Lab: Infrastructure as Code with Terraform

What you will learn in this TP

• Describe a resource in HCL
• Apply with plan then apply
• Detect drift

Terraform + LocalStack #

What you will learn in this section

• Describe a resource in HCL
• Apply with plan then apply
• Detect drift

Context. Infrastructure created by hand cannot be reproduced or audited. Infrastructure as Code describes resources in versioned files: you practise it with Terraform and see what configuration drift is.

Prerequisites: Previous lab (LocalStack), Terraform installed  ·  Estimated time: 40 min

A versioned bucket described in HCL.

1. 1. Configure the provider

   Why? The provider tells Terraform which API to target; pointing it at LocalStack, the same code would work on real AWS by removing the overrides.

   Point the AWS provider to LocalStack.

2. 2. Describe the resource

   Why? Describing versioning and tags in code guarantees they are identical everywhere and auditable in Git.

   Create a bucket with versioning and an env=lab tag.

3. 3. Plan and apply

   Why? plan shows what will change before doing it: it is the safeguard that prevents accidental destruction.

   Run the full cycle and inspect the state.

4. 4. Drift and destruction

   Why? Changing by hand then re-running plan makes drift clear: real state diverges from code, and Terraform offers to fix it.

   Change the resource by hand, detect the drift, then destroy the infrastructure.

Difficulty level : ●●○○○ (2/5)