What is Terraform?

Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that allows users to define and manage their cloud infrastructure in a declarative way. This means that users can write code that describes their desired infrastructure state, and Terraform will handle the provisioning and management of the actual resources in the cloud provider.

Terraform on Microsoft Azure

Microsoft's Azure is a comprehensive cloud computing platform that offers various services such as databases, storage, virtual machines, and more. Terraform facilitates Azure as a provider, allowing users to utilize Terraform to handle their Azure infrastructure.

To use Terraform with Azure, users must first create an Azure account and authenticate with their Azure credentials. Once authenticated, users can define their desired infrastructure state using Terraform configuration files, written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) or JSON.

In Terraform, each resource in the cloud provider is represented by a resource block in the configuration file. For example, to create a virtual machine in Azure, the user would define a resource block for the virtual machine and specify the desired properties, such as the VM size, storage, and networking configuration. Follow the other article to Part2 - Terraform to create a virtual machine (VM) in Azure

Terraform also supports the use of modules, which are reusable blocks of infrastructure code. Users can create their own modules or use pre-built modules from the Terraform Module Registry to simplify the management of complex infrastructure.

Once the Terraform configuration file is written, the user can initialize the Terraform workspace, which downloads the necessary Azure provider plugins and sets up the environment for Terraform to manage the resources. After initialization, the user can then apply the configuration, which provisions and manages the resources in Azure based on the configuration file.

Terraform also provides the ability to manage changes to infrastructure over time through version control and collaboration tools. Users can store their Terraform configuration files in a version control system like Git and collaborate with others to manage the infrastructure.

Follow the other article to Part2 - Terraform to create a virtual machine (VM) in Azure

Summary

Terraform in Azure enables users to define and manage their cloud infrastructure in a declarative way, using Terraform configuration files to describe the desired infrastructure state. With Terraform, users can easily create, modify, and destroy resources in Azure while also leveraging the benefits of version control and collaboration tools.

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