Terraform AWS Infrastructure Management

Overview

Complete guide for managing AWS infrastructure as code using Terraform. This skill provides production-ready patterns for VPC networking, IAM security, state management, and common AWS resources with Terraform 1.11+ features and AWS Provider 6.x.

Keywords: Terraform, AWS, infrastructure as code, IaC, VPC, IAM, S3 backend, state locking, modules, EC2, RDS, EKS, security groups, CloudWatch

Terraform Version: 1.11+ (with S3 native locking) AWS Provider: 6.x

When to Use This Skill

Provisioning AWS infrastructure with Terraform
Setting up VPC networking with public/private subnets
Configuring IAM roles, policies, and permissions
Managing Terraform state with S3 backend
Deploying databases (RDS, Aurora)
Creating EKS-ready VPC configurations
Troubleshooting Terraform plan/apply failures
Migrating from DynamoDB to S3 native locking
Importing existing AWS resources into Terraform

Quick Start

Basic AWS Provider Configuration

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.11.0"

  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 6.0"
    }
  }

  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "my-terraform-state-bucket"
    key    = "production/terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-east-1"

    # Native S3 locking (Terraform 1.11+)
    use_lockfile = true
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.aws_region

  default_tags {
    tags = {
      Environment = var.environment
      ManagedBy   = "Terraform"
      Project     = var.project_name
    }
  }
}

Variables Configuration

variable "aws_region" {
  description = "AWS region for all resources"
  type        = string
  default     = "us-east-1"
}

variable "environment" {
  description = "Environment name (dev, staging, production)"
  type        = string

  validation {
    condition     = contains(["dev", "staging", "production"], var.environment)
    error_message = "Environment must be dev, staging, or production."
  }
}

variable "project_name" {
  description = "Project name for resource naming and tagging"
  type        = string
}

Common Resource Patterns

VPC with Public and Private Subnets

module "vpc" {
  source  = "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws"
  version = "~> 5.0"

  name = "${var.project_name}-vpc"
  cidr = "10.0.0.0/16"

  azs             = ["us-east-1a", "us-east-1b", "us-east-1c"]
  private_subnets = ["10.0.1.0/24", "10.0.2.0/24", "10.0.3.0/24"]
  public_subnets  = ["10.0.101.0/24", "10.0.102.0/24", "10.0.103.0/24"]

  enable_nat_gateway = true
  single_nat_gateway = var.environment != "production"  # Cost optimization for non-prod

  enable_dns_hostnames = true
  enable_dns_support   = true

  # VPC Flow Logs
  enable_flow_log                      = true
  create_flow_log_cloudwatch_iam_role  = true
  create_flow_log_cloudwatch_log_group = true

  tags = {
    Environment = var.environment
  }
}

S3 Bucket with Encryption and Versioning

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "app_data" {
  bucket = "${var.project_name}-app-data-${var.environment}"

  tags = {
    Name        = "${var.project_name}-app-data"
    Environment = var.environment
  }
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket_versioning" "app_data" {
  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.app_data.id

  versioning_configuration {
    status = "Enabled"
  }
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket_server_side_encryption_configuration" "app_data" {
  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.app_data.id

  rule {
    apply_server_side_encryption_by_default {
      sse_algorithm = "AES256"
    }
  }
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket_public_access_block" "app_data" {
  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.app_data.id

  block_public_acls       = true
  block_public_policy     = true
  ignore_public_acls      = true
  restrict_public_buckets = true
}

IAM Role for EC2 with SSM Access

# IAM role for EC2 instances
resource "aws_iam_role" "ec2_app_role" {
  name = "${var.project_name}-ec2-app-role"

  assume_role_policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [
      {
        Action = "sts:AssumeRole"
        Effect = "Allow"
        Principal = {
          Service = "ec2.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    ]
  })
}

# Attach AWS managed policy for SSM
resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "ec2_ssm" {
  role       = aws_iam_role.ec2_app_role.name
  policy_arn = "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore"
}

# Custom policy for S3 access
resource "aws_iam_role_policy" "ec2_s3_access" {
  name = "${var.project_name}-ec2-s3-access"
  role = aws_iam_role.ec2_app_role.id

  policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Action = [
          "s3:GetObject",
          "s3:PutObject",
          "s3:DeleteObject"
        ]
        Resource = "${aws_s3_bucket.app_data.arn}/*"
      },
      {
        Effect = "Allow"
        Action = [
          "s3:ListBucket"
        ]
        Resource = aws_s3_bucket.app_data.arn
      }
    ]
  })
}

