Terraform — FAQ¶
Who is this course for?¶
Cloud, DevOps, Platform, SRE, and Infrastructure engineers who need production-ready Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) skills — from first terraform init through multi-cloud platforms and on-call troubleshooting.
Do I need a cloud account for labs?¶
Most module labs use the null and local providers so you can complete exercises on a practice VM without AWS, Azure, or GCP credentials. Modules 17–18 discuss cloud and Kubernetes providers; those pages include offline validation paths where possible. When you do use a cloud account, prefer a sandbox subscription with billing alerts.
Which Terraform version should I install?¶
Labs assume Terraform CLI 1.5+ (for moved blocks and modern test features). Install from HashiCorp releases or your package manager:
Pin the same major/minor in CI and on engineer laptops to avoid provider schema surprises.
Where is the official documentation?¶
HashiCorp maintains the source of truth:
- https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/docs
- https://registry.terraform.io/
The course index links here; tutorials cite specific language, CLI, and provider pages.
How do GitHub Actions and templatefile work in MkDocs tutorials?¶
Terraform HCL, GitHub Actions workflow YAML, and templatefile templates often contain GitHub Actions expressions (dollar-brace-brace), Jinja tags, or Go-style double-brace placeholders that confuse MkDocs macros during site build. Tutorial documentation wraps those code fences in Jinja raw / endraw blocks so the site renders correctly. Files you create on disk for labs use normal syntax — no MkDocs wrapping.
When you copy a workflow from a tutorial into your repo, restore the normal Actions secret expressions (for example secrets.TF_API_TOKEN inside an Actions expression). Do not copy the MkDocs raw wrappers into your GitHub repository.
Modules vs workspaces vs separate directories — which should I use?¶
| Approach | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Separate directories + separate state | Production blast-radius isolation | More boilerplate |
| Workspaces | Quick personal experiments | Easy to select wrong workspace in prod |
| One mega-root | Learning only | Dangerous applies; huge plans |
Module 12 and Production Terraform Patterns explain trade-offs. Most enterprises prefer separate live roots per environment.
How should I handle secrets?¶
Never commit .tfvars with passwords, API keys, or cloud tokens. Use environment variables, a secret manager (Vault, AWS SSM, Azure Key Vault), or HCP Terraform variables marked sensitive. See Terraform Security and Secrets.
What if terraform plan wants to destroy production?¶
Stop. Read every -/+ and - destroy line. Common causes: renamed resource without moved, provider upgrade with force-new attributes, or manual console drift. Module 20 walks through triage order.
Where are the tutorials?¶
Open Module 1–20 in the sidebar, or start from the modules table on the course homepage.
How do labs and projects fit in?¶
Complete module tutorials first — each includes a topic-specific Hands-on Lab. Then use Labs, Quizzes, and Projects for portfolio work.
Do diagrams use D2 or Mermaid?¶
No. This course uses Excalidraw SVGs under docs/assets/excalidraw/. Regenerate with:
Is progress tracked?¶
Learner progress tracking is planned — the course structure is ready today.