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In the world of cloud, hybrid, and on-premises Infrastructure as Code (IaC), where managing and provisioning infrastructure through code has become indispensable, tools like OpenTofu play a pivotal role. The evolutions of IaC tools continues with OpenTofu, as a fork of Terraform that offers a more open-source, community-driven alternative that is managed by the Linux […] The article OpenTofu: Open Source Alternative to Terraform appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article

One of the most popular cloud-native, PaaS (Platform as a Service) products in Microsoft Azure is Azure App Service. It enables you to easily deploy and host web and API applications in Azure. The service supports ways to configure App Settings and Connection String within the Azure App Service instance. Depending on who has access […] The article Terraform: Deploy Azure App Service with Key Vault Secret Integration appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article

In HashiCorp Terraform, data sources serve as a bridge between the Terraform configuration and external systems or information. Essentially, data sources allow Terraform to query external resources, such as cloud platforms, APIs, databases, or other systems, and use the retrieved information within the configuration. Unlike resources, which represent infrastructure components to be managed by Terraform, […] The article Terraform: How are Data Sources used? appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article

You already know that Terraform is a popular open-source Infrastructure provisioning tool. And that AWS is one of the leading cloud providers with a wide range of services. But have you ever wondered how Terraform can help you better take advantage of the services AWS has to offer? This guide will explain how Terraform and AWS work together to give you insight and control over your cloud resources. Why Use Terraform with AWS?One of the main benefits of using Terraform with AWS is that it allows you to define your entire AWS infrastructure as code using HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). With Terraform configuration files called Terraform code, you can easily provision, change, and version control your AWS resources. This provides consistency and repeatability across your environment. Rather than manually making changes through the AWS Management Console, you can model your AWS setup, test changes locally, and roll out updates automatically. For a hands-on experience with Terraform, check out our Terraform Basics Training Course. Key Reasons to Adopt Terraform for AWSBelow are some of the reasons why you should adopt Terraform for AWS infrastructure management: IaC BenefitsTerraform enables you to treat your infrastructure as code. This approach has several benefits: Reproducibility: Defining your infrastructure in code makes it easy to recreate environments consistently.Version Control: Storing your infrastructure configuration in version-controlled repositories (e.g., Git) allows for collaboration and tracking of changes over time.Automation: It allows for the automation of resource provisioning, updates, and teardown.AWS-Specific BenefitsBroad Service Coverage: Terraform supports a wide range of AWS services, from EC2 instances to S3 buckets, RDS databases, and more.Multi-Region and Multi-Account Deployments: Easily deploy resources across different AWS regions and accounts.Immutable Infrastructure: Terraform encourages the use of immutable infrastructure patterns, promoting reliability and scalability.How Does Terraform Work with AWS?At its core, Terraform utilizes AWS APIs to dynamically provision and manage resources. When initializing a working directory, Terraform will download the AWS provider plugin which understands how to communicate with the various AWS services. The AWS provider contains APIs that map directly to the actual AWS APIs. So, for example, when you define an "aws_instance" resource, the provider knows that maps to the EC2 RunInstances API call. By abstracting the underlying AWS APIs, Terraform provides a declarative way to manage your entire AWS environment as code. The provider handles all the network calls and state synchronization behind the scenes. Getting Started with Terraform on AWS1. Install the Terraform CLI Terraform is distributed as a single binary file that can be downloaded and added to your system PATH. For Linux/Mac users, you can use the official HashiCorp releases and extract the zip file. On Windows, you can download the .zip from the releases and extract it to a directory in your PATH. For more details on how to install Terraform, check the Terraform doc. 2. Verifying the Install Test that Terraform is available by checking the version using this command: terraform -v You should get an output similar to this: Terraform v1.1.9 3. Configuring AWS Credentials Terraform supports different strategies for AWS authentication, such as static credentials, environment variables, or IAM roles. For automation, it is recommended that you use an IAM role attached to your EC2 instance. Set the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables or create the credentials file at ~/.aws/credentials. 4. Creating the Main Configuration Initialize a new or empty Terraform working directory and create main.tf with your resources: terraform init touch main.tf Add a resource block for an EC2 instance specifying AMI, type, security groups, etc: resource "aws_instance" "example" { ami = "ami-0cff7568" instance_type = "t2.micro" vpc_security_group_ids = ["sg-1234567890abcdef0"] } This defines the infrastructure you want to create. 