Detailed Explanation:
Rationale for Correct Answer:
A: IaC enables a plan/review workflow (for Terraform: terraform plan) where changes can be inspected and approved before applying, reducing accidental outages.
E: Declarative IaC helps reduce configuration drift because desired state is defined in code and Terraform continuously reconciles differences during plans/applies (drift becomes visible and correctable).
Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):
B: Incorrect. Auto-scaling is a capability of specific platforms/services (e.g., AWS ASG), not a guaranteed property of IaC.
C: Incorrect. IaC reduces the chance of mistakes, but it does not make incorrect configurations impossible—bad code can still be applied.
D: Incorrect. Zero-downtime updates require architecture and deployment strategies (blue/green, rolling updates, etc.); IaC alone doesn’t guarantee it.
Key Concept:Reliability improvements from IaC: reviewable change plans and reduced drift through declarative desired state.
[Reference:Understand Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Concepts — reviewability, repeatability, and drift reduction., ====================, , ]