Terraform Infrastructure Overview
Build scalable infrastructure as code with Terraform, managing AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premise resources through declarative configuration, remote state, and automated provisioning.
When to Use Cloud infrastructure provisioning Multi-environment management (dev, staging, prod) Infrastructure versioning and code review Cost tracking and resource optimization Disaster recovery and environment replication Automated infrastructure testing Cross-region deployments Implementation Examples 1. AWS Infrastructure Module
terraform/main.tf
terraform { required_version = ">= 1.0"
required_providers { aws = { source = "hashicorp/aws" version = "~> 5.0" } }
# Remote state configuration backend "s3" { bucket = "terraform-state-prod" key = "prod/terraform.tfstate" region = "us-east-1" encrypt = true dynamodb_table = "terraform-locks" } }
provider "aws" { region = var.aws_region
default_tags { tags = { Environment = var.environment ManagedBy = "Terraform" Project = var.project_name } } }
VPC and networking
resource "aws_vpc" "main" { cidr_block = var.vpc_cidr enable_dns_hostnames = true enable_dns_support = true
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-vpc" } }
resource "aws_subnet" "public" { count = length(var.public_subnets) vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id cidr_block = var.public_subnets[count.index] availability_zone = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[count.index] map_public_ip_on_launch = true
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-public-${count.index + 1}" } }
resource "aws_subnet" "private" { count = length(var.private_subnets) vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id cidr_block = var.private_subnets[count.index] availability_zone = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[count.index]
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-private-${count.index + 1}" } }
Internet Gateway
resource "aws_internet_gateway" "main" { vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-igw" } }
NAT Gateway for private subnets
resource "aws_eip" "nat" { count = length(var.public_subnets) domain = "vpc"
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-eip-${count.index + 1}" }
depends_on = [aws_internet_gateway.main] }
resource "aws_nat_gateway" "main" { count = length(var.public_subnets) allocation_id = aws_eip.nat[count.index].id subnet_id = aws_subnet.public[count.index].id
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-nat-${count.index + 1}" }
depends_on = [aws_internet_gateway.main] }
Route tables
resource "aws_route_table" "public" { vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
route { cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0" gateway_id = aws_internet_gateway.main.id }
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-public-rt" } }
resource "aws_route_table" "private" { count = length(var.private_subnets) vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
route { cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0" nat_gateway_id = aws_nat_gateway.main[count.index].id }
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-private-rt-${count.index + 1}" } }
Route table associations
resource "aws_route_table_association" "public" { count = length(var.public_subnets) subnet_id = aws_subnet.public[count.index].id route_table_id = aws_route_table.public.id }
resource "aws_route_table_association" "private" { count = length(var.private_subnets) subnet_id = aws_subnet.private[count.index].id route_table_id = aws_route_table.private[count.index].id }
Security Group
resource "aws_security_group" "alb" { name = "${var.project_name}-alb-sg" description = "Security group for ALB" vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
ingress { from_port = 80 to_port = 80 protocol = "tcp" cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] }
ingress { from_port = 443 to_port = 443 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"] }
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-alb-sg" } }
Application Load Balancer
resource "aws_lb" "main" { name = "${var.project_name}-alb" internal = false load_balancer_type = "application" security_groups = [aws_security_group.alb.id] subnets = aws_subnet.public[*].id
enable_deletion_protection = var.environment == "production" ? true : false
tags = { Name = "${var.project_name}-alb" } }
Data source for availability zones
data "aws_availability_zones" "available" { state = "available" }
- Variables and Outputs
terraform/variables.tf
variable "aws_region" { description = "AWS region" type = string default = "us-east-1" }
variable "environment" { description = "Environment name" type = string validation { condition = contains(["dev", "staging", "production"], var.environment) error_message = "Environment must be dev, staging, or production." } }
variable "project_name" { description = "Project name for resource naming" type = string }
variable "vpc_cidr" { description = "CIDR block for VPC" type = string default = "10.0.0.0/16" }
variable "public_subnets" { description = "Public subnet CIDR blocks" type = list(string) default = ["10.0.1.0/24", "10.0.2.0/24"] }
variable "private_subnets" { description = "Private subnet CIDR blocks" type = list(string) default = ["10.0.10.0/24", "10.0.11.0/24"] }
terraform/outputs.tf
output "vpc_id" { description = "VPC ID" value = aws_vpc.main.id }
output "vpc_cidr" { description = "VPC CIDR block" value = aws_vpc.main.cidr_block }
output "public_subnet_ids" { description = "Public subnet IDs" value = aws_subnet.public[*].id }
output "private_subnet_ids" { description = "Private subnet IDs" value = aws_subnet.private[*].id }
output "alb_dns_name" { description = "DNS name of the ALB" value = aws_lb.main.dns_name }
output "alb_arn" { description = "ARN of the ALB" value = aws_lb.main.arn }
- Terraform Deployment Script
!/bin/bash
deploy-terraform.sh - Terraform deployment automation
set -euo pipefail
ENVIRONMENT="${1:-dev}" ACTION="${2:-plan}" TF_DIR="terraform"
echo "Terraform $ACTION for environment: $ENVIRONMENT"
cd "$TF_DIR"
Initialize Terraform
echo "Initializing Terraform..." terraform init -upgrade
Format and validate
echo "Validating Terraform configuration..." terraform fmt -recursive -check . terraform validate
Create/select workspace
echo "Creating/selecting workspace: $ENVIRONMENT" terraform workspace select -or-create "$ENVIRONMENT"
Plan or apply
case "$ACTION" in plan) echo "Creating Terraform plan..." terraform plan \ -var-file="environments/$ENVIRONMENT.tfvars" \ -out="tfplan-$ENVIRONMENT" ;; apply) echo "Applying Terraform changes..." terraform apply \ -var-file="environments/$ENVIRONMENT.tfvars" \ -auto-approve ;; destroy) echo "WARNING: Destroying infrastructure in $ENVIRONMENT" read -p "Are you sure? (yes/no): " confirm if [ "$confirm" = "yes" ]; then terraform destroy \ -var-file="environments/$ENVIRONMENT.tfvars" \ -auto-approve fi ;; *) echo "Unknown action: $ACTION" exit 1 ;; esac
echo "Terraform $ACTION complete!"
Best Practices ✅ DO Use remote state (S3, Terraform Cloud) Implement state locking (DynamoDB) Organize code into modules Use workspaces for environments Apply tags consistently Use variables for flexibility Implement code review before apply Keep sensitive data in separate variable files ❌ DON'T Store state files locally in git Use hardcoded values Mix environments in single state Skip terraform plan review Use root module for everything Store secrets in code Disable state locking Terraform Commands terraform init # Initialize Terraform terraform validate # Validate configuration terraform fmt # Format code terraform plan # Preview changes terraform apply # Apply changes terraform destroy # Remove resources terraform workspace # Manage workspaces
Resources Terraform Documentation Terraform AWS Provider Terraform Module Registry Terraform Best Practices