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Terraform Installation

Terraform is HashiCorp’s Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that you’ll use throughout HackerOps labs to provision and manage cloud resources.

Info

Pre-configured VMs: Terraform is already installed on the HackerOps Ubuntu VMs. Skip this guide if using the pre-configured environment.

What is Terraform?

Terraform allows you to:

Define infrastructure as code using HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language)
Manage multiple cloud providers (AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean) from one tool
Version control your infrastructure like any other code
Plan and preview changes before applying them

Official Documentation: Terraform Installation Guide

Installation Methods

Using HashiCorp Repository (Recommended):

# Update system and install prerequisites
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common curl

# Add HashiCorp GPG key
curl -fsSL https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

# Add HashiCorp repository
sudo apt-add-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main"

# Install Terraform
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install terraform

# Verify installation
terraform --version

Alternative - Direct Download:

Visit Terraform Downloads
Download the Linux binary
Unzip and move to /usr/local/bin/
Make executable: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/terraform

Using Homebrew (Recommended):

# Install HashiCorp tap
brew tap hashicorp/tap

# Install Terraform
brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform

# Verify installation
terraform --version

Alternative - Direct Download:

Visit Terraform Downloads
Download the macOS binary
Unzip and move to /usr/local/bin/
Make executable: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/terraform

Using Chocolatey (Recommended):

# Install Terraform
choco install terraform

# Verify installation
terraform --version

Alternative - Direct Download:

Visit Terraform Downloads
Download Windows binary
Extract to a folder (e.g., C:\terraform)
Add the folder to your system PATH

Alternative - Using Winget:

# Install via Windows Package Manager
winget install Hashicorp.Terraform

Caution

Note: Package managers may not always have the latest version. For the most recent release, download directly from HashiCorp’s website.

Verify Installation

After installation, verify Terraform is working:

# Check version
terraform --version

# Should output something like:
# Terraform v1.6.0

Basic Usage Test

Test your installation with a simple configuration:

Create Test Directory - Run mkdir terraform-test && cd terraform-test to create a dedicated test workspace

Create Configuration File - Create a basic Terraform configuration:

cat > main.tf << EOF
terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0"
}

output "hello_world" {
  value = "Hello, HackerOps!"
}
EOF

Initialize Terraform - Run terraform init to initialize the working directory
Plan and Apply - Execute terraform plan to see the execution plan, then terraform apply and type “yes” when prompted

Tip

Success! If you see “Hello, HackerOps!” in the output, Terraform is properly installed and ready for the labs.

Next Steps

With Terraform installed:

Set up Ansible - Complement Terraform with configuration management
Configure cloud providers - Set up AWS, Azure, and DigitalOcean credentials
Start Lab 1 - Deploy your first infrastructure

Troubleshooting

Command not found:

Restart your terminal after installation
Verify Terraform is in your system PATH
Try reinstalling using a different method

Permission errors:

Use sudo for Linux package installations
Run PowerShell as Administrator on Windows
Check file permissions: chmod +x terraform if installing manually