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Chapter 6 - Terraform Settings and Providers

The settings and providers blocks

Terraform Settings block​

  • Used to lock your terraform version
  • provider requirements
  • Backend (state file)
  • only constant settings - no functions

Provider block​

Provider block is the HEART of Terraform.

  • used to interact with remote systems
  • provider configurations belong in the root modules.

Required_version​

This is used to set a version constraint on your terraform code.

  • ~ - the rightmost minor version .0 can be updated to whatever version - pessimistic constraint
  • > - greater than
  • >= - greater than or equal
  • = - equal

Terraform Provider instruction​

Every resource type is implemented by a provider. Without providers, terraform cannot manage any infrastructure. Providers are distributed separately from terraform and have their own release cycles and version numbers.

  • Provider requirements
  • Provider configuration
  • Dependency Lock file - locks the version of the provider. Commit this so you get that gate check if you are running different versions of terraform and different providers.

Terraform plan​

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Terraform Destroy​

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Required Providers block​

Local names - module specific and should be unique per module. Users can choose any local name for the provider. It is preferred to use azurerm for the azurerm provider :)

Sources are split by slashes hashicorp/azurerm

Types of providers​

  • Official - Contain the *Official badge on the terraform registry.
  • Verified/Partner - owned and maintained by third parties
  • Community - community providers are published by individual maintainers.
  • Archived - no longer maintained by anyone.

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Provider documentation​

Contained within the provider in the terraform registry.

Understand required_providers​

The lock file will lock you to a certain version of the provider. You can switch the providers and then run a terraform init -upgrade to change the provider. Don't need to delete the lock file.

Authentication types​

Features block​

Key vaults LA workspaces VMSS

Terraform apply and destroy​

-auto-approve is an option.

You can then destroy individual resources by removing the code and running a terraform plan and apply.