What Is Terraform?
Terraform is an open-source Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool by HashiCorp. Instead of clicking through cloud consoles, you write declarative configuration files that describe your infrastructure — and Terraform makes it real.
Why Terraform?
- Cloud-agnostic — works with AWS, Azure, GCP, and 3,000+ providers
- Declarative — describe what you want, not how to build it
- State management — tracks what exists and what needs to change
- Plan before apply — preview changes before they happen
- Modular — reuse infrastructure patterns across projects
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Browse Courses →Installing Terraform
# macOS
brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform
# Ubuntu/Debian
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install terraform
# Verify
terraform versionYour First Configuration
Create a file called main.tf:
terraform {
required_providers {
aws = {
source = "hashicorp/aws"
version = "~> 5.0"
}
}
}
provider "aws" {
region = "eu-west-1"
}
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "my_bucket" {
bucket = "my-first-terraform-bucket"
tags = {
Environment = "dev"
ManagedBy = "terraform"
}
}Get weekly IT automation tips
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terraform init # Download providers
terraform plan # Preview changes
terraform apply # Create resources
terraform destroy # Tear everything downNext Steps
This is just the beginning. Our Terraform for Beginners course covers HCL, state management, modules, security, and real AWS deployments hands-on.
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Ready to go deeper? Check out our hands-on course: Terraform for Beginners — practical exercises you can follow along on your own machine.
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