Task 1:
Find the purpose of basic Terraform commands that you'll use often
terraform init:
Initializes a Terraform working directory by downloading the necessary providers and modules specified in your configuration files. It sets up the environment for Terraform to use.
terraform init -upgrade:
This is an optional flag used with terraform init to upgrade the providers and modules to the latest available versions.
terraform plan:
Generates an execution plan, showing what Terraform will do when you apply your configuration.
terraform apply:
Applies the changes described in your Terraform configuration to create, update, or delete resources in your infrastructure according to the plan generated by terraform plan.
terraform validate:
Validates the syntax and structure of the Terraform configuration file. This command checks for errors, missing required arguments, and other issues.
terraform fmt:
Rewrites Terraform configuration files to a canonical format, which makes it easier to read and maintain.
terraform destroy:
Destroys all the resources created by Terraform, effectively tearing down your infrastructure.
What are the main competitors of Terraform?
AWS CloudFormation: AWS CloudFormation is an IaC tool provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It allows users to define and manage infrastructure resources in a declarative way using JSON or YAML templates. CloudFormation supports a wide range of AWS services and is tightly integrated with other AWS tools and services.
Ansible: Ansible is an open-source IaC tool that uses YAML scripts to define and manage infrastructure resources. Ansible can be used for provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment across multiple platforms and cloud providers.
Kubernetes: Kubernetes is another IT automation alternative to Terraform. It is an open-source solution that enables automated deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications. It simplifies container communication. It facilitates container discovery and management within an application.
Puppet: Puppet is another open-source IaC tool that uses a declarative language to define and manage infrastructure resources. Puppet has a large community of users and contributors and supports a wide range of platforms and cloud providers.
Chef: Chef is an open-source IaC tool that uses Ruby scripts to define and manage infrastructure resources. Chef is particularly well-suited for managing large-scale infrastructures and supports a wide range of platforms and cloud providers.
Packer: Packer creates identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. A common use case is creating golden images for organizations to use in cloud infrastructure.
Cloud Foundry: Cloud Foundry is an open-source cloud application platform that makes it faster and easier to build, test, deploy, and scale apps in your choice of cloud, framework, and language. Remove the cost and complexity associated with configuring, managing, and securing infrastructure for your app with Cloud Foundry.
Happy Learning!