# Instance profile for EC2
resource "aws_iam_instance_profile" "ec2_app_profile" {
  name = "${var.project_name}-ec2-app-profile"
  role = aws_iam_role.ec2_app_role.name
}

RDS PostgreSQL Database

resource "aws_db_subnet_group" "main" {
  name       = "${var.project_name}-db-subnet-group"
  subnet_ids = module.vpc.private_subnets

  tags = {
    Name = "${var.project_name}-db-subnet-group"
  }
}

resource "aws_security_group" "rds" {
  name        = "${var.project_name}-rds-sg"
  description = "Security group for RDS database"
  vpc_id      = module.vpc.vpc_id

  ingress {
    description     = "PostgreSQL from VPC"
    from_port       = 5432
    to_port         = 5432
    protocol        = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks     = [module.vpc.vpc_cidr_block]
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }
}

resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  identifier     = "${var.project_name}-db-${var.environment}"
  engine         = "postgres"
  engine_version = "16.3"

  instance_class    = var.environment == "production" ? "db.t3.medium" : "db.t3.micro"
  allocated_storage = var.environment == "production" ? 100 : 20
  storage_type      = "gp3"

  db_name  = var.db_name
  username = var.db_username
  password = var.db_password  # Use AWS Secrets Manager in production!

  db_subnet_group_name   = aws_db_subnet_group.main.name
  vpc_security_group_ids = [aws_security_group.rds.id]

  backup_retention_period = var.environment == "production" ? 30 : 7
  backup_window          = "03:00-04:00"
  maintenance_window     = "sun:04:00-sun:05:00"

  enabled_cloudwatch_logs_exports = ["postgresql", "upgrade"]

  deletion_protection = var.environment == "production"
  skip_final_snapshot = var.environment != "production"
  final_snapshot_identifier = var.environment == "production" ? "${var.project_name}-db-final-snapshot-${formatdate("YYYY-MM-DD-hhmm", timestamp())}" : null

  tags = {
    Name        = "${var.project_name}-db"
    Environment = var.environment
  }
}

State Management

S3 Backend with Native Locking (Terraform 1.11+)

Recommended approach - No DynamoDB required!

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "my-terraform-state-bucket"
    key    = "production/terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-east-1"

    # Enable S3 native locking (Terraform 1.11+)
    use_lockfile = true

    # Encryption
    encrypt = true

    # Optional: Use KMS for encryption
    # kms_key_id = "arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:123456789012:key/abcd1234-..."
  }
}

Legacy: S3 + DynamoDB Locking

For Terraform < 1.11:

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "my-terraform-state-bucket"
    key            = "production/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-east-1"
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-state-lock"
    encrypt        = true
  }
}

See references/state-management.md for complete state management patterns.

Module Usage Patterns

Using Community Modules

# VPC Module
module "vpc" {
  source  = "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws"
  version = "~> 5.0"

  name = "${var.project_name}-vpc"
  cidr = var.vpc_cidr

  azs             = var.availability_zones
  private_subnets = var.private_subnet_cidrs
  public_subnets  = var.public_subnet_cidrs

  enable_nat_gateway = true
  enable_vpn_gateway = false
}

# EKS Module
module "eks" {
  source  = "terraform-aws-modules/eks/aws"
  version = "~> 20.0"

  cluster_name    = "${var.project_name}-eks"
  cluster_version = "1.30"

  vpc_id     = module.vpc.vpc_id
  subnet_ids = module.vpc.private_subnets

  eks_managed_node_groups = {
    main = {
      min_size     = 2
      max_size     = 10
      desired_size = 3

      instance_types = ["t3.medium"]
      capacity_type  = "ON_DEMAND"
    }
  }
}

Creating Custom Modules

modules/
└── application/
    ├── main.tf
    ├── variables.tf
    ├── outputs.tf
    └── README.md

# Using custom module
module "application" {
  source = "./modules/application"

  name        = "${var.project_name}-app"
  environment = var.environment
  vpc_id      = module.vpc.vpc_id
  subnet_ids  = module.vpc.private_subnets
}

