Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform for AWS Fundamentals

Skills Gained

• Understand the concept of Infrastructure as Code, Terraform's concepts, and their application to AWS
• Understand IaC and a comparative analysis of IaC against traditional scripting
• Initiate a Terraform project and use the Terraform CLI
• Provision and manage AWS resources using Terraform
• Explore Terraform's architecture and AWS provider fundamentals and contrast against other tools
• Understand the working architecture of Terraform and how it impacts IaC workflows
• Dive into Hashicorp's AWS provider and architecting AWS resources through Terraform
• Enhance Terraform HCL programming skills, exploring resources, data sources, modules, Terraform state, and relevant best practices
• Understand and practice HCL along with coding best practices
• Work with Data Source blocks with a focus on referencing preexisting AWS infrastructure in IaC projects
• Understand custom modules, general module architecture, and best practices
• Debug Terraform scripts and learn the art of applying IaC principles
• Understand how to debug and troubleshoot Terraform projects targeting AWS
• Understand how Terraform workflows impact organizations and vice-versa
• Apply resource management strategies to maintain security and performance while integrating AWS best practices
• Explore Terraform within an organizational context and its integration with other tools
• Leverage configuration management tools for final configuration tweaks
• Implement Terraform within CI/CD pipelines and its role in GitOps
• Integrate Terraform with other key tools for resource management

Who Can Benefit

The ideal audience for this course is someone who works with cloud infrastructure, has a basic working knowledge of Linux and Windows-based systems including Bash or PowerShell, and has a basic understanding of AWS.

Outline

Introduction to Terraform

Infrastructure as Code Overview

• Holistic Overview
• IaC vs Scripting

Terraform Basics - Getting Started

• Terraform CLI
• Terraform Project Structure
• Terraform Workflow: Plan, Apply, Destroy
• Terraform HCL Configuration Files
• Resources - Introduction
• Providers - Introduction
• Provisioning Infrastructure using Terraform
• Using Terraform Provider Documentation

Getting Started with Terraform and AWS

• Creating and managing AWS resources using Terraform
• State files and out-of-band changes - reality check

Terraform Architecture

• Terraform Development Architecture
• Terraform State
• Local State
• Remote State
• Intro to Terraform Enterprise and Terraform Cloud
• Terraform Registry
• Providers
• Plugins
• Modules
• Terraform CLI vs Provider version pinning
• CLI Compatibility Promise
• Provider Backward Compatibility

AWS Provider Fundamentals

• Provider Landscape for creating cloud resources
• AWS Provider Authentication
• Creating AWS resources:
• Compute: EC2 Instances, Lambda Functions, PaaS Applications
• Storage: S3 Buckets, EBS Volumes
• Databases: RDS, DynamoDB
• Network: VPC, Subnets, Route Tables, Internet Gateways
• Identity: IAM Users, Roles, Policies and attachments
• Architecting Infrastructure in AWS with Terraform
• Terraform vs CloudFormation and CDK

Skills Deep Dive

HCL Programming Basics

• Variables and Outputs
• Input
• Local
• Output
• Input Variables in Detail
• CLI Parameters
• TFVARS File
• Environment Variables
• Validation Rules
• HCL Expressions Basics
• Value Data Types
• Value References
• Strings
• Conditionals
• For
• Splat
• Operators
• Using Functions in Terraform
• Numeric
• String
• Collections
• Date and Time
• Type Conversion
• Encoding
• Filesystem
• Cryptographic and Hashing
• IP Network
• Terraform Best Practices - Basics
• HCL Coding Best Practices
• Terraform Project Best Practices

Resources Deep Dive

• Deep dive into HCL resource blocks
• Resource Blocks
• Resource Behavior
• Resource Dependencies
• Implicit
• Explicit
• Meta Arguments
• count
• depends_on
• for_each
• provider
• lifecycle

Data Sources

• Data Source Blocks
• Working with AWS Data Sources

Modules Deep Dive

• Modules Architectural Overview
• Writing Custom Modules
• Consuming Custom Modules
• Module Meta Arguments
• Publishing Modules
• Modules Best Practices

Terraform State Deep Dive

• Terraform State Architecture
• Terraform Backends
• Local
• Remote - Enterprise
• Remote - Cloud
• Remote - AWS S3
• Managing State
• State Drift
• Out of Band Changes
• Convention over Control
• Importing Existing Resources into Terraform
• Terraform CLI Import Command Usage
• 3rd Party Tools

Debugging and Troubleshooting

• Terraform Log Levels
• Debugging Terraform Scripts
• Audit Trails for Troubleshooting
• Terraform State File Issues
• Common Terraform Errors and Solutions

Terraform Best Practices

• Infrastructure as Code Principles
• Mutable vs Immutable
• Declarative Code
• Version Control
• Automation
• Resource Management Strategies
• Naming Conventions
• Modularization
• Resource Dependencies
• Lifecycle Management
• Effective Use of Data Sources
• Security Best Practices
• Secrets Management
• Principle of Least Privileges
• Use of Service Roles
• Performance Optimization Tips
• Parallel Resource Creation
• Reducing Interdependencies
• AWS Best Practices
• IaC Code Management
• Compatibility and Security
• Testing and Documentation
• Resource Management
• Environment and Automation

Advanced Concepts

• Terraform in Organization Context
• Centralized vs. Distributed Infrastructure Management
• Hybrid Infrastructure Management
• DevOps Approach with Terraform
• Using Managed Terraform Services
• Team Roles and Responsibilities
• Governance and Best Practices
• Case Studies and Real-world Scenarios
• Last Mile Configuration using Provisioners
• Configuration vs State
• Integrating configuration management tools
• Terraform in CI/CD Pipelines and GitOps
• Overview of CI/CD
• Terraform in CI/CD Context
• GitOps with Terraform
• Automated Testing of Terraform Code
• Infrastructure Deployment Automation
• Case Studies and Examples
• Best Practices and Tools
• Integration with Other Tools
• AWS Secrets Manager for Secrets Management
• AWS CloudWatch for resource monitoring
• Secrets Management with Vault
• Service Discovery with Consul
• Image Creation with Packer
• Development Environments with Vagrant
• Application Deployment with Nomad