In this post, I will share some quick tips, including Q&A’s and useful links that are very helpful in learning Terraform and getting certified, which will help you get a better job.
In our Day 1 Live Session, we covered the basics of Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps, and Terraform.
In this training program, we cover 30+ hands-on labs. You can check the full roadmap from the image below:
So, here are some of the Q/A’s asked during the Live session from Module 1: What & Why about Terraform.
HashiCorp Terraform Associate
A Terraform Associate is a Cloud Engineer specializing in operations, IT, or developers who know the basic concepts and skills associated with open-source HashiCorp Terraform. This person understands which enterprise features exist and what can and cannot be done using the open-source offering.
Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a widespread terminology among DevOps professionals and a key DevOps practice in the industry. It is the process of managing and provisioning the complete IT infrastructure (comprising both physical and virtual machines) using machine-readable definition files.
Any (On-prem or Cloud) infrastructure with a programmatic interface can participate in IaC.
Q1. When should we use IaC?
Ans. You should use IaC when:
- You use a large amount of IaaS, PaaS & SaaS resources.
- Your infrastructure is rented from many different providers(AWS, GCP, OCI,etc.) or platforms.
- You need to make regular adjustments to your infrastructure.
- You need proper documentation of changes made to your infrastructure.
- You want to optimize collaboration between administrators and developers.
Q2. What are the benefits of using IaC?
Ans. The benefits of using IaC are:
- Repeatability
- Speed
- Documentation
- Version Control
- Validation
- Reuse
DevOps
DevOps is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity: evolving and improving products at a faster pace than organizations using traditional software development and infrastructure management processes. This speed enables organizations to better serve their customers and compete more effectively in the market.
Q3. Among DevOps tools, where is the use of Terraform?
Ans. Terraform is used for configuration Management and Automation along with other tools like chef, puppet, and Ansible.
Check the below image for reference:
Q4. Name all the categories of IaC tools.
Ans. IaC tools are divided into 4 parts which are:
- Configuration Management: Tools available are – Chef, Ansible, Puppet & SaltStack.
- Server Templating: Tools available are – Packer, Docker & Vagrant.
- Server Provisioning: Tools available are -Terraform, ARM, Cloud Formation & Openstack Heat.
- Ad-hoc Scripts
Terraform
Terraform is one of the most popular Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools used by DevOps teams to automate infrastructure tasks. It is used to automate the provisioning of your cloud resources.
Know more about Terraform.
Terraform Installation
To install Terraform on your system, follow these steps:
1. Visit the official Terraform website at https://www.terraform.io/downloads.html
2. Scroll down to the “Terraform CLI” section and identify the version suitable for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
3. Download the appropriate Terraform binary for your operating system. For example, if you’re using Windows, download the Windows 64-bit version.
4. Once the download is complete, extract the downloaded archive to obtain the Terraform executable file.
– On Windows: Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file to a folder of your choice.
– On macOS: Open the downloaded DMG file, and then drag and drop the Terraform binary to the desired location (e.g., /usr/local/bin).
– On Linux: Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file to a directory of your choice, and then move the Terraform binary to a location in your system’s PATH.
5. Add the directory where the Terraform binary is located to your system’s PATH environment variable. This step allows you to run Terraform from any location in the command prompt or terminal.
– On Windows: Open the Start menu, search for “environment variables,” and select “Edit the system environment variables.” In the System Properties window, click the “Environment Variables” button. In the “System variables” section, select the “Path” variable and click the “Edit” button. Add the directory path to the Terraform binary (e.g., C:\terraform) and click “OK” on all open windows to save the changes.
– On macOS and Linux: Open a terminal and execute the following command, replacing “/path/to/terraform” with the actual path to the Terraform binary:
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/terraform
6. Verify the installation by opening a new command prompt or terminal window and executing the following command:
terraform version
If the installation was successful, you should see the installed Terraform version displayed.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Terraform on your system. You can now start using it to manage your infrastructure as code.
Q5. Name some major competitors of Terraform.
Ans. The major competitors of Terraform are:
- Ansible
- Puppet
- Chef
- Packer
- Cloud Foundry
Know which of the above IaC tools is best.
Q6. Define Terraform provider?
Ans. Terraform is used to manage and inform infrastructure resources such as bodily machines, VMs, network switches, containers, and more. A provider is accountable for thoughtful API interactions and revealing resources. Terraform supports a large number of cloud providers.
Some of the terraform providers are:
- AWS (from Amazon)
- Azure (from Microsoft)
- GCP (from Google)
- OCI (from Oracle)
- Alibaba Cloud
- Kubernetes
Q7. How does Terraform work?
Ans. Terraform creates an implementation plan, defines what it will do to attain the preferred state, and then executes it to construct the described infrastructure. As the configuration changes, Terraform is talented to decide what changed and generate incremental execution plans which can be practical.
Q8. Name some major features of Terraform.
Ans. Some of them are:
- Execution Plan
- Change Automation
- Resource Graph
- Infrastructure as code
State Management in Terraform
A state file is created in Terraform while executing the Terraform script. It stores the metadata of the resources that are created and updated via Terraform.
Any change in the resources via Terraform will be recorded, and changes will be made in the state file.
Terraform State File Benefits
- Idempotence: Resources that require changes will be updated
- Dependencies: Terraform found the dependency when building its graph
- Performance: Terraform will refresh the state before each planning run but can be skipped
- Collaboration: Combined with the storage of state in a remote, shared location, teams can collaborate
Quiz Time (Sample Exam Questions)!
With our Terraform certification training program, we cover 200+ sample exam questions to help you prepare for the certification.
Check out one of the questions and see if you can crack this…
Ques: Is the State file required for Terraform to function?
A. Yes
B. No
Comment Down the right answer or the right answer will be revealed in my next blog.
Till then, you can check our FREE guide containing Terraform Interview Questions & Answers.
Feedback
We always work on improving and being the best version of ourselves from the previous session hence constantly ask for feedback from our attendees.
Here’s the feedback that we received from our trainees who attended the session…
P.S. Here’s the response that we received from our trainees who attended the session…
> Here 2102 is in YYMM format, and represents the trainees from the batch of February 2021.
Related/References
- HashiCorp Infrastructure Automation Certification: Terraform Associate
- HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate-Step By Step Activity Guides
- Hashicorp: Terraform Certified Associate – Tricks & Tips Of Terraform
- Install Terraform in Linux, Mac, Windows
- Why Terraform? Not Chef, Ansible, Puppet, CloudFormation?
- Terraform Variables – Terraform Variable Types
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