Common Workflows

Initialize Terraform

# Initialize backend and download providers
terraform init

# Migrate state to new backend
terraform init -migrate-state

# Reconfigure backend
terraform init -reconfigure

Plan and Apply Changes

# See what will change
terraform plan -out=tfplan

# Apply changes
terraform apply tfplan

# Auto-approve (use with caution!)
terraform apply -auto-approve

# Target specific resource
terraform apply -target=aws_instance.web

Import Existing Resources

# Import VPC
terraform import aws_vpc.main vpc-12345678

# Import S3 bucket
terraform import aws_s3_bucket.app_data my-bucket-name

# Import RDS instance
terraform import aws_db_instance.main my-db-instance

Workspace Management

# List workspaces
terraform workspace list

# Create workspace
terraform workspace new staging

# Switch workspace
terraform workspace select production

# Show current workspace
terraform workspace show

Detailed Documentation

For comprehensive guides on specific topics:

VPC Networking: references/vpc-networking.md
- VPC module configuration
- Public/private/intra subnets
- NAT Gateway patterns
- VPC endpoints
- Security groups and NACLs
- EKS-ready VPC setup
IAM Security: references/iam-security.md
- IAM roles and policies
- Assume role policies
- Service-linked roles
- Cross-account access
- Permission boundaries
- Policy best practices
State Management: references/state-management.md
- S3 backend configuration
- Native locking vs DynamoDB
- State encryption
- Workspace strategies
- Import and migration
- State manipulation

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue	Cause	Fix
State lock timeout	Orphaned lock file	`terraform force-unlock <lock-id>`
Provider version conflict	Incompatible versions	Update `required_providers` block
Cycle in resource dependencies	Circular reference	Use `depends_on` or split resources
Resource already exists	Resource created outside Terraform	Use `terraform import`
Insufficient permissions	Missing IAM permissions	Add required IAM policies
State drift detected	Manual changes in AWS	Review with `terraform plan`, then apply or import

Best Practices

Resource Naming

# Use consistent naming pattern
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  # Format: {project}-{resource}-{environment}
  tags = {
    Name = "${var.project_name}-web-${var.environment}"
  }
}

Environment-Specific Configuration

# Use conditionals for environment differences
resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  instance_class = var.environment == "production" ? "db.r5.large" : "db.t3.micro"

  backup_retention_period = var.environment == "production" ? 30 : 7
  deletion_protection     = var.environment == "production"
}

Sensitive Data Management

# Never hardcode secrets!
variable "db_password" {
  description = "Database master password"
  type        = string
  sensitive   = true
}

# Use AWS Secrets Manager
data "aws_secretsmanager_secret_version" "db_password" {
  secret_id = "production/db/password"
}

resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  password = data.aws_secretsmanager_secret_version.db_password.secret_string
}

Default Tags

provider "aws" {
  region = var.aws_region

  # All resources get these tags automatically
  default_tags {
    tags = {
      Environment = var.environment
      ManagedBy   = "Terraform"
      Project     = var.project_name
      CostCenter  = var.cost_center
    }
  }
}

Quick Reference Commands

# Initialization
terraform init                    # Initialize working directory
terraform init -upgrade           # Upgrade providers to latest version

# Planning
terraform plan                    # Show execution plan
terraform plan -out=tfplan        # Save plan to file
terraform plan -destroy           # Plan resource destruction

# Applying
terraform apply                   # Apply changes
terraform apply tfplan            # Apply saved plan
terraform destroy                 # Destroy all resources

# State Management
terraform state list              # List resources in state
terraform state show <resource>   # Show resource details
terraform state rm <resource>     # Remove resource from state
terraform state mv <src> <dest>   # Move/rename resource in state

# Validation
terraform fmt                     # Format HCL files
terraform fmt -recursive          # Format all .tf files
terraform validate                # Validate configuration
terraform validate -json          # JSON output for CI/CD

# Outputs
terraform output                  # Show all outputs
terraform output <name>           # Show specific output
terraform output -json            # JSON output

# Workspaces
terraform workspace list          # List workspaces
terraform workspace new <name>    # Create workspace
terraform workspace select <name> # Switch workspace
terraform workspace delete <name> # Delete workspace

Production Deployment Checklist

Terraform Version: 1.11+ AWS Provider: 6.x Best Practices: Following AWS Well-Architected Framework Last Updated: November 2025