What is Terraform ? Flashcards
What is Terraform?
Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.
Why do we need tools like Terraform for infrastructure management?
Tools like Terraform provide benefits such as Infrastructure as Code, safety mechanisms, efficiency in provisioning, and compatibility with various cloud providers.
How does Terraform enable application software best practices to infrastructure?
By treating infrastructure as code, Terraform allows for the application of software development best practices, including version control, testing, and collaboration.
What is the compatibility of Terraform with different clouds and services?
Terraform is compatible with multiple cloud providers and services, offering a consistent workflow across different platforms.
What is a common pattern involving Terraform and Ansible?
Terraform is used for infrastructure provisioning, while Ansible is used for configuration management and orchestration of software on that infrastructure.
What is the role of server templating tools like Packer?
Server templating tools like Packer enable the creation of custom machine images with pre-installed software and configurations, which can be used in conjunction with Terraform for infrastructure deployment.
How can Terraform be used in conjunction with Kubernetes?
Terraform can be used to provision the underlying infrastructure, while Kubernetes is used for container orchestration and managing applications on the provisioned infrastructure.
What are the main components of Terraform architecture?
Terraform consists of Terraform Core, Terraform State, Terraform Config, and Providers.
What is the role of Terraform Core?
Terraform Core interprets Terraform configuration files, creates execution plans, and executes them to provision and manage infrastructure.
What is the purpose of the Terraform State component?
Terraform State stores the current state of the infrastructure and is used to track resources and configurations managed by Terraform.
How does Terraform achieve compatibility with specific cloud platforms?
Terraform leverages Providers, such as the AWS Provider, to interface with specific cloud platforms and map the desired state defined in Terraform configuration to the corresponding resources and configurations in the target environment.
What are the benefits of using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform?
Automation of infrastructure provisioning and management.
Reproducibility and consistency in infrastructure configurations.
Collaboration and version control of infrastructure code.
Scalability and efficiency in managing infrastructure resources.
How does Terraform ensure safety in infrastructure changes?
Terraform performs an execution plan that previews changes before applying them, helping to prevent accidental or destructive modifications. Users can review and verify the changes before committing them.
What are some examples of cloud providers that are compatible with Terraform?
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, and many others. Terraform has a wide range of providers that enable provisioning and management across various cloud platforms.
Can Terraform be used alongside other configuration management tools?
Yes, Terraform can be used in conjunction with tools like Ansible, Chef, or Puppet. While Terraform focuses on infrastructure provisioning, these tools specialize in software configuration management and orchestration.
