Provision EC2 Instance with EBS Volume using Terraform

Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool developed by HashiCorp. It is used to define and provision infrastructure resources in a safe, repeatable, and automated way. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what Terraform does and its key features:

Key Features of Terraform

1. Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
   Terraform allows you to define your infrastructure using a high-level configuration language known as HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) or JSON. This approach allows you to manage infrastructure through version control, similar to application code.

2. Declarative Configuration:
   With Terraform, you describe the desired state of your infrastructure, and Terraform automatically figures out the steps to reach that state from the current state. This contrasts with imperative configuration, where you manually define the steps needed to achieve the desired state.

3. Resource Provisioning:
   Terraform supports a wide range of infrastructure providers, such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, VMware, and many others. It can provision and manage resources like virtual machines, storage, networking components, and more.

4. Execution Plans:
   Before applying any changes, Terraform generates an execution plan that outlines what actions will be taken. This plan helps users understand what will happen if they apply the configuration, providing an opportunity to review and approve the changes.

5. State Management:
   Terraform maintains a state file that represents the current state of the infrastructure. This state file is used to track resource changes over time and ensure that Terraform knows what resources exist, enabling it to apply only necessary changes.

6. Modules:
   Terraform supports modules, which are reusable packages of Terraform configuration files. Modules allow you to create standard infrastructure components and share them across projects, promoting reusability and consistency.

7. Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Support:
   Terraform's provider model allows it to work with multiple cloud providers and on-premises solutions, making it suitable for managing multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

How Terraform Works

• Write: You define infrastructure configurations using HCL in .tf files.

• Plan: Terraform generates an execution plan to preview the changes that will be made to the infrastructure.

• Apply: Terraform applies the execution plan to create, update, or delete resources to reach the desired state.

• Destroy: When no longer needed, you can use Terraform to destroy the infrastructure it manages.

Use Cases

• Cloud Infrastructure Management: Automating the provisioning and management of cloud resources like compute instances, networking, and storage.

• Environment Consistency: Ensuring that development, testing, and production environments are consistent and reproducible.

• Infrastructure Automation: Integrating Terraform with CI/CD pipelines to automate infrastructure provisioning and deployments.

• Multi-Cloud Strategies: Managing resources across multiple cloud providers from a single configuration.

Terraform's approach to managing infrastructure as code helps teams collaborate more effectively, reduce manual errors, and accelerate infrastructure provisioning .

Provision EC2 Instance with EBS Volume using Terraform

Prerequites -

• Terraform configuration is created to define an EC2 instance and a 3 GB EBS volume.

- The Terraform code is applied, and an EC2 instance is provisioned in your AWS account with the any AMI and instance type of your choice.

- An EBS volume of 3 GB is created. - The EBS volume is successfully attached to the EC2 instance.

Step 1: Verify the aws console

Login to AWS Management Console

Navigate to the EC2 service in the AWS Management Console.

Verify that the EC2 Instance is created.

Step 2: Configuring AWS IAM credentials

Create IAM user: In AWS Management Console, search “IAM” in the services search bar and select “IAM”.

Click on “Users” from the left-hand navigation pane.

Click on “Add user” button.

User name: Enter a user name.

Permission -

Set permissions: Choose “Attach policies directly”.

Search and select the ‘AdministratorAccess’ policy.

Click “Next”.

Click on user and click on “Security credentials”.

Click on “Create access key”.

Select “Command Line Interface (CLI).

Tick the confirmation box, click Next.

After creating access key successfully, you’ll get the credentials that you need to configure AWS on your Windows machine.

Step 3: Install Terraform

Download Terraform.

Visit the Terraform downloads page. (https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/install# windows)

Download the Windows 64-bit ZIP file. 2.Extract the ZIP file.

Right click on the downloaded zip file and select “Extract All”.

Command –

wget-O-https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg|sudogpg--dearmor-o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg

echo"deb[signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com$(lsb_release-cs)mainsudo/etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt install terraform

Open a Command prompt and run the following command to verify Terraform is installed successfully -

terraform version

Step 4: To install the AWS CLI on Ubuntu

1: Update Your Package List

First, ensure your package list is up-to-date - #sudo apt update

2: Install Prerequisites

The AWS CLI requires unzip and curl, so make sure these are installed:

#sudo apt install unzip curl -y

3: Download the AWS CLI Bundle

Download the AWS CLI installation bundle using curl:

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"

4: Unzip the Installation Bundle

Unzip the downloaded bundle - #unzip awscliv2.zip

5: Run the Install Script

Run the AWS CLI install script - sudo ./aws/install

6: Verify the Installation

Check that the AWS CLI is installed correctly by verifying its version:

aws –version

7: Configure the AWS CLI

To configure the AWS CLI with your credentials, run:

aws configure

Step 1: Create Terraform Configuration Files

Create ‘provider.tf’ file.

Open a text editor (e.g., Notepad, Visual Studio Code).

Create a new file named ‘provider.tf’ and add the following content.

Step 2: Write Your Terraform Configuration

Create a new file called main.tf and add the following code –

# main.tf

# Specify the provider

provider "aws" {

region = "us-west-2" # Replace with your preferred region

}

# Create a new EC2 instance

resource "aws_instance" "example" {

ami = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0" # Replace with an appropriate AMI ID for your region

instance_type = "t2.micro"

tags = {

Name = "example-instance"

}

}

# Output the public IP of the instance

output "instance_public_ip" {

value = aws_instance.example.public_ip

}

Save the file in the directory.

3: Initialize and Apply Terraform Configuration.

Initialize Terraform – terraform init

2.Apply the Configuration.

Apply the Terraform configuration by running: terraform apply.

When prompted, type ‘yes’ to confirm.

Verify the EC2 and EBS in AWS.

Also verify, An EBS volume of 3GB is created.

The EBS volume is successfully attached to the EC2 instance.