DEV Community: Jared Engelkemier

Unleash Automation: Deploy Terraform with GitLab CI/CD

Jared Engelkemier — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:20:21 +0000

If you're tired of manual Terraform deployments, it's time to automate! 🚀

In my latest video, I walk you through deploying Terraform code using GitLab CI/CD. This guide covers:

✅ How to structure your GitLab pipeline for Terraform automation.
✅ How to handle multiple environments (dev, staging, prod) with ease.
✅ How to run Terraform securely – hiding sensitive credentials & requiring approvals for production.
✅ Best practices for efficient and scalable GitLab pipelines.
Save time, reduce errors, and simplify your infrastructure management.

📺 Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/PxhH44RbTTc
📖 Full guide with code examples: https://bit.ly/3Xmbr8P

Have questions or tips on Terraform automation? Let's chat in the comments! 🔥

Stop Suffering: Automate Terraform with GitLab CI/CD Before It Breaks You

Jared Engelkemier — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:13:40 +0000

Terraform is powerful—but managing it manually? That’s a one-way ticket to frustration and broken pipelines.

That’s why I wrote my latest blog post and created a new YouTube video to show you how to automate Terraform deployments using GitLab CI/CD—so you can stop worrying about human error and start deploying smarter. 🚀

📝 Blog Post: Stop Suffering - Automate Terraform with GitLab CI/CD Before It Breaks You 

📽️ YouTube Video: Watch Here

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Video:
✅ How to structure your GitLab pipeline for Terraform automation. 
✅ How to handle multiple environments (dev, staging, prod) with ease. 
✅ How to run Terraform securely – hiding sensitive credentials & requiring approvals for production. 
✅ Best practices for efficient and scalable GitLab pipelines. 
✅ A full example .gitlab-ci.yml pipeline that you can use today.

If you’re tired of painfully manual Terraform workflows, this is for you.

Check it out, drop a comment, and let me know—how are you currently managing Terraform automation?

🚀 Modular Terraform in 5 Minutes: The Key to Scalable Infrastructure

Jared Engelkemier — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:08:19 +0000

Terraform is powerful, but without modularization, your infrastructure can quickly become a tangled mess. If you've ever found yourself copy-pasting code between projects or dreading updates across multiple environments, it's time to go modular.

Here’s a quick guide to Terraform modules—the right way. ⬇️

1️⃣ Stop Repeating Yourself (DRY Principle)

Ever duplicated the same VPC or EKS setup across multiple projects? That’s a sign you need modules. Instead of copying .tf files, encapsulate repeatable infrastructure into reusable modules that you can call with different inputs.

📌 Example:

module "network" {
  source  = "./modules/network"
  vpc_cidr = "10.0.0.0/16"
}

✅ One module, multiple uses.

2️⃣ Group Related Resources Together

The biggest mistake? Breaking things into too many micro-modules.
Instead of a separate module for every tiny resource, group related resources logically.

✅ Good module structure:
✔ Compute Module → EKS, Node Pools, Autoscaling
✔ Network Module → VPC, Subnets, Security Groups
✔ Storage Module → S3 Buckets, EBS Volumes

❌ Bad practice: A separate module for every IAM role, security group, or subnet. That’s over-modularization and makes things harder to maintain.

3️⃣ Use `outputs.tf` to Pass Data Between Modules

Terraform modules don’t work in isolation—they should pass information seamlessly. Use outputs.tf to expose critical values from one module to another.

📌 Example:

output "vpc_id" {
  value = aws_vpc.main.id
}

Now, another module can reference this output instead of hardcoding values.

4️⃣ Keep Your Modules Configurable with `variables.tf`

Hardcoded values kill reusability. Use variables.tf to make your modules flexible across environments.

📌 Example:

variable "instance_type" {
  type    = string
  default = "t3.medium"
}

Now, you can override it per deployment instead of editing module code.

5️⃣ Call Modules from Your Root Module

Once your modules are set up, your root module should look simple and clean.
Instead of defining all resources, it should just reference modules with input variables.

