Introduction

In this post I will cover installation of Hashicorp Terraform on my Linux box (Pop!_OS / Ubuntu). Terraform has a repository that can easily be added, making the process simple and familiar. In fact, it is the same as the Packer repository, so installation is super simple if you've followed the previous post.

Instructions at developer.hashicorp.com

Following the installation instructions provided at developer.hashicorp.com , the process is familiar for many packages. Be sure to select "Ubuntu/Debian" to follow along. As mentioned above, adding the key and repository (first two steps) are not necessary if you've followed the previous post about installing Packer. Keeping this in mind:

• First, add the HashiCorp GPGKey (might not be necessary)

  $ wget -O - https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg

• Next, add the repository (might not be necessary)

  $ echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) 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

• Finally, update and install packer

  $ sudo apt update 
  $ sudo apt install terraform

Verifying the installation

A simple verification of the installation can be had by checking the version and help:

$ terraform --version                                                                                                                                                                         
Terraform v1.11.1                                                                                                                                                                             
on linux_amd64

$ terraform --help
Usage: terraform [global options] <subcommand> [args]

The available commands for execution are listed below.
The primary workflow commands are given first, followed by
less common or more advanced commands.

Main commands:
  init          Prepare your working directory for other commands
  validate      Check whether the configuration is valid
  plan          Show changes required by the current configuration
  apply         Create or update infrastructure
  destroy       Destroy previously-created infrastructure

All other commands:
  console       Try Terraform expressions at an interactive command prompt
  fmt           Reformat your configuration in the standard style
  force-unlock  Release a stuck lock on the current workspace
  get           Install or upgrade remote Terraform modules
  graph         Generate a Graphviz graph of the steps in an operation
  import        Associate existing infrastructure with a Terraform resource
  login         Obtain and save credentials for a remote host
  logout        Remove locally-stored credentials for a remote host
  metadata      Metadata related commands
  modules       Show all declared modules in a working directory
  output        Show output values from your root module
  providers     Show the providers required for this configuration
  refresh       Update the state to match remote systems
  show          Show the current state or a saved plan
  state         Advanced state management
  taint         Mark a resource instance as not fully functional
  test          Execute integration tests for Terraform modules
  untaint       Remove the 'tainted' state from a resource instance
  version       Show the current Terraform version
  workspace     Workspace management

Global options (use these before the subcommand, if any):
  -chdir=DIR    Switch to a different working directory before executing the
                given subcommand.
  -help         Show this help output, or the help for a specified subcommand.
  -version      An alias for the "version" subcommand.

Further information

That's it! All of the tools I need to start automating my infrastructure are in place. As previously stated, my goal is to use Terraform, Packer and Ansible to create digitalocean droplets, load balancers, SSL certificates, set up DNS, create firewalls etc in a way that is quick, easy repeatable, and scalable. Again, this is part of my attempt to implement Infrastructure as code (IaC) in my projects (even simple projects). If you'd like to follow along, check out the devops tag or infrastructure as code (IaC) tag .