Terraform Associate (003)

Terraform AWS automation refers to the process of using Terraform, an open-source Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool, to automate the deployment, management, and scaling of resources on Amazon Web Services (AWS). With Terraform, infrastructure is defined in a declarative configuration language (HCL - HashiCorp Configuration Language), allowing users to specify cloud resources such as EC2 instances, VPCs, S3 buckets, RDS instances, and more in a reusable and shareable format.

The key elements of Terraform AWS automation include:

• Declarative Configuration: Instead of writing scripts to manually provision infrastructure, you describe the desired state of your AWS resources in configuration files. Terraform then compares the current state with the desired state and makes the necessary changes to reach that target.

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform enables version control of infrastructure through code. This makes it possible to track, audit, and review infrastructure changes just like application code. Additionally, code can be reused and shared across teams, promoting standardization.

• State Management: Terraform keeps track of the infrastructure it manages in a state file, which helps in identifying the current state of the infrastructure. This state file is critical for understanding what resources exist and what changes need to be made. For automation at scale, storing state files remotely (e.g., in S3 with DynamoDB for locking) is common.

• Execution Plans: Terraform provides an execution plan before applying changes, showing what resources will be created, modified, or destroyed. This plan allows you to verify the changes before they happen, minimizing the risk of human error during automation.

• Modularity: Terraform configurations can be organized into reusable modules, which simplifies the management of complex AWS infrastructures. These modules help in maintaining consistency and reducing redundancy across environments (e.g., development, staging, and production).

• Provisioning: Once the configurations are in place, Terraform applies the changes automatically. By interacting with AWS's APIs, Terraform provisions and configures resources as per the specified configuration.

Automation and CI/CD Integration: Terraform integrates well with CI/CD pipelines, making it an ideal tool for automating infrastructure provisioning and updates as part of the software delivery lifecycle. This ensures that infrastructure is continuously aligned with application code and can scale dynamically.

By automating AWS infrastructure using Terraform, teams can reduce the time and effort needed for manual provisioning, ensure consistency across environments, and enable a more reliable and scalable cloud environment.

Exam Format:

• Number of Questions: Around 57 multiple-choice questions.
• Duration: You have 60 minutes to complete the exam.
• Question Types:
• Multiple-choice and multiple-select questions, which may include:
• Basic concepts of Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Managing Terraform State.
• Writing, organizing, and using Terraform configurations.
• Terraform workflow (init, plan, apply, etc.).
• Provisioners and Providers.
• Terraform modules.
• Working with Terraform Cloud and Enterprise.
• Passing Score: HashiCorp does not publicly disclose the passing score, but it is generally around 70%-75%.
• You should expect questions that test your practical knowledge of Terraform's features, as well as scenario-based questions to assess how well you can apply those features in real-world use cases.

https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/tutorials/certification-003/associate-review-003

Sample Questions - Terraform Associate (003)

https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/tutorials/certification-003/associate-questions