From Manual Clicking to Terraform Magic

Vikaskumar dane

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DevOps Engineer

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AWS

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Computer Software

From Manual Clicking to Terraform Magic: My Journey into Infrastructure as Code 🚀

Vikaskumar Dane

12 min read

22 hours ago

Chapter 1: The Plot Twist in My DevOps Journey

So there I was, thinking I was getting confidence at this whole DevOps thing. I learned Docker (well, mostly stopped getting “container not found” errors), learned some basic AWS services, and could even write a halfway decent CI/CD pipeline without crying. I was feeling like a proper cloud warrior! 🐳☁️

Then my senior developer casually mentioned, “Oh, and once you’re comfortable with those, you should probably learn Infrastructure as Code. Maybe start with Terraform.”

Record scratch 🎵

Infrastructure as… what now? I thought infrastructure was just clicking around in the AWS console until things worked. You know, the classic “point-and-pray” method that’s been serving humanity since the dawn of cloud computing (aka 2006).

But apparently, there’s this whole world of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) that I’d been blissfully unaware of. And let me tell you, discovering IaC after manually creating resources is like finding out you can order groceries online after years of fighting crowds at the supermarket. Mind = Blown 🤯

Chapter 2: The Manual Infrastructure Nightmare (A Horror Story)

Before we dive into the magic of IaC, let me paint you a picture of my pre-Terraform life. Picture this:

The Scene: 2 AM, I’m trying to create a “simple” three-tier web application on AWS

The Process:

Log into AWS Console ✅

Navigate to VPC (after getting lost in the sea of AWS services) ✅

Create VPC with custom CIDR block ✅

Create public subnet… wait, what’s an availability zone again? 🤔

Create private subnet in a different AZ ✅

Create internet gateway ✅

Attach internet gateway to VPC… where’s that button? 🔍

Create route table for public subnet ✅

Associate route table with subnet ✅

Create security groups… which ports did I need again? 🤷‍♂️

Launch EC2 instance in public subnet ✅

Launch RDS instance in private subnet ✅

Configure security group rules (after googling “what port does MySQL use” for the 47th time) ✅

Test connectivity… nothing works 😭

Spend 3 hours debugging why the EC2 can’t reach the RDS 🐛

Finally get it working at 5 AM ✅

Two weeks later: “Hey, can you create the same setup for our staging environment?”

Internal screaming intensifies 😱

And that’s when I realized I had two options:

Repeat this 47-click nightmare and probably make different mistakes this time

Learn this “Infrastructure as Code” thing everyone keeps talking about

Spoiler alert: I chose option 2, and it changed my life! 🎉

Chapter 3: What the Heck is Infrastructure as Code?

So, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is basically treating your infrastructure like… well, code! Instead of clicking through web interfaces like a digital caveman, you write code that describes what you want your infrastructure to look like, and tools automatically create it for you.

Think of it this way:

Traditional approach: Like giving someone directions to your house by phone (“Turn left at the big tree, then right at the place that used to be a gas station…”)

IaC approach: Like sharing your GPS coordinates — precise, repeatable, and much less likely to end with someone calling you from a corn field

Why Do We Need IaC? (The Life-Changing Benefits)

1. Consistency 🎯 Remember playing “spot the differences” between your dev and prod environments? With IaC, they’re identical every single time. No more “but it works on my staging environment!” moments.

2. Version Control 📝 Your infrastructure changes go through the same review process as your application code. No more mystery configurations that only Bob from DevOps remembers (and Bob went on vacation to Thailand indefinitely).

3. Documentation 📚 The code IS the documentation! No more outdated wiki pages that say “TODO: Document the network setup” from 2019.

4. Disaster Recovery 🚑 If something goes boom, you can recreate your entire infrastructure in minutes instead of frantically trying to remember what you clicked two months ago.

5. Cost Management 💰 Spin up environments when you need them, destroy them when you don’t. Your AWS bill will thank you (and so will your manager).

6. Collaboration 🤝 Multiple people can work on infrastructure changes without stepping on each other’s toes. It’s like Google Docs, but for servers!

