Terraform – 100+ Lab Exercises (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced)

🔰 Basic Level (30+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Grasp Terraform fundamentals, syntax, and build your first infrastructure modules.

 

Terraform Fundamentals

  • Install Terraform and set up CLI.

  • Initialize a Terraform project.

  • Understand .tf file structure and HCL syntax.

  • Configure main.tf, variables.tf, and outputs.tf.

  • Use terraform init, plan, apply, and destroy.

Basic Resource Provisioning

  • Launch an AWS EC2 instance.

  • Create an S3 bucket with basic properties.

  • Deploy an Azure Virtual Machine.

  • Configure a GCP Compute Engine instance.

  • Use AWS Provider block with credentials.

Variables and Outputs

  • Use input variables with default values.

  • Assign variables via terraform.tfvars.

  • Output instance public IP and ID.

  • Create local values and references.

  • Understand interpolation syntax ${}.

Basic Modules and State

  • Write reusable Terraform modules.

  • Call a local module from main config.

  • Understand remote and local state files.

  • Use terraform output to retrieve values.

  • Enable basic state locking with S3 + DynamoDB (AWS).

 

🚀 Intermediate Level (40+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Automate infrastructure workflows using advanced modules, remote backends, and collaboration patterns.

 

Intermediate Resource Management

  • Launch multi-tier AWS architecture (VPC, EC2, RDS).

  • Create autoscaling groups and launch templates.

  • Set up Azure Storage Account with replication.

  • Use GCP VPC and firewall rules.

  • Deploy Lambda functions via Terraform.

Modules, Data Sources & Outputs

  • Create nested modules (network, compute, storage).

  • Reference data sources (AMI IDs, existing VPCs).

  • Use for_each and count for multiple resources.

  • Implement lifecycle policies (create_before_destroy).

  • Map outputs across environments.

Remote Backends & Workspaces

  • Store Terraform state in AWS S3.

  • Lock state with DynamoDB.

  • Use Terraform Cloud remote backend.

  • Manage environments using Workspaces (dev, prod).

  • Use backends in enterprise Terraform.

Secrets & Security

  • Store secrets in AWS Secrets Manager.

  • Inject environment variables securely.

  • Integrate with HashiCorp Vault.

  • Use sensitive = true for variables.

  • Encrypt backend state files.

 

🧠 Advanced Level (40+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Build production-grade, secure, and scalable infrastructure using modular design patterns and CI/CD automation.

 

Infrastructure Architecture

  • Build multi-region architectures.

  • Configure global load balancing.

  • Design and deploy private/public subnet combinations.

  • Integrate Terraform with Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE).

  • Implement scalable microservices deployment using Terraform + Helm.

Advanced Modules & Abstractions

  • Publish modules to Terraform Registry.

  • Use depends_on effectively across modules.

  • Refactor monolithic configs into micro-modules.

  • Validate module input/output interfaces.

  • Use local-exec and remote-exec provisioners.

Testing & Validation

  • Use terraform validate and terraform fmt.

  • Write unit tests with Terratest (Go).

  • Use Checkov, TFLint, and tfsec for security checks.

  • Automate code scanning in GitHub Actions.

  • Implement policy-as-code (OPA, Sentinel).

CI/CD Integration

  • Integrate Terraform in GitHub Actions / GitLab CI.

  • Automate plan-apply workflow with approvals.

  • Use terraform plan -out=tfplan for pipelines.

  • Generate reports and diffs for infrastructure changes.

  • Trigger downstream jobs on plan completion.

 

Capstone Projects

 

  • Build end-to-end CI/CD pipeline with Terraform on AWS.

  • Design a Disaster Recovery-ready architecture using Terraform.

  • Migrate existing infrastructure to Terraform-managed code.

  • Create a modular multi-cloud provisioning system.

  • Build a serverless infrastructure using Lambda, API Gateway, and Terraform.

 

✅ Tools & Technologies

 

  • Cloud Providers: AWS, Azure, GCP

  • Tools: Terraform Cloud, Terragrunt, Atlantis, Vault

  • Testing & Security: Checkov, Terratest, Tfsec, TFLint

Download Syllabus 👇
Scroll to Top