The blog explores common challenges faced by Terraform users in managing infrastructure as code (IaC) and introduces Terramate Stacks as a powerful solution. It highlights issues like code duplication, dependency management, change detection, data sharing, and access control in Terraform projects. Terramate Stacks, an open-source feature, addresses these challenges by providing an efficient organizational framework for Terraform code. With the ability to simplify resource management, generate native Terraform code, and streamline collaboration, Terramate Stacks offers an intuitive and customizable solution to enhance the Terraform experience.

Problems

Terraform is a popular tool for defining and provisioning infrastructure as code. It allows you to create and manage resources on various cloud providers and platforms using declarative language. It also enables you to track the state and lifecycle of your resources and automate your infrastructure deployment. Terraform is widely used by developers and DevOps teams to collaborate and streamline their infrastructure workflows.

However, Terraform is not without its challenges. As your infrastructure grows in size and complexity, you may encounter some common problems, such as:

Code duplication and boilerplate code:

You may find yourself repeating the same code or configuration across multiple resources or modules. This can make your code hard to maintain and update.

Dependency management and orchestration:

You may need to manage the dependencies between your resources and ensure that they are created and destroyed in the right order. This can be tricky and error-prone, especially when you have multiple stacks or environments. Change detection and impact analysis: You may need to detect the changes in your code or configuration based on your version control system (such as Git) and analyze their impact on your resources. This can help you avoid unnecessary or unwanted deployments and reduce the risk of errors.

Data sharing and configuration:

You may need to share common data or configuration across your resources, such as provider credentials, region, environment, etc. This can be cumbersome and inconsistent, especially when you have multiple stacks or environments.

Security and access control:

You may need to secure your resources and control who can access them, especially when you create preview environments for testing or sharing purposes. This can require additional tools or services, such as DNS or certificates.

How can you solve these problems and improve your Terraform experience? One possible solution is Terramate stacks.

Terramate Stacks

Terramate stacks are a powerful feature that can help you organize your Terraform code more efficiently and effectively. A Terramate stack is a collection of related resources that are managed as a single unit using Terraform. A Terramate stack is defined by a directory that contains one or more Terramate configuration files, including a file with a stack {} block. The stack {} block can be used to describe the stack and orchestrate its execution.

How to use terramate stack?

• Create a new directory that contains a file named terramate.tm.hcl with the following content:

# file: terramate.tm.hcl
terramate {
  config {}
}

• Navigate to the new directory and run:

$ terramate create mysite

• This creates a stack directory called mysite containing a file named stack.tm.hcl with the following content:

# file: stack.tm.hcl
stack {
  name        = "mysite"
  description = "mysite"
  id          = "3b08c008-f0b2-4d01-8021-4c523199123e"
}

• A stack is a collection of related resources managed as a single unit. You can define the included resources in a Terraform configuration file inside the stack directory. For example, you can create a file named main.tf with the following content:

# file: main.tf
resource "local_file" "index" {
  content  = "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>"
  filename = "${path.module}/index.html"
}

• This resource creates a static HTML file that will be part of your demo site.

• To generate the Terraform files for your stack, run:

$ terramate generate

• To initialize and apply your stack, run:

$ cd mysite/.terramate
$ terraform init
$ terraform apply

• This command creates the local file resource and outputs its path.

• To view your demo site, open the outputted path in your browser.

Terramate stacks allow you to:

1. Break down your infrastructure into manageable pieces: You can create multiple stacks for different resources, modules, or environments. You can also create relationships between stacks, such as dependencies, inheritance, or sharing of data.

2. Simplify resource creation and management: You can use Terramate commands to run Terraform commands on multiple stacks at once, such as plan, apply, or destroy. You can also use Terramate’s change detection feature to show you which stacks are affected by your code or configuration changes based on your Git history.

3. Generate native Terraform code: You can use Terramate’s code generation feature to generate Terraform code for you based on your stack configuration and global variables. This can help you avoid writing boilerplate code and keep your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself).

4. Share data and configuration across resources: You can use Terramate’s globals feature to define global variables that can be accessed by any stack in your project. This can help you share common data or configuration across your stacks, such as provider credentials, region, environment, etc.

5. Expose your preview environments to the web: You can use Terramate’s tunnel server feature to expose your preview environments to the web with a user-friendly HTTPS URL. This can help you share access to your preview environments with your team or clients without any DNS or certificate configuration.

Terramate stacks are open-source and easy to use and customize. They work with any Terraform version and provider. They support multiple cloud platforms and environments. They provide a consistent and intuitive interface for managing Terraform projects.

Terramate stacks are a great way to organize your Terraform code with ease and efficiency.

Conclusion

Terramate stacks are a powerful feature that can help you organize your Terraform code more efficiently and effectively. They allow you to break down your infrastructure into manageable pieces, simplify resource creation and management, generate native Terraform code, share data and configuration across resources, and expose your preview environments to the web. Terramate stacks are open-source and easy to use and customize. They work with any Terraform version and provider. They support multiple cloud platforms and environments. They provide a consistent and intuitive interface for managing Terraform projects.

Get involved

1. Check out the website

2. Star the repo on GitHub

3. Follow Terramate on Twitter

4. Join the Discord community