Your First Mini Terraform Project: Install, Configure, and Deploy on AWS

Your First Mini Terraform Project: Install, Configure, and Deploy on AWS

Terraform by HashiCorp automates infrastructure provisioning across AWS, Azure, and GCP. This guide walks through deploying an EC2 instance using Terraform 1.6.3 and AWS CLI.

Why This Matters

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) reduces human error in manual setup, but misconfigurations still cost $1.2M annually in cloud outages. Terraform’s declarative model ensures consistency, though errors like incorrect AMI IDs or region mismatches can fail deployments entirely.

Key Insights

• “Terraform 1.6.3 installed via apt, 2025”: sudo apt install terraform
• “Sagas over ACID for e-commerce”: Not applicable here, but Terraform’s state management avoids race conditions.
• “Terraform used by HashiCorp for AWS provisioning”: Explicitly mentioned in the tutorial.

Working Example

# Step 1: Install Terraform on Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y wget unzip
wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/1.6.3/terraform_1.6.3_linux_amd64.zip
unzip terraform_1.6.3_linux_amd64.zip
sudo mv terraform /usr/local/bin/
terraform -v

# Step 2: Install AWS CLI
sudo apt install -y awscli
aws --version

# provider.tf
provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

# main.tf
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-0a0f1259dd1c90938"
  instance_type = var.instance_type
  key_name      = var.key_name
  tags = {
    Name = "Terraform-Web"
  }
}

Practical Applications

• Use Case: Deploying EC2 instances with automated tagging and region-specific AMIs.
• Pitfall: Using outdated AMI IDs (e.g., ami-0a0f1259dd1c90938) may fail in regions without that image.

References:

• https://dev.to/krisha_arya_55/your-first-mini-terraform-project-install-configure-and-deploy-on-aws-10j2

---