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| layout | page_title | sidebar_current | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| intro | Introduction | what | This guide explains what Terraform is, what problems it can solve, and how it compares to existing software. |
Introduction to Terraform
What is Terraform?
Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. Terraform can manage both low-level components such as compute instances, storage, and networking, as well as high-level components such as DNS entries, SaaS features, etc.
Terraform configuration files describe the components needed to run a single application or your entire datacenter. Terraform reads these configuration files, generates an execution plan describing what it will do to reach the desired state, and then executes that plan to build the described infrastructure. As the configuration changes, Terraform can determine what changed and implement changes in the right order to respect dependencies.
Below, HashiCorp co-founder and CTO Armon Dadgar describes Terraform and its uses in more depth.
Key Features
Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure is described using a high-level configuration language. This allows a blueprint of your datacenter to be versioned and treated as you would any other code. Additionally, infrastructure can be shared and re-used.
Execution Plans
Terraform generates an execution plan and asks for your approval before creating or destroying infrastructure. This allows you to review changes before they are applied.
Resource Graph
Terraform builds a graph of all your resources and parallelizes the creation and modification of any non-dependent resources. This allows Terraform to build infrastructure as efficiently as possible and gives operators greater insight into their infrastructure.
Change Automation
Apply complex changesets to your infrastructure with minimal human interaction.
Next Steps
- Learn about common Terraform use cases.
- Learn how Terraform compares to other infrastructure tools.
- Try the Terraform: Get Started tutorials on HashiCorp Learn to learn how to use Terraform to manage real infrastructure.