To begin with, terraform is an n infrastructure as code tool (IaaS) that allows a user to define both cloud and on-premises resources in human-readable configuration files. In addition, with this tool, you can build, change, and version cloud and on-premises resources safely and efficiently. Terraform has three versions which are as follows.
- Open Source- It provides thousands of different types of resources and services and allows you to manually pull the most up-to-date version to perform Terraform operations.
- Terraform Cloud- It is useful in running the Terraform from the local CLI or in a remote environment. In addition, you can trigger operations through your version control system.
- Terraform Enterprise- It allows a user to set up a private instance of Terraform Cloud with dedicated support from HashiCorp.
Features Of Terraform
Terraform allows teams to use its various cloud features like remote Terraform execution, VCS integration, and the private module registry for free. In addition, it allows owners to manage and change their organization’s billing plan by following simple steps. Many institutes provide Terraform Training in Gurgaon and one can enroll in them to further know about its features. Apart from these, given below are some of the features of Terraform.
- It comes with a console that allows users to observe functions such as numeric, string, date, and time.
- Has a configuration language that supports interpolation and enables admins to pass functions as a string.
- Is capable of translating the HCL code into JSON format.
- Generates an execution plan to see what sequence of steps Terraform will take when a change is made.
- Provides a Module Count that specifies the number of modules that have been applied to infrastructure.
- Uses Of Terraform
- External Resource Management- It provides support for public and private cloud infrastructure along with network appliances and SaaS deployments.
- Multi-cloud deployment- Terraform is capable of supporting multiple cloud services. Thus, helping in enhancing fault tolerance abilities.
- Self-service clusters- It comes with various registries that allow users to easily find pre-packaged configurations. In addition, these configurations are useful or modified as per a particular need.
- Software-defined networking (SDN)- It ensures high readability and allows network engineers to easily codify the configuration for an SDN.
- Resource scheduler- Terraform also acts as a resource scheduler as its modules stop and start resources on AWS. Thus, allowing Kubernetes to schedule Docker containers.
- Disposable environments- Its modules are also capable of creating a throwaway test environment for code before it’s put into production. Know About: Machine Learning.
Benefits Of Using Terraform
Terraform is an open-source Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool, useful for configuring, testing, and deploying infrastructure across multiple cloud providers. In addition, it is declarative and focuses on describing the goal rather than the exact steps to reach that goal. It is agent-less and eliminates the need of installing agent software on each server that you want to configure. Thus, allowing you to install and use it easily. Furthermore, it uses a modular structure and allows you to organize, encapsulate and re-use configuration.
Thus, helping in providing consistency and ensuring best practices. It allows you to use only one tool for describing the structure of any Cloud Platform like Google Cloud, AWS, or OpenStack. Etc. Thus, eliminating the need of switching providers. Above all, it comes with a large community along with many enterprises support options. It helps you easily find help online on professional forums and easily hire a consultant if you need help. To further know about its benefits, one can visit Terraform Online Course. Apart from these, given below are some of the benefits of using Terraform.
- Capable of tracking resource changes throughout your deployments.
- Allows you to commit your configurations to version control to safely collaborate on infrastructure.
- Comes with human-readable configuration language to write infrastructure code quickly.
- Helps in managing infrastructure on multiple cloud platforms.
- It not only handles IaaS (AWS, Azure, etc) but can also handle PaaS (SQL, NodeJS).
- Facilitates easy collaboration and allows teams to collaborate on infrastructure.
Conclusion
Terraform is an IaaS tool that allows you to build, change, and version cloud and on-premises resources. It has three versions that are open source, cloud, and enterprise versions. Furthermore, terraform has multiple uses like External Resource Management, Multi-cloud deployment, Self-service clusters ad many more.
