Hello dev.to community! 👋
Yesterday, I explored Docker Compose — a tool that simplifies managing multi-container apps. Today, I’m stepping into the world of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform.
🔹 Why IaC Matters
Traditionally, provisioning infrastructure meant manual clicks on cloud dashboards — slow, error-prone, and hard to reproduce.
With IaC tools like Terraform, infrastructure is:
Automated → Write once, provision anywhere.
Version-controlled → Store infra code in Git, track changes like software.
Consistent & Repeatable → No more “it works on my cloud” issues.
🧠 Core Terraform Concepts I’m Learning
Providers → Plugins to interact with cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Resources → Define infrastructure (VMs, networks, S3 buckets, etc.).
State File → Tracks the current infrastructure state.
Plan & Apply → Preview changes before applying them.
🔧 Example: Create an AWS EC2 Instance
provider "aws" {
region = "ap-south-1"
}
resource "aws_instance" "my_ec2" {
ami = "ami-08e5424edfe926b43"
instance_type = "t2.micro"
tags = {
Name = "DevOps-Instance"
}
}
👉 Run:
terraform init # Initialize provider plugins
terraform plan # Preview execution plan
terraform apply # Create infrastructure 🚀
🛠️ Mini Use Cases in DevOps
Spin up test environments on-demand.
Automate cloud infrastructure for CI/CD pipelines.
Version-control infra changes (review infra via pull requests).
Reduce cloud cost by managing lifecycle (create/destroy easily).
⚡ Pro Tips
Always use terraform.tfvars for secrets/variables.
Store state file remotely (S3 + DynamoDB for AWS).
Use modules to reuse infrastructure code.
Combine with Ansible later for config management.
🧪 Hands-on Mini-Lab (Try this!)
1️⃣ Install Terraform.
2️⃣ Write a Terraform config to provision an EC2 instance.
3️⃣ Run terraform init, plan, apply.
4️⃣ Destroy resources with terraform destroy (save money 💸).
🎯 Key Takeaway
Terraform brings the power of code to infrastructure — making it automated, versioned, and consistent. A must-have skill in every DevOps toolkit.
🔜 Tomorrow (Day 12)
I’ll explore Ansible — automating configuration management and deployments. 🔧
🔖 #Terraform #DevOps #IaC #Cloud #Automation #SRE #InfrastructureAsCode #AWS #CloudNative
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