Chapter 4: The IaC Tool Showdown (Choose Your Fighter)

When I started researching IaC tools, I felt like I was at a tech buffet with too many options. Here’s the breakdown of the major players:

Ansible 🎭

What it is: Like having a really good assistant who follows step-by-step instructions

Good for: Configuration management, “do this, then do that” scenarios

Not so good for: Describing what your final infrastructure should look like

Analogy: Like having a recipe that says “stir for 2 minutes, add salt, stir for 3 more minutes”

Puppet 🎪

What it is: The enterprise-grade, “we have a team of 50 DevOps engineers” solution

Good for: Large organizations with complex requirements

Not so good for: Small teams who just want to get stuff done

Analogy: Like using a Formula 1 car to go grocery shopping — technically impressive, but maybe overkill

Chef 👨‍🍳

What it is: Ruby-based configuration management

Good for: Teams that love Ruby and have time to learn Ruby

Not so good for: Everyone else (sorry Ruby fans, but it’s true)

Analogy: Like cooking with molecular gastronomy when you just want a sandwich

AWS CloudFormation ☁️

What it is: Amazon’s native IaC solution

Good for: All-AWS environments, tight integration with AWS services

Not so good for: Multi-cloud setups, or when you want readable configuration files

Analogy: Like speaking fluent AWS-ese but being mute everywhere else

Terraform 🌍

What it is: The Swiss Army knife of infrastructure tools

Good for: Pretty much everything, multi-cloud, readable syntax

Not so good for: …still looking for major downsides honestly

Analogy: Like having a universal translator for cloud services

Guess which one I chose? 😉

Chapter 5: Why Terraform Won My Heart ❤️

Terraform quickly became my favorite IaC tool, and here’s why:

The Origin Story 📖

Terraform was created by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar at HashiCorp in 2014. The story goes that Mitchell was impressed by AWS CloudFormation but thought, “What if we could do this for ANY cloud provider?” So he literally blogged about the idea, waited for someone else to build it, and when nobody did, HashiCorp stepped up to the plate.

Thanks for your service, Mitchell! 🙏

Why Terraform is Awesome

1. Cloud Agnostic 🌐 Works with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and about 1000+ other providers. You could probably use Terraform to manage your smart toaster if someone wrote a provider for it.

2. Declarative Syntax 📝 You describe WHAT you want, not HOW to get there. It’s like ordering at a restaurant — you don’t need to explain to the chef how to cook, you just say “I want the salmon.”

3. State Management 🗃️ Terraform keeps track of what it created, so it knows what to update, what to leave alone, and what to destroy. It’s like having a really good memory for infrastructure.

4. Plan Before Apply 🔍 Terraform shows you exactly what it’s going to do before it does it. No more surprise charges on your AWS bill!

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5. Huge Community 👥 Thousands of modules, examples, and Stack Overflow answers. If you want to do something with Terraform, someone has probably already done it and shared how.

A Simple Terraform Example (The Magic Moment)

Here’s what made me fall in love with Terraform. This simple code:

# Configure the AWS Providerterraform {  required_providers {    aws = {      source  = "hashicorp/aws"      version = "~> 5.0"    }  }}provider "aws" {  region = "us-west-2"}# Create a VPCresource "aws_vpc" "main" {  cidr_block           = "10.0.0.0/16"  enable_dns_hostnames = true  enable_dns_support   = true  tags = {    Name = "main-vpc"  }}# Create a public subnetresource "aws_subnet" "public" {  vpc_id                  = aws_vpc.main.id  cidr_block              = "10.0.1.0/24"  availability_zone       = "us-west-2a"  map_public_ip_on_launch = true  tags = {    Name = "public-subnet"  }}# Create an internet gatewayresource "aws_internet_gateway" "gw" {  vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id  tags = {    Name = "main-gateway"  }}# Create an EC2 instanceresource "aws_instance" "web" {  ami           = "ami-0c02fb55956c7d316" # Amazon Linux 2  instance_type = "t2.micro"  subnet_id     = aws_subnet.public.id  tags = {    Name = "web-server"  }}

Does the EXACT same thing as my 2 AM clicking marathon, but:

Takes 2 minutes to run instead of 2 hours

Is perfectly documented

Can be version controlled

Can be shared with teammates

Will create identical infrastructure every time

I literally said “shut up and take my money!” to my computer screen. 🤑 Although I don’t have it :-(

Chapter 6: What Can You Actually Do With Terraform?

