Getting Started with Terraform for Google Cloud

Module 01 – Introduction to Terraform for Google Cloud

Topics:

• Introduction to IaC
  • What is infrastructure as code (IaC)?
  • Problems IaC can solve
  • Benefits of IaC
  • Provisioning versus configuration
  • Imperative versus declarative approach
• Introduction to Terraform
  • Terraform overview
  • Terraform features
  • IaC configuration workflow
  • Terraform use cases
• Using Terraform
  • How to use Terraform
  • Running Terraform in production
  • Installing Terraform
  • Authentication for Google Cloud

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Define infrastructure as code.
• Explain the features and benefits of using Terraform.
• Explain the use case of Terraform for Google Cloud.
• Describe how to use Terraform for Google Cloud.

Module 02 – Terms and Concepts

Topics:

• The Author phase
  • Terraform Directory structure
  • Introduction to HCL syntax
  • Resources
  • Variables
  • State
  • Modules
• Terraform commands
  • terraform init
  • terraform plan
  • terraform apply
  • terraform fmt
  • terraform destroy
• Terraform Validator tool
  • Introduction
  • Why use the Terraform Validator tool
  • Validation workflow
  • Terraform Validator use cases

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Explain the Terraform workflow.
• Create basic configuration files within Terraform.
• Explain the purpose of a few Terraform commands.
• Describe the Terraform Validator tool.
• Create, update, and destroy Google Cloud resources using Terraform.

Module 03 – Writing Infrastructure Code for Google Cloud

Topics:

• Introduction to Resources
  • Resources overview
  • Syntax
  • Example
  • Refer a resource attribute
• Considerations to define a resource block
• Meta-arguments for resources
• Resource dependencies
  • Implicit dependency
  • Explicit dependency
• Introduction to Variables
  • Overview
  • Syntax to declare a variable
  • Syntax to reference and assign a value to a variable
  • Variables best practices
• Introduction to output values
  • Output values overview
  • Best practices
• Terraform Registry and CFT
  • Introduction to Terraform Registry
  • Introduction to CFT

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Declare the resources within Terraform.
• Explain implicit and explicit resource dependencies.
• Use variables and output values within the root configuration.
• Explain Terraform Registry and Cloud Foundation Toolkit.

Module 04 – Organizing and Reusing Configuration with Terraform Modules

Topics:

• Introduction to modules:
  • Why are modules needed
  • What is a module?
  • Example
• Reusing configurations by using modules
  • Module sources
  • Calling a module into the source configuration
• Using variables to parameterize your configuration
• Pass resource attributes using output variables
• Module use cases, benefits, and best practices

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Define Terraform modules.
• Use modules to reuse configurations.
• Use modules from the public registry.
• Use input variables to parameterize configurations.
• Use output values to access resource attributes outside the module.

Module 05 – Introduction to Terraform State

Topics:

• Introduction to Terraform state
  • How information is stored in a Terraform state file
• Ways to save a state file
• Storing a state file in a Cloud Storage bucket
  • Issues when storing the Terraform state locally
  • Benefits of storing a state file in a Cloud Storage bucket
  • Process of storing a Terraform state file remotely in a Cloud Storage bucket
• Terraform state best practices

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Define Terraform state.
• List the benefits of storing the state file remotely.
• Explain how to store the Terraform state in a Cloud Storage bucket.
• Explain Terraform state best practices.