Example Directory structure. In general about structure: TF Modules Structure. tfvars files. Jun 12, 2024 · Use them only when Terraform resources don't support the desired behavior. Sep 4, 2023 · Following the series of posts about preparing to use Terraform on a project. Switch to the dev workspace: Switched to workspace "dev". tf file that instantiates the service module. Mar 27, 2023 · In CodeCatalyst: Create a new Project called TerraformMultiAccount using the "Start from scratch" option. hcl that includes a common configuration from a higher-level directory. tf files as you like. gitignore file. Sep 25, 2021 · 3. Copies your general Terraform configuration into it. workspace}" As for how you'd manage all of the variables, i'd recommend using a varmap, like so: type = "map". Nov 18, 2021 · Terraform installed on your local machine and a project set up with the DO provider. Let's check if they were created running terraform workspace list, you will see Jun 21, 2021 · One fundamental Terraform principle is not to commit the state file to any version controlling systems. creates and switches to the newly created workspace. hcl ├── main. Jun 7, 2023 · This allows the same Terraform codebase to be used across multiple environments while preserving the specific configurations each environment needs. Generates backend. Consider we have the following file and folder structure: my-vm-module/ ├── terragrunt. We need these environments for the development, stage, testing, and production. Plan allows you to preview the changes Terraform will make before you apply them. $ {app_name} = your-app-name. By leveraging modules and environment-specific configurations, teams can Jan 18, 2020 · He discusses using Terraform to build and manage multiple environments supporting live applications. tf files with "${terraform. This file and directory will contain your configuration. Inside the assets folder create index. May 3, 2016 · 6. How do we go about doing that within Terraform? There's quite a few options! In the next few videos, we'll cover two ways: Using Workspaces; Using directory structure + helper scripts Terragrunt handles state files for multiple environments in a single . Link an AWS account to our project via the CI/CD -> Environments section with the name "MainAccount". Remote state file storage. Feb 3, 2024 · The first step in managing multiple AWS accounts is to understand how the Terraform AWS provider works. Sep 24, 2021 · 2 Strategies to Create Multiple Environments. Common recommendations for structuring code. One way to organize your Terraform code for multiple environments is to use a combination of directories and workspaces. Each module is called in a specific layer and terraform remote states are stored in a versioned S3 backend. $ terraform workspace list // The command will list all existing workspaces. For example, in the Workspaces. provider "aws" {. Researching the topic, it appears that examples typically place region as the parent directory to environment in the Jan 28, 2022 · If you want to reuse a module or a resource across multiple environments, terraform workspace is the better solution. Jun 14, 2023 · Production: This environment has the latest versions of infrastructure and applications are live. To do that, it stores the data in a backend. Aug 17, 2017 · When using workspaces, there is no need to pass in an environment variable, you just make sure you are in the correct workspace and then interpolate inside your . terraform plan and terraform apply both make cloud API calls to verify the status of resources. Jun 2, 2021 · The above code structure supported creating multiple environments in a single region while doing a terraform plan/apply. Because there are many ways to structure your repositories containing your Terraform code, he also talks about how Nebulaworks is structuring its repositories, which prioritizes the need to make transparent changes to environments and to reuse code. prd_vn will be destroyed Plan: 0 to add, 2 to change, 9 to destroy. Most of the time we deploy the infrastructure in multiple environments. The focus is still on Terraform configuration managing AWS resources Jan 28, 2021 · For more information on separating configurations for environments, take a look at the Terraform Recommended Practices documentation. The Terraform docs Separate Development and Production Environments seem to take two major approaches for handling a "dev/test/stage" type of CI enviornment, i. Usually, this can be handled automatically by connecting a workspace to a VCS repository. html file and fill it in with whatever content you want your S3 bucket files to have. We have 4 different environments, dev, qa, stage, prod. 1. tf files in the main folder (without subfolders) make up the main module It supports multiple environments (eg. For this you need to use remote state. /live contains infrastructure-as-code files - *. tfvars” file to manage dev environment’. Step 4 : Create a file named “variables. As you scale up your terraform usage, you will need to share state (between devs, build processes and different projects), support multiple environments and regions. Let’s explore some strategies to keep your Terraform code base neat and structured: 1. put inputs in variables. To restructure your Terraform for production, review our blog on refactoring Apr 29, 2023 · In simpler words, Terragrunt is an orchestrator to orchestrate Terraform code, execution and deployment. In other words, Terraform has to manage the state of the resources. touch main. The post Terraform: dynamic remote state with AWS S3 and multiple environments by directory first appeared on RTFM: Linux Jul 25, 2023 · S3 Bucket: We will store terraform state files in these buckets. hcl. . Terraform has to know what resources are already created and which are new. I plan to run the CI only when a file inside