The possibilities are endless! Here are some real-world scenarios where Terraform shines:

The “Oops, I Broke Production” Recovery 🚨

# Instead of panic-clicking for 6 hours...$ terraform apply# 10 minutes later: "Production is back up!"

The “Let’s Test This on a Copy of Production” Request 🔄

# Before: "That'll take 2 weeks to set up"# After: "Give me 15 minutes"$ terraform workspace new testing$ terraform apply

The “We Need This in 3 Different Regions” Challenge 🌍

# Copy-paste your configuration, change the region# Deploy to multiple regions simultaneously# Sleep peacefully knowing they're all identical

The “Intern Accidentally Deleted Everything” Disaster 😱

# Before: Resume updates and panic attacks# After: "No problem, let me just..."$ terraform apply# "...and it's back!"

The “Our AWS Bill is Too High” Investigation 💸

# Destroy non-production environments after hours$ terraform destroy -auto-approve# Recreate them in the morning$ terraform apply -auto-approve# Watch your AWS bill thank you

Chapter 7: Getting Started — Your First Steps

Ready to join the Terraform revolution? Here’s how to get started:

Installation (The Easy Part)

Windows 🪟:

Download from HashiCorp’s website

Extract to C:\terraform

Add to PATH

Pray to the PATH gods

Open new terminal and run terraform --version

macOS 🍎:

bash# The civilized waybrew install terraform# Verify it workedterraform --version

Linux 🐧:

# Download and installwget https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/1.6.0/terraform_1.6.0_linux_amd64.zipunzip terraform_1.6.0_linux_amd64.zipsudo mv terraform /usr/local/bin/# Check if you're now a Terraform wizardterraform --version

The Terraform Workflow (The Fun Part)

The Terraform workflow is beautifully simple:

Write 📝: Create .tf files describing your infrastructure

Init 🚀: Run terraform init to download providers

Plan 📋: Run terraform plan to see what will happen

Apply ✅: Run terraform apply to make it happen

Admire 😍: Watch your infrastructure come to life

Destroy 💥: Run terraform destroy when you're done (optional, but your wallet will appreciate it)

Chapter 8: The Learning Resources Goldmine 🏆

Now that I’ve convinced you that Terraform is awesome (you’re welcome), here are the best resources to level up your skills:

📺 YouTube Channels (Free Knowledge FTW)

Hey there, caffeine connoisseur! If this article perked you up more than your morning espresso, feel free to fuel my next blog buzz —treat me to a coffee here

1. Terraform Zero to Hero By Abhishek.Veeramalla

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbG3zVBVYvM

Great for getting started quickly

Practical and to the point

2. Infrastructure as Code by Kunal Kushwaha

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/live/2keKHXtvY5c?si=USgNMd2OB0rNR4cn

📚 Official Documentation (The Source of Truth)

1. HashiCorp Learn Platform ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🔗 https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/tutorials

Free, official tutorials from the creators

Step-by-step guides for AWS, Azure, GCP

Certification preparation materials

2. Terraform Documentation

🔗 https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/docs

Complete reference documentation

Best practices and examples

Provider-specific guides

3. AWS Provider Documentation

🔗 https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs

Every AWS resource you can imagine

Code examples for each resource

Real-world usage patterns

🛠️ Hands-On Practice Platforms

1. Collabnix Terraform Labs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🔗 https://collabnix.github.io/terraform/

Free hands-on labs

Covers AWS, Azure, GCP

Step-by-step tutorials

Community-driven content

2. Whizlabs Hands-On Labs

🔗 https://www.whizlabs.com/blog/hashicorp-certified-terraform-associate-labs/

Professional lab environment

Real AWS environments

Guided exercises

Certification-focused

3. K21Academy Practice Labs

🔗 https://k21academy.com/terraform-iac/terraform-step-by-step-activity-guide-hands-on-lab-project-work/

Comprehensive activity guides

Real-world scenarios

Multi-cloud coverage

📖 GitHub Resources (Community Power)

1. Terraform AWS Examples

🔗 https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-provider-aws

Official AWS provider repository

Real-world examples

Community contributions

2. Awesome Terraform

Search GitHub for “awesome-terraform”

Curated list of resources

Tools, modules, and examples

Community-maintained

🏆 Practice Tips from My Journey

Start Small: Begin with simple resources like S3 buckets

Use Free Tier: AWS/Azure/GCP free tiers are perfect for learning

Break Things: Seriously, destroy and recreate resources to understand the lifecycle

Join Communities: Reddit r/Terraform, Stack Overflow, Discord servers

Read Other People’s Code: GitHub is full of Terraform examples

Document Your Learning: Blog about what you learn (like I’m doing!)

