Terraform is the first multi-cloud immutable infrastructure tool that was created by HashiCorp. It was released three years ago and written in the Go programming language.
Terraform is one of the simplest tools for infrastructure management and it uses a simple code for infrastructure management. Terraform can be used for both existing and custom in-house solutions.
Due to the simplicity in the syntax and works against multi-cloud, it becomes more popular than Ansible, Chef, Puppet or SaltStack.
Benefits of Using Terraform Instead of Ansible, SaltStack, Chef or Puppet
- The server orchestration tool
Terraform mainly concentrates on server provisioning. On the other hand, all other tools like Ansible, chef, etc focus on managing software on the existing servers.
- Client-only architecture
Since the terraform uses the cloud provider’s API for provisioning the infrastructure, there is no need for additional security checks and removes the use of running separate configuration management on the servers.
- Declarative code style
Ansible and chef follow the step-by-step procedural instruction method whereas Terraform focuses on describing the desired end state of the system, and the tool itself deals with achieving the desired result.
- Immutable infrastructure
As the Terraform creates a new configuration snapshot for each new update of any parameter, the development environment goes smoothly, easily and is completely bug-proof.
What is Infrastructure as Code?
Infrastructure as code means the administration of infrastructures like virtual machines, load balancer and networks in a narrative model and it help us to test applications in production-like environments initially in the buildup cycle.
Along with the automation and provisioning of software, Terraform begins with infrastructure code, but its target is on the automation of the infrastructure itself.
Workflow of Terraform
Advantages of Terraform
- Terraform is a multi-platform tool, it can interact with many platforms like AWS, OpenStack, GCE, Azure, Vmware.
- It can be combined with other third-party solutions like PagerDuty, Consul and Github.
- It gives us an opportunity of planning any alteration and control changes previews before applying.
- It can be bound as modules and reused which avoids rewriting the codes.
Reasons to consider Terraform for DevOps
The ultimate goal of DevOps is to perform software delivery more efficiently. In this scenario, the Terraform help the companies with infrastructure as code and automation in a quick and efficient manner.
Terraform is remodeling the DevOps world by altering the way infrastructure is managed, and making it quick and more efficient to execute DevOps.
The entire Cloud infrastructure (volumes, instances, networking, IPs) can be easily described in Terraform.
Use Cases
- Heroku App Setup
Heroku is a well known PaaS for hosting web applications. Developers create an app and then attach add-ons, such as a database, or email provider.
- Multi-Tier Applications
- Software Demos
- Disposable Environments
- Resource Schedulers
- Multi-Cloud Deployment
