Configure Your Cloud Infrastructure using Terraform and AWS CLI: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

Configure Your Cloud Infrastructure using Terraform and AWS CLI: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

Introduction

In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up an EC2 instance on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Terraform and the AWS CLI. EC2 instances are virtual machines that run on AWS and are widely used in cloud infrastructure projects.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, ensure you have:

• Terraform CLI (version 1.2.0 or later) installed

• AWS CLI installed

• An AWS account with the necessary credentials to create resources

IAM credentials configured using environment variables or AWS CLI

Step 1: Configure AWS Credentials

Log into your AWS portal.

Click on your username in the top-right corner and select Security Credentials.

Under Access Keys, click Create access key.

Check the "I Understand" box and click Create.

Copy the Access Key and Secret Key.

Configure AWS CLI

Open your terminal and enter:

• Run these command: terraform --version
• Second command: aws --version

Follow the prompts and enter your:

AWS Access Key ID

AWS Secret Access Key

Default region name (e.g., us-east-1)

Output format (e.g., json or table)
But in this case, I left it as default

Step 2: Set Up Your Terraform Project

Create a working directory and navigate into it:

mkdir terraformtask

cd terraformtask

Open a new file named main.tf in a text editor and add the following configuration:

terraform {
required_providers {
aws = {
source = "hashicorp/aws"
version = "~> 4.16"
}
}

required_version = ">= 1.2.0"
}

provider "aws" {
region = "us-west-2"
}

resource "aws_instance" "app_server" {
ami = "ami-830c94e3"
instance_type = "t2.micro"

tags = {
Name = "ExampleAppServerInstance"
}
}

Step 3: Initialize Terraform

Run the following command to initialize the directory and download required provider plugins:

terraform init

Step 4: Format, Validate, and Apply Configuration

Before applying the configuration, format and validate the files:
terraform fmt
terraform validate

If validation passes, apply the configuration:

terraform apply

Type yes when prompted to confirm.

Step 5: Verify the Infrastructure

To check the current state of your infrastructure, run:

terraform show

This command displays the details of the provisioned resources.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully deployed an EC2 instance using Terraform and AWS CLI. This process is the foundation for automating cloud infrastructure deployment.

For more information, explore the Terraform Registry and the AWS Provider Documentation.