Chapter 9: What’s Next in My Terraform Adventure?

Now that I’ve caught the Terraform bug, I’m planning my next learning adventure:

Coming Up Next: “From Zero to EC2 Hero: Creating AWS Infrastructure with Terraform”

In my next blog post, I’ll take you on a hands-on journey where we’ll:

🚀 Set up AWS Credentials Properly

AWS CLI configuration

IAM roles and policies

Security best practices (because we’re not animals)

🏗️ Build a Production-Ready EC2 Setup

Custom VPC with public/private subnets

Security groups that actually make sense

Load balancers for high availability

Auto Scaling Groups for handling traffic spikes

💾 Master Terraform State Management

Remote state with S3 backend

State locking with DynamoDB

Team collaboration workflows

🔧 Advanced Terraform Techniques

Variables and outputs

Modules for reusability

Workspaces for multiple environments

Conditional resource creation

🎯 Real-World Project We’ll build a complete web application infrastructure that includes:

Application Load Balancer

Auto Scaling Group with EC2 instances

RDS database in private subnet

CloudWatch monitoring and alarms

All managed through Terraform code!

This will be a completely hands-on tutorial where you can follow along and build real infrastructure. By the end, you’ll have a portfolio-worthy project and the confidence to use Terraform in production environments.

Why This Matters

The next post will bridge the gap between “I know what Terraform is” and “I can confidently build production infrastructure with Terraform.” It’s the difference between knowing how to drive and actually navigating through city traffic!

Chapter 10: Conclusion — Welcome to the IaC Revolution!

Looking back on my journey from manual infrastructure clicking to Terraform automation, I can’t believe I waited so long to learn Infrastructure as Code. It’s like discovering that you can automate your morning coffee routine — suddenly everything else seems barbarically manual! ☕

The Transformation

Before Terraform 😫:

2 AM infrastructure emergencies

“It works on my machine” syndrome

Documentation that’s always out of date

Fear of making changes

AWS bills that make you cry

After Terraform 😎:

Infrastructure that deploys in minutes

Identical environments every time

Code that IS the documentation

Confidence in making changes

Predictable, manageable costs

The Bigger Picture

Infrastructure as Code isn’t just about tools — it’s about bringing software engineering best practices to infrastructure management. It’s about:

Collaboration: Working together on infrastructure like we work on code

Reliability: Predictable, repeatable infrastructure deployments

Speed: Going from idea to production faster than ever

Quality: Peer reviews, testing, and version control for infrastructure

Innovation: Spending time on new features instead of infrastructure firefighting

Your Next Steps

If you’re where I was a few months ago — comfortable with Docker, learning cloud services, but managing infrastructure manually — I encourage you to take the leap into Infrastructure as Code. Here’s your action plan:

This Week: Install Terraform and follow the official “Get Started” tutorial

Next Week: Deploy your first AWS resources with Terraform

This Month: Build a complete project following my next blog post

Next Month: Start using Terraform for your real projects

A Personal Note

Learning Terraform has been one of the most rewarding parts of my DevOps journey. Not just because it makes me more productive (though it absolutely does), but because it represents a fundamental shift in how we think about infrastructure.

We’re no longer infrastructure operators clicking through web interfaces. We’re infrastructure developers, crafting code that creates and manages the platforms our applications run on. That’s pretty cool when you think about it! 🚀

Join the Journey

I’m excited to continue sharing this journey with you. The world of Infrastructure as Code is vast and constantly evolving, and there’s always more to learn. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, we’re all in this together.

Drop a comment below if you’re starting your own Terraform journey — I’d love to hear about your experiences, challenges, and victories!

Until next time, happy terraforming! 🌍✨

Ready to dive deeper? Follow along for my next post where we’ll get our hands dirty with AWS and build some seriously cool infrastructure with Terraform. The adventure is just beginning!

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Posted Oct 5, 2025

Transitioned to Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, enhancing efficiency and consistency.

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