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terraform-component

A configurable workflow framework for deploying infrastructure resources using Terraform with immutable Docker builds.

Quickstart

  1. Fork this repository
  2. Create or edit an existing terraform component
  3. Deploy one or more terraform components

Example, once you have forked and cloned this repository:

$ ./bin/terraform-component create my_tf_component
$ # edit the files in components/my_tf_component/terraform/
$ ./bin/terraform-component deploy my_tf_component plan

To deploy a component, you will need to either authenticate with a provider (like AWS, GCP, or Azure) or use a local implementation (like LocalStack). Read on for more on authentication. Or install a local implementation and get started.

For example, if you have already authenticated to AWS, then you can safely pass through the AWS configuration and credentials, like so:

$ export default_TF_VAR_providers=aws
$ export default_TF_VAR_credentials=aws
$ ./bin/terraform-component deploy my_tf_component plan

Overview

A component is an isolated unit of infrastructure, defined as Terraform HCL. This mono-repo supports multiple components, a suite of tools to help deploy them, and common functionality to enhance component collaboration.

Learn more about components with this official guide.

Motivation

In "What is Terraform?", HashiCorp says (emphasis ours):

HashiCorp Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you define both cloud and on-prem resources in human-readable configuration files that you can version, reuse, and share. You can then use a consistent workflow to provision and manage all of your infrastructure throughout its lifecycle.

Terraform, as a tool ecosystem, neither provides a consistent deployment workflow nor has an opinion on how such a workflow should be written. This gap leads to workflow frameworks like Terragrunt and this framework.

Guiding principles

Workflow frameworks are opinionated. They dictate configuration format and organization, workflow initiation and intervention, error handling, and so on. This framework adopts the following principles:

  1. Only docker, bash and POSIX tools need to be installed. Fewer dependencies means its easier to get started. Conventional dependencies means less has to be learned to use the framework.
  2. Configuration is written in POSIX sh shell. Terraform is declarative, but shell programming and tools provide lots more control over the generated Terraform.
  3. Each terraform action comes from a uniquely tagged immutable image. Changes made to infrastructure must be from authoritative source that is traceable back to a single point of control.
  4. Common needs should be automatic. Uncommon needs should be easy. Provider configuration and authentication, remote state management, universal resource tags, and many more common features should be built in. Where no built-in exists, it should be easy to make one.
  5. The overhead must be small and the runtime fast. The framework must not get in the way of a developer by being slow, bulky, or hard to use.

Operation

This workflow framework organizes resources into components, which as mentioned are isolated units of infrastructure.

When you select a component to deploy, this wrapper will combine the common files from lib with the component specific files from components/ into a build directory, work/build/. A Terraform-based docker image will then be made around these files, which will then be run to plan, apply, or destroy the resources as given by the build files.

If the terraform action produces a state file, it will be stashed and made available in the next build. However, the state file is stashed outside of the git repository, so you cannot commit it (which is good, as it contains secrets). While local state files are useful for local development, it's recommended to use a remote state storage for any production use.

To debug the result of the terraform, inspect the contents of the work/deploy directory after the deploy action completes. Note that these contents are made available by copying the results after the docker container finishes, not by mounting the docker container.

Directory organization

  • bin contains tools useful for generating and deploying multiple terraform components.
  • components contains sub-directories, one for each separate terraform-based component. You might want to use git sub-modules to separate your components from this wrapper.
  • lib contains modules useful and common functionality that is to be used across multiple terraform components. By adjusting configuration files in this folder you can alter overall component behavior, activate common features, and more.

State storage

By default, state storage is maintained locally. If you would like to store state remotely, set the TF_VAR_backend variable as described in lib/deploy-env.sh. Remember to also set corresponding configuration and credentials behavior.

Authentication

To use an authenticated remote state storage, or indeed any resources requiring authentication, you will need to pass the configuration and credentials for the provider into the Docker container.

The best way to do this is by selecting your providers and credentials from the list of supported ones in lib/deploy-env.sh. For example, to set AWS as your provider and pass in credentials from your local environment to the container, set TF_VAR_providers="aws" and TF_VAR_credentials="aws" in lib/deploy-env.sh.

References