI pipeline for validation.
  • Immutable Database: Go back in time to view the state of infrastructure at any point.
  • Artifact Generation: Transform infrastructure data into any format (text configurations, XML, JSON, etc.) using generators and templates.
  • Data Lineage: View the source and owner for each piece of infrastructure data.
  • Multiple interfaces for each team and need:
    • Web UI: View and manage all infrastructure data, configurations, and CI/CD pipelines through a user interface.
    • Query Engine: Powerful API and support for GraphQL and REST to query and retrieve infrastructure data.
  • Git Integration: File storage for code and templates
  • Integrations: Integrations with tools like NetBox, Nautobot, Ansible, and Nornir. Ability to build custom integrations.
  • Python SDK: Programmatically interact with Infrahub using a Python SDK.

For more information, see our Infrahub overview.

I'm just getting started with infrastructure automation. Do I need Infrahub?​

If you're new to infrastructure automation, Infrahub is a great place to start. It lets you store the intended state of your infrastructure, this is a crucial foundation for any automation you build later. From this intended state, you can generate configurations directly within Infrahub, and also use the data for resource planning, service deployment, invoicing, and more.

Check out the blog section on our website to learn more about our vision and dive deeper into infrastructure automation.

How can I see Infrahub in action?​

You have many options to quickly try out Infrahub, please refer to the Getting Started page for more details.

Here are some quick ways to get started:

  • Infrahub Sandbox - Instantly login to the UI of a demo environment of Infrahub with sample data pre-loaded.
  • Getting Started Lab - Online lab to see all Infrahub fundamentals in action.

What are the deployment options for Infrahub?​

Infrahub is a platform-agnostic solution packaged as a Docker image. It can be deployed on cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, as well as in on-premises data centers.

Common deployment types include:

  • Single Docker host - A virtual machine running Docker, with Infrahub and its dependencies deployed via Docker Compose.
  • Kubernetes cluster - A high-availability setup using a Helm Chart to deploy Infrahub.
  • Docker Swarm cluster - A balanced solution using Docker Compose to achieve scalability and high availability without added complexity.
note

Infrahub depends on several supporting services that must be installed either within the same environment or externally. See the Overview page for more details.

Each deployment option comes with trade-offs. It's important to also consider your existing tools and processes when choosing the best fit.

We're also working on a managed cloud SaaS version of Infrahub. Please subscribe to our mailing list to stay updated.

How can I install Infrahub?​

Check out the Installing Infrahub guide for detailed setup instructions.

I deployed Infrahub, now what?​

Once Infrahub is deployed, you can start using it to manage your infrastructure resources and begin your automation journey.

Visit the Next Steps section for practical examples.

What is the status of the project? Can I deploy Infrahub in production?​

Infrahub is production-ready and has been deployed in a number of organizations as a central component of their automation workflows.

If you are planning to deploy Infrahub in a critical environment we recommend reaching out to our customer success team via Discord, contact@opsmill.com or Online Meeting.

How much data can Infrahub handle right now?​

We've built a framework to test and evaluate performance, but exact numbers are hard to provide as it depends heavily on the schema you use in Infrahub.

If you have specific needs or want to evaluate Infrahub's performance in your environment, feel free to contact us at contact@opsmill.com or through our Discord server.

How can I get involved?​

We develop Infrahub for customers and with the community. There are a few different ways to get involved with Infrahub:

  • The best place to engage with the community and OpsMill team is the Discord server.
  • As you use Infrahub, please submit bugs and feature requests directly on Github.
  • Reach out to OpsMill to set up a user feedback session to share your thoughts with us.
  • If you are a developer, we are open to pull requests. Please refer to Contributing Guidelines to learn more.

How do I get help with Infrahub?​

If you need assistance with Infrahub, you can reach out to the community and the development team through the following channels:

  • Discord: Join the Infrahub Discord server to ask questions, get support, and engage with other users.
  • GitHub Issues: Submit issues or questions on GitHub.

Is Infrahub free? Is there a paid support option or an Enterprise version of Infrahub?​

Infrahub is built on an open source foundation to allow for broad community access and code transparency. However, many customers want and need higher performance and software QA validation, as well as enterprise support. That's why we offer Infrahub in two distinct versions.

  • Infrahub Community - Infrahub is an open source project that delivers a unified system to model, store, version, validate, and generate infrastructure data and configurations.
  • Infrahub Enterprise - Get SLA-backed support, advanced integrations, and enhanced performance and high-availability. Gain the benefits of mature infrastructure automation with greater velocity and quality assurance.

You can find all the details about both options directly on our website.

Does Infrahub handle network discovery or configuration deployment?​

No, and it's not part of our vision. Infrahub is focused on being the best infrastructure data platform.

We believe in open source and, rather than reinventing the wheel, we provide solid integrations with existing tools like Ansible, Nornir, IP Fabric, Slurp'it, and more.

See the Integrations dropdown on the documentation website.

I already have an existing source of truth, can I use Infrahub?​

Yes, Infrahub is built to integrate with existing sources of truth. We offer infrahub-sync, a tool that lets you synchronize data from other systems into Infrahub.

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This synchronization can be set up as a one-time migration or as a recurring task. This is useful in scenarios where part of the data remains in your current system and is synced to Infrahub in a read-only format to serve another purpose.

Does Infrahub send telemetry? And how can I disable it?​

Infrahub collects anonymous usage metrics and sends them to OpsMill servers for analysis and improvement purposes. No personally identifiable information is collected. If you prefer to opt-out of telemetry collection, you can do so by setting the INFRAHUB_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT environment variable to true:

export INFRAHUB_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=true

What telemetry does Infrahub send?​

The following information is included in telemetry:

  • Infrahub version
  • Platform information
  • Anonymous counters about the graph and the schema

This information is used as aggregated analysis to better understand what and how to improve the project. All information collected is anonymous and the implementation is open source on GitHub.

About OpsMill​

Who is behind this project?​

Infrahub is sponsored and developed by OpsMill, a startup focused on infrastructure management. The OpsMill team is distributed across Europe and the United States, with members who have extensive experience in managing infrastructure and building automation solutions.

You can learn more about the OpsMill team and the company on our website: https://www.opsmill.com/about-us

Why is OpsMill's mascot an Otter?​

Otters are really cool, and they are considered a keystone species, meaning they have a disproportionately large impact on their natural environment relative to their representation.

Similarly, Infrahub aims to be a keystone platform for managing and automating infrastructure, providing a central and influential role in shaping and maintaining your infrastructure ecosystem.

What is the name of the otter?​

otto

The OpsMill mascot is an otter named Otto.

You can send fan mail to Otto at otto@opsmill.com!

Can Infrahub make me as cool as Tony Stark?​

Almost! You'll definitely feel like a tech genius managing your infrastructure with Infrahub!

Made it this far? We'd love to hear from you​

If you've made it this far, please feel free to reach out on the Discord server to share your thoughts or schedule a customer interview session. The Infrahub team is always eager to receive feedback and engage with the community.