📌 Example:

module "eks" {
  source  = "./modules/compute"
  cluster_name = "my-cluster"
}

✅ Scalable. Reusable. Maintainable.

🚀 Ready for the Full Breakdown?

This is just a 5-minute crash course on modular Terraform. If you want a deep dive into structuring your infrastructure the right way, check out my full guide:

🔗 Read the full blog post here

What’s Your Take?
💬 How do you approach Terraform modularization? Have you run into challenges or best practices worth sharing? Let’s discuss in the comments!

Terraform Smarter, Not Harder: Now on YouTube! 🎥

Jared Engelkemier — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 04:39:01 +0000

If you enjoyed my blog on modularizing Terraform, you’ll love this! I just released a YouTube video walking through the full setup—architecture, code, and best practices.

🔗 Watch here: Terraform Smarter, Not Harder
📖 Read the full blog post: The Power of Modular Terraform

Check it out, and let me know what you think! What’s your biggest challenge with Terraform modularization? Drop a comment! 👇

Are You Modularizing Your Terraform Code? Let’s Talk Best Practices!

Jared Engelkemier — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:24:06 +0000

Terraform is powerful, but without a solid structure, managing cloud infrastructure can become a tangled mess. That’s why I’m a huge advocate for modular Terraform—breaking infrastructure into reusable components to improve scalability, maintainability, and collaboration.

Some key benefits I’ve seen:
✅ Reusability – No more duplicated code across environments.
✅ Scalability – Easily scale infrastructure without reinventing the wheel.
✅ Consistency – Enforce best practices across all deployments.

Of course, modularization comes with trade-offs. Too much abstraction, and modules become hard to use. Too little, and you lose the benefits.

How do you approach modularizing Terraform in your organization? What challenges have you faced? Let’s discuss!

I recently wrote a deep dive into how to structure a modular Terraform architecture, complete with real-world examples and code snippets—check it out here: Terraform Smarter, Not Harder

Terraform Smarter, Not Harder: The Power of Modular Infrastructure as Code

Jared Engelkemier — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:15:17 +0000

🚀 Why Modular Terraform Matters
Cloud infrastructure starts simple—but as teams scale, Terraform scripts become harder to maintain. A monolithic setup is a nightmare to update and risky to deploy.

💡 The Fix? Modular Infrastructure → Break your Terraform code into reusable, independent components for better scalability, security, and efficiency.

🛠️ What’s Inside This Post?
Here’s what I cover in depth:

✅ Breaking Terraform into Modules → Networking, Compute (EKS), and Storage.
✅ Terraform Code & Best Practices → With real-world examples.
✅ How to Future-Proof Your Infrastructure → Avoiding Terraform tech debt.

📂 Read the Full Breakdown on Hashnode!
I break everything down in detail, including Terraform code snippets, best practices, and architecture diagrams.

👉 Read the full post here: Terraform Smarter, Not Harder

📌 What’s your experience with Terraform modularization? Have you encountered monolithic Terraform pain points? Drop your thoughts, strategies, and lessons in the comments! 💬👇

DEV Community: Jared Engelkemier

Unleash Automation: Deploy Terraform with GitLab CI/CD

Stop Suffering: Automate Terraform with GitLab CI/CD Before It Breaks You

🚀 Modular Terraform in 5 Minutes: The Key to Scalable Infrastructure

1️⃣ Stop Repeating Yourself (DRY Principle)

2️⃣ Group Related Resources Together

3️⃣ Use outputs.tf to Pass Data Between Modules

4️⃣ Keep Your Modules Configurable with variables.tf

5️⃣ Call Modules from Your Root Module

🚀 Ready for the Full Breakdown?

Terraform Smarter, Not Harder: Now on YouTube! 🎥

Are You Modularizing Your Terraform Code? Let’s Talk Best Practices!

Terraform Smarter, Not Harder: The Power of Modular Infrastructure as Code

3️⃣ Use `outputs.tf` to Pass Data Between Modules

4️⃣ Keep Your Modules Configurable with `variables.tf`