Terraform is an open-source software tool that allows for infrastructure to be represented as code. This brings numerous advantages over traditional infrastructure mannagement, both on-premesis and the cloud.
Benefits of IaC
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Being able to use Version Control Systems like Git to improve code quality checks, revert in the event of a misconfiguration, or replicate infrastructure to new environments easier.
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Automation: Being able to create an environment automatically instead of having to manually make changes for every new change request
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Self-documentation: having the code visible allows for the infnrastructure to be easily understood, as it is all in the same directory and human-readable
Why Terraform?
Terraform, in addition to using Infrastructure as Code, allows for the stateful managemet of resources. This means that Terraform acts as a state machine, creating a resource when running terraform apply, and deleting it when running terraform destroy. Terraform also can remove manual changes made in the console, by reconciling the resources with the state when running terraform apply again.