infrastructure has been modified. You can create a workspace for each environment and switch between them using the terraform workspace command. This is not ideal when you have the same Oct 29, 2020 · Make your life easier by starting with the best folder structure for your use-case# Most companies and ops teams will face the challenge in managing multiple environments (e. Optional integration with a version control system that automatically creates plans for you in response to repository changes. - main. tf, backend. Terraform can call custom scripts through provisioners, including the local-exec provisioner. For more best practices, tips, and tricks on Terraform check out my series: Use a consistent file structure across The standard module structure is a file and directory layout we recommend for reusable modules distributed in separate repositories. Jan 28, 2021 · For more information on separating configurations for environments, take a look at the Terraform Recommended Practices documentation. Hello, I am trying to restructure my Terragrunt codebase so that I can scale my configs to other regions and environments (dev/stg/prod) and have a question regarding directory structure. All *. For multi-environment and multi-region deployments, which is usually the case in real-world projects, it is preferred to have an environment or env directory within the project with multiple environments like dev, stage, prod, etc. So TF files are in a folder infrastructure/ inside the monorepo. Put static The core Terraform workflow consists of three main steps after you have written your Terraform configuration: Initialize prepares your workspace so Terraform can apply your configuration. tf by running the Bash commands below. Fezza7991. Each Terraform configuration has an associated backend that defines how Terraform executes operations and where Terraform stores persistent data, like state. Root module/directory: This should be the primary entrypoint for the module and is expected to be opinionated. It allows you to declare AWS resources in configuration files that Terraform can manage. Complete Step 1 and Step 2 of the How To Use Terraform with DigitalOcean tutorial, and be sure to name the project folder terraform-advanced, instead of loadbalance. During Step 2, do not include the pvt_key variable and the SSH key resource. Oct 19, 2023 · Efficient code organisation serves as the foundation for managing multiple environments in Terraform. Before you execute your terraform you need to set up your state. Feb 3, 2020 · For example if I wanted to run terraform apply applicationGateway I will get the following: # azurerm_virtual_network. Terraform uses state files to keep track of the resources it manages and their current state. Need suggestions for Terraform Deployment strategy with multiple environments. Let's create the dev and prod workspace: terraform workspace new prod. terraform workspace new <workspace name>. I’ve looked around and seen multiple overlapping methods so now asking for direct input on an approach that addresses the following criteria: manage multiple terraform environments from a single terraform code base. Sep 3, 2023 · How to manage multiple environments with Terraform using branches. Resources: A resource is a cloud component that is created based on a specified configuration (e. So of course you can create as many *. Now I have wrapped it in a module and want to roll out a multi environment and need help with the right strategy. An example of how this may look is shown below. Terragrunt directory structure question. tf file. Put custom scripts called by Terraform in a scripts/ directory. Adopting best practices and integrating with CI/CD pipelines further enhances the security The standard module structure is a file and directory layout we recommend for reusable modules distributed in separate repositories. Let's take a look at a simple Terraform code snippet to understand this better: Jul 1, 2020 · Let’s start with the dev environment first and then move to prod. All environments are maintained in the same git repository. However, when it comes to using a remote backend. For example, dev, staging and production. Apr 17, 2022 · When managing infrastructure, it's common to configure multiple environments for deploying code. It’s possible to alleviate the cost of maintaining complex infrastructure definitions for multiple environments by structuring your code to minimize repetitions and by introducing tool-assisted workflows for easier testing and deployment. A blast radius (in case of security breach) is Sep 30, 2023 · terraform. $ terraform workspace new <workspace_name> // The Jun 4, 2021 · Step 3 : Create an assets folder. data "aws_ami" "ubuntu" {. However, it can be used in conjunction with other Terraform features, making use of the ${terraform. This workflow when called will perform the following steps: Download the terraform plan (workflow artifact). tpl, *. terraform apply. tf, main. put outputs in outputs. A remote execution environment where Terraform runs in a remote automation container -- a "Terraform Cloud Agent" -- instead of locally on your workstation. terraform plan. default = {. and a bit off topic, but might be useful too – Terraform: Destroy / Replace Buckets. Not to mention, versioning within the environments is also a lot easier than in either the Workspace or Branch model. Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as a code software tool that provides a consistent CLI workflow to manage hundreds of cloud services. cd workspace. In this method, we duplicate the same infrastructure in each folder with different values in the terraform. this means code maintenance is a breeze, with no code duplication. A good practice for doing this is to separate each environment into its own folder or even an entirely separate repository. Sometimes even in multiple regions. For example: you can pass the environmental parameters into terraform in the pipeline, you can create a tfvars file for each environment, you can create a different folder for each environment and just use modules across all. ├── backend. Here's one I use, based on my own experience and asking other Terraform users. tfvars: Contains variable values (can also be defined using environment variables or -var flags). Example Scenario: Suppose you have a directory structure where each environment (like prod, dev, staging) has its own terragrunt. terraform workspace list. Here is a sample directory structure: Mar 27, 2020 · In addition to modularizing common Terraform configuration for reuse, you often manage multiple environments such as staging or production. In these cases, it's important for each environment to be as close as possible to the others. Follow the same process for HashiCorp and other clients by navigating their directories and running the Terraform commands. (Im using powershell) Mar 6, 2024 · terraform. terraform workspace new dev. e. Next, enter the configuration below in your main. This ensures that minute differences in architecture—as minor as a PostgreSQL patch version or as major as Terraform folders/files must exist in the root directory of the repository. In both presented strategies, we're using modules included in projects for convenience. project = var. It is easier and faster to work with a smaller number of resources. Jan 16, 2023 · Workspaces seem good at first: native to terraform, no new tool to learn; simply create and switch workspaces on the same terraform config codebase: > terraform workspace new > terraform workspace list > terraform workspace select. This article is not about the benefits of Terragrunt or a tutorial to setup but a tried and tested way to organise folders, structure environments in Terragrunt. 0/24". For a very simple project, it may absolutely be easier to lump everything together in one file and May 21, 2023 · Here we have environments/dev/ and prod/ catalogs with independent projects, each with its own parameters, and they will use common modules from the catalog modules. And also we should not modify the state file out of Terraform. The most common approaches are: All environments use the same main branch, and environment differences are handled with Terraform variables. Here you may need to maintain 2 infrastructures for 2 environments but a single Organizing Multiple Environments for a Configuration. Description. tf file, declaring the Terraform backend state location. There are also a variety of ways to handle multiple environments. switches to the workspace. tf” file. They are distinctly different from workspaces in HCP Terraform, which each have their own Terraform configuration and function as separate working directories. The backend initially has only one workspace containing one Terraform state associated with that configuration. Each folder stores all the Terraform infrastructure configuration for the corresponding environment. You'll need a decent directory structure to transfer infrastructure from development to production environments using a CI/CD solution. Manging environments using the following directory structure is my preferred method (even over the more advanced section I cover in the next module). tf Oct 27, 2023 · This separation streamlines the handling of variables across various environments by employing multiple . How to manage multiple environments with Terraform using Terragrunt. The standard module structure expects the Feb 19, 2020 · Enable Remote State (optional) This is an example of how you could begin to structure your terraform project to deploy the same terraform code to multiple customers, environments or regions. There are 4 ways to write reusable code for Feb 3, 2024 · Terraform provides a powerful, flexible toolset for managing infrastructure across multiple cloud environments. Project Structure. One solution to this problem is to use Terraform Workspaces. My folder structure: - ROOT / - enviroments / --- infra / |- versions. tf with the specific backend May 13, 2018 · The Terraform CLI for workspaces offers several commands: 4. Let’s destroy the prod bucket now. Each enviroment has it’s own remote State File in gitlab. You can specify an AWS account by using the provider block with your AWS access keys or using environment variables. (Im using powershell) Jul 25, 2023 · S3 Bucket: We will store terraform state files in these buckets. Terraform tooling is built to understand the standard module structure and use that structure to generate documentation, index modules for the module registry, and more. The persistent data stored in the backend belongs to a workspace. put any private sub-modules you make (private means they are not intended for use in other modules) in a modules sub-folder. tf files in the folder as if they were a single file. The code is hosted in gitlab. Directory seperation - Seems messy especially when you potentially have multiple repos. Feb 11, 2022 · Complex and Scalable Directory Structure. Not sure if I got it right. Directory structure Guarantees consistent pattern implementation over time / across clients, gives each client a separate state so there's no risk of changes to one impacting the other, and the versioning allows you to upgrade clients on their own schedule without forcing them all to remain in lock-step with one another. In this tutorial, we will look at how to use terraform modules to maintain different infrastructures for different environments! Lets’s begin: The folder structure is as below: Sep 25, 2023 · You have to learn a little more about terraform and the usage of variable files; Terraform workspaces. This is not ideal when you have the same Instead, it expects Terraform configurations to be managed in your existing version control system (VCS). Environment