5. Validating and Applying Changes Run terraform plan to see the actions and changes before applying: terraform plan Then apply the changes: terraform apply Terraform will create the EC2 instance and all required dependencies. You can assess the instance on the AWS console. Adding Modules and Remote StateAs your infrastructure grows more complex, structure it using reusable Terraform modules. Modules define generic AWS patterns like a VPC, Auto Scaling Group, or RDS database that you can call multiple times. Also, ensure you manage those modules in version control along with your main configurations. You can read more about modules from this blog: Terraform Modules - Tutorials and Examples. For team collaboration, maintain a centralized state file to track resource lifecycles. Store the file remotely in S3 backed by DynamoDB for locking. This prevents state collisions and loss during runs. To solidify your understanding of Terraform and prepare for official certification, consider taking our course on Terraform Associate Certification: HashiCorp Certified. This course is designed to help you master Terraform and prepare for the official HashiCorp certification exam. Terraform in AWS Best PracticesFollow the following best practices to get the most out of Terraform in AWS. 1. Use an AWS Credential Profile Rather than hardcoding access keys and secret keys directly in your Terraform configuration, use a credential profile configured by one of the AWS SDKs. This avoids maintaining secrets in multiple locations and prevents accidental commits to version control.If you’re running Terraform from control servers, consider using an IAM instance profile for authentication.2. Break Up AWS Configurations When provisioning multiple services (EC2 instances, security boundaries, ECS clusters, etc.), avoid defining them all in a single configuration file. Instead, break them up into smaller, manageable chunks.Organize your configurations based on logical groupings or services to improve maintainability.3. Keep Secrets Secure If you need to store sensitive data or other information you don’t want to make public, use a terraform.tfvars file and exclude the file from version control (e.g., by using .gitignore).Avoid hardcoding secrets directly in your configuration files.4. Use Remote State Store your Terraform state remotely, ideally in an S3 bucket with versioning enabled. This ensures consistency and allows collaboration among team members.Remote state management provides better visibility into changes made to the infrastructure.5. Leverage Existing Modules Take advantage of shared and community modules. These pre-built modules save time and effort by providing reusable configurations for common AWS resources.Import existing infrastructure into Terraform to avoid re-creating everything from scratch.6. Consistent Naming Convention Adopt a consistent naming convention for your resources. Clear, descriptive names make it easier to manage and troubleshoot your infrastructure.Use meaningful prefixes or suffixes to differentiate between environments (e.g., dev-, prod-).7. Always Format and Validate Use Terraform’s built-in formatting (terraform fmt) and validation (terraform validate) tools. Consistent formatting improves readability, and validation catches errors early in the process.Common Use CasesBelow are some of Terraform’s common use cases in AWS: Web Applications Deployment: Deployment of web servers, load balancers, and databases.Dev/Test Environments Creation: Spinning up isolated environments for development and testing.CI/CD Pipelines Creation: Automating infrastructure provisioning as part of your deployment pipeline.Additional Features to KnowBelow are some advanced operations that you can perform when using Terraform in AWS: Data Sources: Terraform allows you to query existing AWS data, such as AMI IDs and security groups, before defining resources that depend on this data.Output Values: After applying changes, Terraform exposes attributes of resources, making them easily accessible for use in other parts of your infrastructure.Remote Backend: Terraform’s remote backend feature manages the state of your infrastructure and provides locking mechanisms to facilitate collaboration among multiple developers.SSH Bastion Host Module: For enhanced security, Terraform offers an SSH Bastion host module that secures access to EC2 instances.Custom IAM Roles and Policies: Terraform enables the provisioning of custom IAM roles and policies tailored to your infrastructure’s needs.Integration with Other Tools: Terraform’s module registry allows for seamless integration with a variety of other tools, expanding its functionality and utility.An alternative to Terraform when working with AWS is CloudFormation, a service that allows you to model and provision AWS resources in a repeatable and automated way. Read more about it in this blog: Terraform vs. CloudFormation: A Side-by-Side Comparison. Check out our Terraform + AWS Playground to start experimenting with automated infrastructure provisioning. ConclusionTerraform is a powerful tool for managing your infrastructure in AWS. It allows you to automate your deployments and maintain a consistent environment. It also supports other cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and many others. Join our Terraform Challenge to master how to provision and manage infrastructure using Terraform Sign up on KodeKloud for free now and learn how to use Terraform on the go. View the full article

