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Terraform files 📚

Description​

When you create your architecture, Brainboard automatically and instantly generates a Terraform code for your infrastructure.

This code is stored in different files according to the best practices of Terraform.

Files structure​

By default, if you don't change rename or change the generated files, you have the following ones:

  1. main.tf: contains all the definition of resources and their configuration. See how you can change or rename it below.
  2. output.tf: contains the output variables.
  3. providers.tf: contains the definition of terraform block and the providers.
  4. terraform.tfvars: contains only the values of the variables if defined.
  5. variables.tf: contains the definition of variables and their blocks.
  6. locals.tf: contains the definition of Terraform locals.
  7. backend.tf: contains the configuration of the remote backend.

Create new Terraform file​

To create a new Terraform file that contains some resources:

  1. Select the resource you want to put in the same file.
  2. Click on Group resource in the same Terraform file button: group resources
  3. Give a new name of the file.
  4. Click on Save to create the new file and put resources inside it.

Once the file is created it will be visible in the list of Terraform files: TF files

Rename existing Terraform file​

To rename an existing file:

  1. Click on the button to display the list of groups:
  2. Click on the name of the group: TF groups list
  3. Rename it and save.

Delete a Terraform file​

To delete an existing file:

  1. Click on the button to display the list of groups:
  2. Click on the Delete group button: Delete group
  3. Confirm to permanently delete it.
info

When you delete a group, the resources inside it will not be deleted. They will be put back in main.tf. To delete them, you need to select and delete them.

Add resource into an existing file​

To add a resource into an existing or new Terraform file (group):

  1. Select the resource.
  2. Click on Group resource in the same Terraform file button: Add resource to group
  3. Either select group from the available list or create a new one.
  4. Click on Save to persist the change.

Remove resource from a file​

To remove a resource from an existing Terraform file (group):

  1. Select the resource.
  2. Click on Group resource in the same Terraform file button: Add resource to group
  3. Select main.
  4. Click on Save to persist the change.

Best practices​

  • Always group resources that are supposed to work together or have the same logic in a separate group / Terraform file.
  • Use explicit names for your Terraform files. Usually there are 2 conventions of naming:
    • Infrastructure base naming: vpc.tf, db.tf...
    • Application base naming: microservice1.tf, backend.tf...