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Do Ngoc Tuan Duy
Do Ngoc Tuan Duy

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Installing Terraform and Setting Up EC2 Environment for Ubuntu24.04

#terraform #ubuntu #aws #infrastructure

In this guide, we will walk through the step-by-step process of installing Terraform and preparing your local environment for infrastructure automation.

What You'll Learn

  • Install Terraform on Linux
  • Install AWS CLI
  • Configure AWS credentials
  • Verify your setup
  • Set up VS Code for Terraform development

Step 1: Install Terraform 

# Update package list
sudo apt-get update

# Install required packages
sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common wget gpg

# Add HashiCorp GPG key
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg --fingerprint

# Add HashiCorp repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] \
https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list

# Update and install Terraform
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y terraform
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Verify Installation 

terraform version
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Expected Output

Step 2: Install AWS CLI (Recommended) 

# Download AWS CLI installer
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"

# Install unzip if not present
sudo apt-get install -y unzip

# Unzip the installer
unzip awscliv2.zip

# Run the installer
sudo ./aws/install

#Check version
aws --version

# Clean up
rm -rf aws awscliv2.zip
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Step 3: Create IAM User for Terraform

In AWS Console:

  1. Go to IAM → Users → Create User
  2. Username: terraform (or your preferred name)
  3. Select "Provide user access to the AWS Management Console" (optional)
  4. Attach policies: AdministratorAccess (for learning; use restricted policies in production)
  5. Create user
  6. Go to Security Credentials → Create Access Key
  7. Select "Command Line Interface (CLI)"
  8. Download or copy:
  9. Access Key ID
  10. Secret Access Key

Step 4: Configure AWS Credentials 

aws configure
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You'll be prompted for: 

AWS Access Key ID [None]: <YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID>
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: <YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>
Default region name [None]: ap-southeast-1 (or your preferred region)
Default output format [None]: json
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Verify Configuration 

aws sts get-caller-identity
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Step 5: Set Up Your Working Directory 

# Create project directory
mkdir -p ~/terraform-projects
cd ~/terraform-projects

# Create your first project folder
mkdir my-first-terraform
cd my-first-terraform
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Step 6: Test Your Setup

Create a simple test file with nano test.tf:

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0"
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 5.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = "ap-southeast-1"
}

# This is just a test - we won't create any resources yet
output "account_id" {
  value = data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id
}

data "aws_caller_identity" "current" {}
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Run Terraform commands: 

# Initialize Terraform
terraform init

# Validate configuration
terraform validate

# See what would happen (no resources created)
terraform plan
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Expected Output: 

Terraform has been successfully initialized!
Success! The configuration is valid.
Changes to Outputs:
  + account_id = "300374333197"
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Clean up test file: 

rm test.tf
rm -rf .terraform .terraform.lock.hcl
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