When using HashiCorp Terraform as the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool of choice, it becomes critical to organize the Terraform code as the Terraform project becomes more complex. One of the most common practices is to split the Terraform project from a single file (typically named main.tf) into multiple smaller files. This helps increase maintainability […] The article Terraform: Split main.tf into seperate files appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article

No-code provisioning gives organizations a self-service workflow in HCP Terraform (formerly Terraform Cloud) for application developers and others who need infrastructure but may not be familiar with Terraform or HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Today, no-code provisioning adds the ability to perform module version upgrades as a generally available feature. No-code provisioning empowers cloud platform teams to publish approved infrastructure modules for push-button self-service, allowing stakeholders with infrastructure needs to provision those modules without having to manage Terraform configurations or learn the complexities of the underlying infrastructure and deployment processes. A more seamless experience for practitioners Originally, Terraform’s no-code provisioning restricted users to the module version with which they originally provisioned the workspace — they could change only variable inputs. This limitation kept users from accessing changes delivered in subsequent versions of the module unless they destroyed the workspace and deployed a fresh one. Module version upgrades for no-code workspaces address this issue by significantly reducing the friction when updating the no-code modules in an HCP Terraform workspace. Now, when an administrator or module owner updates the designated no-code ready module version, a notification about the change will appear in downstream workspaces that use the module, giving practitioners a seamless experience in receiving and applying upgrades to their workspaces. During the beta period, we collected a lot of great feedback from customers, which led directly to the general availability of module version upgrades. Reducing cloud spend with no-code provisioning HashiCorp’s 2023 State of Cloud Strategy Survey revealed that 90% of organizations face gaps in their cloud-related skill sets, and that was a primary cause of cloud waste for 43% of respondents. To combat this, organizations need to bridge the skills gap by abstracting error-prone manual tasks and continuously improving the developer experience. No-code Terraform modules help platform teams close these skills gaps, enabling application developers in multiple business units to provision their own infrastructure in minutes, without significant Terraform training. Administrators and module publishers can manage an allowlist of no-code ready modules for application developers, reducing failed infrastructure builds and costly misconfiguration errors. These approved, reusable no-code modules can be built with cost and security best practices in mind, reducing the occurrence of over-provisioned resources. Getting started with HCP Terraform module version upgrades Module version upgrades in HCP Terraform keep developers’ no-code workspaces up-to-date without them having to know Terraform or ask their platform team to update their infrastructure. For more details about the general availability of no-code module version upgrades, please review the documentation and attend our webinar series on cloud spending: Provisioning no-code infrastructure documentation Create and use no-code modules documentation Optimize cloud spend webinar series View the full article

Terraform’s declarative approach allows for defining infrastructure as code (IaC), enabling teams to automate the deployment and management of resources across various cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS. As infrastructure evolves, there may arise a need to remove resources from the Terraform state that are no longer required. When you manually delete resources […] The article Terraform: Remove Resource from State File (.tfstate) appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article