Terraform (software)
 |
 | |
| Original author(s) | Mitchell Hashimoto et al. |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | HashiCorp |
| Initial release | 28 July 2014 |
| Stable release | 1.3.6
/ 30 November 2022[1] |
| Repository | |
| Written in | Go |
| Operating system | Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, OpenBSD, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Infrastructure as code |
| License | Mozilla Public License v2.0[2] |
| Website | www |
Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code software tool created by HashiCorp. Users define and provide data center infrastructure using a declarative configuration language known as HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL), or optionally JSON.[3]
Design[edit]
Terraform manages external resources (such as public cloud infrastructure, private cloud infrastructure, network appliances, software as a service, and platform as a service) with "providers". HashiCorp maintains an extensive list of official providers, and can also integrate with community-developed providers.[4] Users can interact with Terraform providers by declaring resources[5] or by calling data sources.[6] Rather than using imperative commands to provision resources, Terraform uses declarative configuration to describe the desired final state. Once a user invokes Terraform on a given resource, Terraform will perform CRUD actions on the user's behalf to accomplish the desired state.[7] The infrastructure as code can be written as modules, promoting reusability and maintainability.[8]
Terraform supports a number of cloud infrastructure providers such as Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare,[9] Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Serverspace, Google Cloud Platform,[10] DigitalOcean,[11] Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Yandex.Cloud,[12] VMware vSphere, and OpenStack.[13][14][15][16][17]
HashiCorp maintains a Terraform Module Registry, launched in 2017.[18] In 2019, Terraform introduced the paid version called Terraform Enterprise for larger organizations.[19]
Core concepts[edit]
Providers[edit]
Terraform relies on providers to enable interaction with various APIs and services. These providers are configured in the Terraform configuration code and allow access to Cloud-based offerings, such as AWS or GCP, and Software-as-a-Service offerings. This allows developers using Terraform to integrate multiple services into their automation workflows.
Modules[edit]
Terraform modules are designed to simplify the creation of multiple resources by grouping them logically in a single and reusable offering. This minimizes development time and reduces redundancy, making it easier for users to create complex infrastructure components without writing large amounts of code.[20]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Releases - hashicorp/terraform". Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via GitHub.
- ^ "LICENSE" – via GitHub.
- ^ "Syntax - Configuration Language".
- ^ "Providers".
- ^ "Resources".
- ^ "Data Sources".
- ^ "Configuration".
- ^ "Modules".
- ^ "Cloudflare Provider". Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "Google Cloud Platform Provider for Terraform". Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- ^ Starr-Bochicchio, Andrew (2018-10-22). "Introducing the DigitalOcean Terraform Provider". DigitalOcean Blog. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
- ^ "Yandex Cloud Provider". 2021-05-31.
- ^ "Terraform vs. Chef, Puppet, etc. - Terraform by HashiCorp". Terraform by HashiCorp. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
- ^ Bryant, Daniel (2017-03-26). "HashiCorp Terraform 0.9. Released with State Locking, State Environments, and Destroy Provisioners". InfoQ. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
- ^ Yevgeniy., Brikman (2017). Terraform Writing Infrastructure as Configuration. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 9781491977057. OCLC 978667796.
- ^ Somwanshi, Sneha (2015-03-01). "Choosing the Right Tool to Provision AWS Infrastructure". ThoughtWorks Blog.
- ^ Turnbull, James (2016). The Terraform Book. ISBN 9780988820258.
- ^ Atkins, Martin (2017-11-16). "HashiCorp Terraform 0.11". HashiCorp Blog. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
- ^ HashiCorp. "HashiCorp Terraform - Provision & Manage any Infrastructure". HashiCorp: Infrastructure enables innovation. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
- ^ "What Are Terraform Modules and How to Use Them - Tutorial". Spacelift. Retrieved 2023-01-26.