Day 01 – Intro to Terraform & Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

What is Infrastructure as Code(IaC)?
IaC simply means managing and creating cloud infrastructure using code instead of doing everything manually in the console.
So instead of clicking buttons on AWS every time, you write configuration files which Terraform uses to create resources automatically.

why this matters:

• It keeps your infrastructure consistent.
• You can track every change using Git.
• It reduces manual mistakes.
• You can recreate the same setup anytime. IaC basically brings software-like discipline into infrastructure management.

What is Terraform?
Terraform is one of the mst widely used IaC tools in industry.

• cloud-agnostic -> works with AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Cloudflare and more.
• Declarative -> You describe what you want, and Terraform builds it.
• Easy to version control -> because everything is written in files.
• Powered by providers -> AWS, Azure, GCP etc. each have their own provider plugin.

One thing that stood out to me was Terraform's state file. Terraform stores the details of all created resources inside a file called terraform.tfstate. This helps Terraform understand what already exists and what changes need to be made.

Terraform Workflow:
The core Terraform workflow, which is actually very simple:-

1. Write -> Create .tf file.
2. Init -> Downloads provider plugins.
3. Plan -> Shows what Terraform will create or modify.
4. Apply -> Makes the actual changes in your cloud account.
5. Destroy -> Declares everything when you're done. This workflow makes Terraform predictable and safe.