Day 64 - Terraform with AWS

Introduction: Terraform is a powerful Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that allows you to define and provision infrastructure using a declarative configuration language. When working with Terraform to manage resources on AWS, there are a few prerequisites to set up before you can start creating and managing your infrastructure. In this article, we'll guide you through the necessary steps to ensure a smooth setup.

Prerequisites:

1. AWS CLI Installed: The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) is a vital tool for managing AWS services from the command line. It simplifies the process of interacting with AWS resources and is essential for Terraform to communicate with your AWS account. Ensure you have the AWS CLI installed on your machine before proceeding.# Example installation command for Linux$ sudo apt-get install awscli
2. AWS IAM User: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is used to securely control access to AWS resources. To enable Terraform to interact with your AWS account, create an IAM user with the necessary permissions. Obtain the access key and secret access key for this IAM user, as they will be required to establish a connection between Terraform and your AWS account.# Example IAM user access key export$ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<access key>$ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<secret access key>
3. Install Required Providers in Terraform Configuration: Terraform uses providers to interact with different infrastructure platforms. In your Terraform configuration file (commonly named main.tf), declare the required providers. For AWS, you can use the official HashiCorp AWS provider.terraform { required_providers { aws = { source = "hashicorp/aws" version = "~> 4.16" } } required_version = ">= 1.2.0"}
4. Specify AWS Region: Define the AWS region where you want your resources to be provisioned. Update the region in your Terraform configuration.provider "aws" { region = "us-east-1"}

Task-01: Provisioning an AWS EC2 Instance

Now that the prerequisites are in place, let's provision an AWS EC2 instance using Terraform. In your Terraform configuration file, add the following resource block:

resource "aws_instance" "aws_ec2_test" {
  count         = 4
  ami           = "ami-08c40ec9ead489470"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  
  tags = {
    Name = "TerraformTestServerInstance"
  }
}        

Explanation:

• count: Specifies the number of instances to create. In this example, it's set to 4.
• ami: The Amazon Machine Image (AMI) ID for the instance.
• instance_type: The type of EC2 instance, in this case, "t2.micro."
• tags: Assigns a name tag to the instance for better identification.

Executing the Terraform Configuration:

1. Initialize Terraform:$ terraform init
2. Review the Execution Plan:$ terraform plan
3. Apply the Configuration:$ terraform applyDuring the apply process, Terraform will prompt you to confirm that you want to create the specified resources. Type "yes" to proceed.

Conclusion:

With the AWS CLI configured, IAM user created, and Terraform providers set up, you're ready to start managing your AWS infrastructure using Terraform. This article provided a simple example of provisioning EC2 instances, and from here, you can explore more advanced Terraform configurations to meet your specific infrastructure needs. Happy Terraforming!

I'm confident that this article will prove to be valuable, helping you discover new insights and learn something enriching .

thank you : )