Terraform Course Labs

Welcome to the Terraform and Ansible labs.

These are hands-on resources to help you learn Terraform and Ansible.

Pre-reqs

Ensure you have the following installed on your local machine:

Setting up Terraform

Terraform on Windows

  1. Download the Terraform ZIP file from the official website.
  2. Extract the ZIP file to a directory, e.g., C:\terraform.
  3. Add the directory to your system PATH:
    • Right-click on ‘This PC’ and choose ‘Properties’.
    • Click on ‘Advanced system settings’.
    • Click on ‘Environment Variables’.
    • Under ‘System variables’, find ‘Path’, click ‘Edit’.
    • Click ‘New’ and add the path to your Terraform directory.
  4. Open a new command prompt and verify the installation: 
    terraform version

Terraform on Linux

  1. Update package index and install required packages: 
    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common curl
  2. Add the HashiCorp GPG key: 
    curl -fsSL https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
  3. Add the official HashiCorp repository: 
    sudo apt-add-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main"
  4. Update and install Terraform: 
    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install terraform
  5. Verify the installation: 
    terraform version

Terraform on macOS

  1. Install Homebrew if not already installed: 
    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
  2. Install Terraform using Homebrew: 
    brew install terraform
  3. Verify the installation: 
    terraform version

Setting up Ansible

Ansible on Windows

Ansible doesn’t run natively on Windows. The recommended approach is to use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

  1. Enable WSL by opening PowerShell as Administrator and running: 
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
  2. Restart your computer.
  3. Install a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Store (e.g., Ubuntu).
  4. Launch the Linux distribution and follow the Linux instructions below.

Ansible on Linux

  1. Update package index and install Ansible: 
    sudo apt update
sudo apt install ansible
  2. Verify the installation: 
    ansible --version

Ansible on macOS

  1. Install Ansible using Homebrew: 
    brew install ansible
  2. Verify the installation: 
    ansible --version

Comparison Chart: Deployment With and Without Ansible

Aspect With Ansible Without Ansible
Setup Process Automated via playbook Manual execution of commands
Reproducibility High - playbook ensures consistent setup Lower - depends on following documentation accurately
Time Efficiency Fast - runs all steps automatically Slower - requires manual intervention for each step
Error Handling Built-in error handling and reporting Manual error checking required
Idempotency Ensures system state, can be run multiple times safely Manual checks needed to avoid duplicate actions
Learning Curve Requires learning Ansible syntax Requires familiarity with individual tools and commands
Flexibility Can easily modify playbook for different environments Might need separate scripts for different environments
Documentation Playbook serves as executable documentation Separate documentation needed
Version Control Easy to version control Ansible playbooks Need to version control multiple scripts or documentation
Scalability Easily scalable to multiple servers More challenging to scale manually

Pros and Cons

With Ansible

Pros:

  1. Automation reduces human error
  2. Consistent and reproducible deployments
  3. Time-efficient for repeated deployments
  4. Built-in idempotency
  5. Serves as self-documenting infrastructure
  6. Easy to maintain and update

Cons:

  1. Initial learning curve for Ansible
  2. Overhead of installing and maintaining Ansible
  3. May be overkill for very simple deployments
  4. Debugging Ansible itself can be challenging

Without Ansible

Pros:

  1. No need to learn Ansible syntax
  2. Direct control over each step of the process
  3. No additional tool dependencies
  4. Potentially simpler for very basic deployments

Cons:

  1. More prone to human error
  2. Time-consuming for repeated deployments
  3. Harder to maintain consistency across environments
  4. Manual documentation required and may become outdated
  5. Scaling to multiple servers is more challenging
  6. No built-in error handling or reporting

Part 1. Terraform only

Part 2. Terraform and Ansible

Part 3. Deploying TypeScript (with Ansible)

Part 4. Deploying TypeScript (without Ansible)

Part 5. Deploying to AWS

Part 6. Exercises