Terraform Crash Course: Cloud/AWS Automation 2.5hrs!!

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to guide you through the process of using Terraform to manage and automate your AWS cloud infrastructure. You will learn how to set up a free AWS account, install Terraform on various operating systems, deploy resources, and understand core concepts such as modifying and deleting resources, managing state, and using variables.

Step 1: Setting Up a Free AWS Account

To get started with Terraform on AWS, you first need an AWS account.

1. Visit the AWS Free Tier page.
2. Click on "Create a Free Account."
3. Follow the prompts to fill out your account information.
4. Provide payment details (you won't be charged for free tier usage).
5. Verify your identity via phone call or text.
6. Choose a support plan (basic is free).
7. Complete the registration process.

Step 2: Installing Terraform on Your Operating System

Terraform can be installed on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Follow the instructions for your operating system.

Windows Installation

1. Download Terraform from the Terraform downloads page.
2. Unzip the downloaded file.
3. Move the terraform.exe file to a directory included in your system's PATH (e.g., C:\Program Files\Terraform).
4. Verify the installation by opening Command Prompt and typing:

   terraform -version
   

Mac Installation

1. Open Terminal.
2. Install Homebrew if you haven't already by running:

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
   

3. Install Terraform by running:

   brew install terraform
   

4. Verify the installation:

   terraform -version
   

Linux Installation

1. Open your terminal.
2. Download Terraform using the following command (replace <VERSION> with the latest version):

   wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/<VERSION>/terraform_<VERSION>_linux_amd64.zip
   

3. Unzip the downloaded file:

   unzip terraform_<VERSION>_linux_amd64.zip
   

4. Move the binary to a directory in your PATH:

   sudo mv terraform /usr/local/bin/
   

5. Verify the installation:

   terraform -version
   

Step 3: Setting Up Visual Studio Code

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code.
2. Install the HashiCorp Terraform extension by following these steps:
   • Open VS Code.
   • Go to the Extensions view by clicking on the square icon in the sidebar.
   • Search for "Terraform" and click "Install" on the HashiCorp extension.

Step 4: Understanding Terraform Overview

• Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that enables you to define and provision data center infrastructure using a high-level configuration language.
• Key concepts include:
  • Providers: Interfaces for managing resources (e.g., AWS).
  • Resources: Components of your infrastructure (e.g., EC2 instances).
  • State: Keeps track of the resources managed by Terraform.

Step 5: Deploying Your First Resource

1. Create a new directory for your Terraform configuration files.
2. Inside this directory, create a file named main.tf.
3. Add the following basic configuration to your main.tf file:

   provider "aws" {
     region = "us-east-1"
   }
   
   resource "aws_instance" "example" {
     ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe01e"  # Update with a valid AMI ID
     instance_type = "t2.micro"
   }
   

4. Initialize Terraform in your directory:

   terraform init
   

5. Plan your deployment:

   terraform plan
   

6. Apply the configuration:

   terraform apply
   

Step 6: Modifying and Deleting Resources

• To modify a resource, change the configuration in main.tf and run terraform apply again.
• To delete a resource, use:

  terraform destroy
  

Step 7: Managing Terraform State

• Use terraform state commands to view and manage your state file.
• Important state commands include:
  • terraform state list: List resources in the state file.
  • terraform state rm <resource>: Remove a resource from the state.

Step 8: Using Terraform Variables

1. Create a variables.tf file to define variables:

   variable "instance_type" {
     default = "t2.micro"
   }
   

2. Reference the variable in your resource configuration:

   resource "aws_instance" "example" {
     ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe01e"
     instance_type = var.instance_type
   }
   

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to set up an AWS account, install Terraform on different operating systems, and deploy your first AWS resource. You also covered how to modify and delete resources, manage state, and use variables.

For further exploration, consider working on practice projects or diving deeper into Terraform documentation for advanced features. To continue your learning, you can check out the GitHub repository linked in the video description for additional resources and examples.