segregation is easier by using a standard folder structure and variable files which can differentiate not only the resources being deployed but also the segregation of remote backends. Feb 17, 2024 · This guide provides a detailed blueprint for managing GCP infrastructure across multiple environments using Terraform. In this tutorial, we will look at how to use terraform modules to maintain different infrastructures for different environments! Lets’s begin: The folder structure is as below: Example 3: Keeping Terraform configuration DRY. Execute terraform destroy and type yes when prompted to confirm: As you see, Terraform has destroyed the dev bucket, but the prod bucket is unaffected. tf: Includes output value definitions. Directory Structure. Command. In this exercise, you learned how to restructure a monolithic Terraform configuration that managed multiple environments. outputs. 4. Jan 23, 2022 · Specifies the Azure ARM TENANT ID. You don't even have to reference/call them in the main. Learn how to manage multiple Terraform environments using Terraform workspaces, Terragrunt, Git branches, and Spacelift stacks. The backend can be a local folder or remote type. Multiple application per application that are going to use these resources. Workspaces + Different Var Files. Hosting environments in different AWS account is supported (and recommended) Variables. dev = "172. Ability for other teams to data source resources Aug 31, 2021 · To create and manage a Workspace, use the terraform workspace set of commands as shown in the table below. This approach to structuring Terraform projects has numerous benefits: Scalability: As your infrastructure Mar 18, 2021 · 1. You will not be able to scale your project or team with the basic directory structure. tf. In order to perform remote Terraform runs for a given workspace, HCP Terraform needs to periodically receive new versions of its configuration. most_recent = true. Terraform relies on state to associate Apr 18, 2024 · This makes it easier to manage states in complex setups with multiple modules and environments. hcl Dec 31, 2022 · description = "environment". 3. This allows you to maintain separate states for each The Recommended Terraform Workspace Structure About Workspaces. HCP Terraform's main unit of organization is a workspace. Refer to the Terraform Recommended Practices documentation for additional information. tfvars: Stores variable definitions and assignments. A workspace is a collection of everything Terraform needs to run: a Terraform configuration (usually from a VCS repo), values for that configuration's variables, and state data to keep track of operations between runs. 0. You'll likely want to create multiple environments of your configuration - production, staging, qa, and anything else. Single Region/Multi Environment Example Let's assume we have already Apr 23, 2021 · A Terraform project is centered around the state and hence the obvious approach is to duplicate states to create multiple environments. May 24, 2022 · This environment directory must contain the following files: - backend. If you have your entire infrastructure in a single composition this can take some time. 2. Dec 18, 2023 · Hey, i have written a terraform code to roll out Openstack instances with different configuration. Install and use the version of terraform as per the input. Multiple habitats and areas will be required for the broader project. tf, *. Except when you lookup workspaces it seems to imply Apr 8, 2021 · Terraform project structure The way you split your Terraform code into files is subjective. Jan 7, 2023 · A simpler way is to break up the resources into logical groups of resources that need to be deployed, managed and destroyed together into separately named files. Apply makes the changes defined by your plan to create, update, or destroy My current structure is the following: - Probably going to use Terraform Cloud - Git/CI/CD is on Github/GHA - a monorepo with NX for the applications. Any custom scripts used must have a clearly documented reason for existing and ideally a deprecation plan. In order to manage multiple environments with the same of Terraform assets, dynamic variables should be incur. Jun 8, 2023 · To start, make a new directory called workspace and a new Terraform file called main. As a sample, we deploy mongo 3. Reply. let's name it as ‘store-terraform-state-file-dev’ and ‘store-terraform-state-file-prod’. More complex architectures will use specific nested modules to create lightweight abstractions, so that you can describe infrastructure in terms of its All I need is a directory structure that does the following: Manage multiple accounts (account1, account2) Multiple regions (us-east-1, eu-west-2) Multiple environments (dev, stage, prod) Multiple resources such as EKS, VPC for each environment. Directory Structure: Jun 1, 2017 · The State Environments feature alone is not sufficient for the second use-case, since it only deals with multiple states in a single configuration. There are some steps that you need to follow. tf common/ ├── terragrunt. The project will also give you consist naming across all your resources in a given deployment. This is described in the section Approach 1 - Multiple folders and multiple backends and relies on Terraform modules to avoid code duplication when defining the infrastructure. What is the correct way to setup multiple logically organized sub folders in a terraform repo? Mar 13, 2023 · Terraform Workspaces provide a way to manage multiple environment states within a single Terraform configuration. Let’s use Terragrunt to deploy and manage the state of two environments. best practices for code for Terraform Cloud workspaces, review our documentation on code organization and workspace structure. g. Workspaces in the Terraform CLI refer to separate instances of state data inside the same Terraform working directory. Step 5 : Create a “dev. Below is the piece of code from my previous post Create Azure Resources using There are quite a few approaches. hcl file. mkdir workspace. 