What is config drift and how is it managed during maintenance?

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Config drift is the divergence between the actual state of a system and its baseline or desired configuration. This drift happens when changes are made outside the defined deployment process—manually, due to environment differences, or after failed deployments. During maintenance, drift is managed by treating infrastructure as code, storing the desired state in version control, and regularly reconciling the real state with the baseline. Infrastructure as code lets you define and enforce the exact configuration, while version control provides an audit trail and easy rollback. Drift detection checks identify mismatches, and reconciliation applies the necessary changes to bring the system back to its intended state. This approach keeps environments predictable, auditable, and recoverable. Other options describe hardware failures, non-configuration-related issues, or performance metrics, which don’t capture the idea of the system diverging from its configured baseline.