Which of the following is not a key principle of infrastructure as code?

• A. Self-describing infrastructure
• B. Golden images
• C. Versioned infrastructure
• D. Idempotence

Answer: (B)

Infrastructure as code centers on describing and provisioning the desired state of infrastructure using code, so that everything can be automated, versioned, and repeatable. The practices that embody this are systems that describe what the infrastructure should be (self-describing infrastructure), keep those definitions under version control so changes are tracked and reversible (versioned infrastructure), and ensure that applying the same code multiple times results in the same outcome without unintended changes (idempotence).

Golden images, while related to deployment, are prebuilt machine images that can speed up provisioning, and they aren’t a core principle of IaC. They’re more about an asset used in deployment pipelines rather than a principle that defines how infrastructure is described and managed through code. Relying on golden images can introduce drift and separate maintenance for the base image from the infrastructure code, which moves away from the code-centric, repeatable provisioning that IaC emphasizes.

So, the statement that golden images are not a key principle aligns with the idea that the essential IaC principles are self-describing infrastructure, versioned infrastructure, and idempotence.