Terraform AWS EC2 Deployment – Beginner Project

Terraform AWS EC2 Deployment – Beginner Project

This project demonstrates how to deploy a simple EC2 instance (t2.micro) on AWS using Terraform.
It covers the fundamentals of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) — providers, resources, variables, outputs, security groups, and state management.

🚀 Project Features

AWS Provider configuration

EC2 instance deployment

Security Group creation

SSH Key Pair for authentication

Variables & Outputs

Terraform workflow (init → plan → apply → destroy)

🏗 Architecture

Terraform → AWS Provider → EC2 Instance (t2.micro)
└── Security Group (SSH 22)
└── Key Pair
✅ TASK 1 — Create a Simple EC2 Instance (FULL GUIDE)

Directory Structure:

terraform-ec2/
├── main.tf
├── variables.tf
├── outputs.tf
└── terraform.tfvars

STEP 1 — Install Terraform

(If already installed, skip)

terraform -v

STEP 2 — Create a Working Directory
mkdir terraform-ec2
cd terraform-ec2

STEP 3 — Configure AWS Provider (main.tf)

Create main.tf:

provider "aws" {
  region = var.aws_region
}

# Key pair
resource "aws_key_pair" "my_key" {
  key_name   = "terraform-key"
  public_key = file(var.public_key_path)
}

# Security group
resource "aws_security_group" "ec2_sg" {
  name        = "ec2_sg"
  description = "Allow SSH inbound traffic"

  ingress {
    description = "SSH"
    from_port   = 22
    to_port     = 22
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }
}

# EC2 instance
resource "aws_instance" "my_ec2" {
  ami           = var.ami_id
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  key_name      = aws_key_pair.my_key.key_name
  vpc_security_group_ids = [aws_security_group.ec2_sg.id]

  tags = {
    Name = "terraform-ec2"
  }
}

STEP 4 — Create Variables File (variables.tf)

variable "aws_region" {
  description = "AWS region"
  type        = string
}

variable "ami_id" {
  description = "AMI ID for EC2"
  type        = string
}

variable "public_key_path" {
  description = "Path to your SSH public key"
  type        = string
}

STEP 5 — Add Outputs File (outputs.tf)

output "instance_public_ip" {
  value = aws_instance.my_ec2.public_ip
}

output "instance_id" {
  value = aws_instance.my_ec2.id
}

STEP 6 — Add Values (terraform.tfvars)

aws_region       = "ap-south-1"
ami_id           = "ami-0f5ee92e2d63afc18"  # Amazon Linux 2 (Mumbai)
public_key_path  = "~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"

Use the correct AMI for your region.
You can get it from AWS Console → EC2 → Images → AMI.

STEP 7 — Create SSH Key (if you don’t have)

Run:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

Press enter 3 times.
Your key will be created:

~/.ssh/id_rsa
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

STEP 8 — Initialize Terraform

terraform init

This downloads AWS provider plugins.

STEP 9 — Validate Config

terraform validate

STEP 10 — Preview Changes

terraform plan

STEP 11 — Apply (Create the EC2)

terraform apply

Type yes.
🎉 RESULT

Terraform creates:
✔ Key pair
✔ Security group
✔ EC2 instance (t2.micro)

You will see outputs like:

instance_public_ip = "13.x.x.x"
instance_id = "i-0abcd1234efg"

STEP 12 — Connect to your EC2 instance

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa ec2-user@<PUBLIC-IP>

Amazon Linux 2 uses ec2-user.

STEP 13 — Destroy Everything

When done:

terraform destroy

Type yes.