Chapter 12: Terraform Introduction
12.1 Why Terraform — blueprint before cloud clicks
Clickops — create infrastructure only by clicking a cloud console. Fine for learning clicks once; painful when you need the same setup again or must review a change.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) — describe desired cloud resources in files, store them in Git, apply through a tool. Terraform (and similar tools) plan the difference between desired and actual, then change the cloud carefully.
Why it matters for an Instagram-style badge API : a tagged security group or tiny lab VM for the badge API should be recreateable from files — and destroyable when class ends so you do not leave surprise resources running.
| Clickops | Terraform |
|---|---|
| Hard to review | plan shows the diff |
| Easy to forget cleanup | destroy targets what this project owns |
| Tribal knowledge | Git history of infra changes |
We do not rebuild full VPC, subnets, route tables or DNS here. Use default VPC / existing subnet IDs if you need an instance, or practise on a security group + tags only. Deep networking remains in the AWS Cloud course.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
terraform.tfstate commit karu nako — secrets / IDs asu shaktat. .gitignore madhe state aani *.tfstate* theva. Bilkul visru naka!