4 docker image. DEV, QA, UAT and PROD) using same Terraform configuration while maintaining consistencies between those environments, meaning each run on different environment will match the previous ones. Each environment must have its own state file. terraform workspace select <workspace name>. Feb 5, 2022 · 1. In this way, the process of developing a new feature for the infrastructure can be first tested in a separate file in the directory environments/dev, then moved to the modules, added to dev in the form of a module, and after To deploy the resources for a specific client, navigate to the client's directory and execute Terraform commands: cd clients/Env0. By utilizing workspaces, environment-specific configurations, and modules, you can maintain a clean, organized, and efficient IaC workflow. Our repo structure includes a module per folder and we're using terragrunt. tf └── variables. You can create separate directories for each logical group of resources (e. Terraform doesn’t care what the files are named and processes all . You can think of it as 1:1 Dec 22, 2021 · Pulling it all together will result in a logical structure that you will be able to reuse across all your projects, enabling consistency, control of module code, independent pipelines for each resource, and dynamic deployments. Instead of creating separate directories for each environment, the workspace feature allows you to switch environments within the same Terraform resources. Decompress the terraform plan (workflow artifact). Managing Terraform State Files. Jan 5, 2021 · Using Folders — Method 1. These are: Remote backend on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3): You can configure terraform to store state files in an Amazon S3 bucket which provides a durable and scalable storage solution. Workspaces allow you to manage multiple environments within a single Terraform configuration. Terraform treats everything in a folder as the content of a module. For each environment we set up a corresponding folder at the root level: folders are named dev, staging, and production respectively. Our gitlab ci pipeline currently only runs a terraform validate on every module and creates an artifact that contains the repo to be Terraform directory structure best practices can be handled in a way where you or the team your working on can develop and maintain your code a lot easier. File structure . So the idea of workspace is to maintain several state files for a single configuration. Will explain this later. The standard module structure expects the Jan 16, 2021 · Modules. You separated those environments by creating different directories or workspaces, and state files for each. Understanding how to manage these state files is crucial for maintaining your infrastructure as code. So, in the first part, we thought about how to organize the preparation of the backend for the project, that is, to perform its bootstrap, and a bit — how to manage the Dev/Prod environments in general, see Terraform: Getting started and planning a new project — Dev/Prod and bootsrap. May 13, 2018 · The Terraform CLI for workspaces offers several commands: 4. Terraform’s project structure involves separate . Feb 19, 2024 · The recommended practice for managing state files is to use terraform’s built-in support for remote backends. json. Re-initialize the terraform module. It allows you to define variables and configurations at different levels, promoting a more streamlined and readable project structure. tfvars file. In this example, we will show how to share local values centrally, reducing duplication. $ {environment} = dev or stg or prd. tf files for resource provisioning per environment, whereas Terragrunt eliminates this code duplication by utilizing modules, and input configuration per environment is managed in separate . how-i- do -it/. Create a code repository called main-infra in the project, using Terraform for the . Begin by creating a logical directory structure that segregates your Terraform configurations. There are MANY schemas you can use a directory structure to help segment environments or functional areas with Terraform. Dec 18, 2022 · Creates a temporary directory for the Terraform configuration specific to the given environment. Multiple Environments. development, staging, pre-production, production) for their applications. 5. - the development workflow is currently trunk-based Apr 30, 2024 · First, create a directory structure that separates multiple files for each environment:‍ Within each environment directory, add the necessary Terraform configuration files. They can be versioned in distinct GIT repositories. terraform init. Like Filip Dupanović said, read the best practice guide on Hashicorp's site, but for folder structure, the gist of them are: put your resources in a main. virtual Jan 5, 2023 · Terraform Workspaces. Benefits. gcp_project_id Jan 16, 2024 · Module Iteration: Terragrunt simplifies the process of iterating over modules for multiple environments. env} interpolation value to deal with differences, to allow multiple state environments within a Dec 10, 2020 · The directory . , ec2 , rds ) and use workspaces to represent different environments within each directory. To restructure your Terraform for production, review our blog on refactoring Apr 28, 2022 · Before talking about structure, there are some key Terraform concepts we need to know. Managing Workspaces. $ terraform workspace new <workspace_name> // The Oct 13, 2020 · Some advanced features Terraform offers become useful when your project grows in size and complexity. tf. The Recommended Terraform Workspace Structure About Workspaces. dn gm xg bs ta hm fe ad rq za