Provisioning AWS Infrastructure Using Terraform (IaC)

6 million dollar question: “If everything went down today, could you rebuild it from code?”

After this project, the answer is YES.

🎯 PROJECT 3 — GOALS

• By the end of this project, you will:

• Provision AWS infrastructure entirely from code

• Create and destroy EC2 safely using Terraform

• Manage Security Groups declaratively

• Understand Terraform state (very important)

Be able to say (confidently):

“I provision AWS infrastructure using Terraform.” 📦 WHAT WE WILL BUILD (CLEAR SCOPE)

Terraform will create:

✅ EC2 instance (Ubuntu)

✅ Security Group

• SSH (22)

• HTTP (80)

✅ Key Pair (or reference existing)

✅ Output values (public IP)

This will replace manual EC2 creation.

🗂 PROJECT STRUCTURE (PROFESSIONAL)

project-3-terraform-aws/
├── main.tf
├── variables.tf
├── outputs.tf
├── terraform.tfvars
└── README.md

NB: Note that we are using Bash terminal throughout the project except stated otherwise.

🧱 CLASS 1 — TERRAFORM SETUP & BASICS Step 1: Install Terraform (Windows)

Download: 👉 https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/downloads

Choose:

• Windows AMD64

• Extract terraform.exe

• Add it to PATH

How do you add to path?

🧱 STEP 4 — ADD TERRAFORM TO PATH (CRITICAL)

This is the step most people miss.

3️⃣ Add C:\terraform to PATH (CRITICAL)

• Press Windows key

• Search: Environment Variables

• Open Edit the system environment variables

• Click Environment Variables

• Under System variables, select Path

• Click Edit

• Click New

Click on Browse.. and select the terraform folder we have save in C:.

Click OK on all windows.

⚠️ You must close and reopen Git Bash after this.

🧪 STEP 5 — VERIFY INSTALLATION

Close all terminals.

Open Git Bash again, then run: Verify:

terraform -version

You must see a version number.

✅ STEP 2: Create the Terraform project directory

Now create it:

mkdir project-3-terraform-aws

Enter it:

cd project-3-terraform-aws

Confirm:

pwd

You should see:

.../Desktop/project-3-terraform-aws

✅ Now you’re in the right place.

☁️ AWS SETUP — KEY PAIR (SAFE & CORRECT) 🎯 What we are doing

By the end of this, you will have:

• An AWS account

• An EC2 Key Pair

• A .pem file saved safely

• The key pair NAME ready for Terraform ⚠️ We are NOT creating EC2 yet — just preparing access.

STEP 1: Log in to AWS Console

Go to: 👉 https://console.aws.amazon.com/

Sign in with your AWS account. STEP 2: Select the correct region (IMPORTANT)

Top-right corner of AWS Console:

Select US East (N. Virginia) → us-east-1

Why?

• Free-tier friendly

• Matches our Terraform default

• Most tutorials & AMIs work here

STEP 3: Go to EC2 Dashboard

In the AWS search bar, type:

EC2

Click EC2.

STEP 4: Create a Key Pair

In the left sidebar:

Network & Security → Key Pairs

Click Create key pair.

Fill the form:

Name:

terraform-key

(simple, professional, reusable)

Key pair type: RSA

Private key file format: .pem

Click Create key pair.

STEP 5: SAVE THE KEY FILE (VERY IMPORTANT)

Your browser will download:

terraform-key.pem

Do NOT delete it

Do NOT rename it

⚠️ AWS will never show this file again.

✅ STEP 3: Initialize the project files Create the Terraform files we’ll use:

`touch main.tf variables.tf outputs.tf terraform.tfvars`

Confirm:

ls

You should see:

main.tf  variables.tf  outputs.tf  terraform.tfvars

Now that the folder exists and files are created, open it in VS Code:

code .

Step 1: Paste variables.tf

Open variables.tf and paste:

variable "region" { description = "AWS region" type = string default = "us-east-1" }

variable "instance_type" { description = "EC2 instance type (keep low-cost)" type = string default = "t2.micro" }

variable "key_name" { description = "Existing AWS key pair name (NOT the .pem filename)" type = string }

Step 2: Paste `main.tf`

Open `main.tf `and paste:

terraform { required_providers { aws = { source = "hashicorp/aws" version = "~> 5.0" } } }

provider "aws" { region = var.region }

resource "aws_security_group" "web_sg" { name = "terraform-web-sg" description = "Allow SSH and HTTP"

ingress { description = "SSH" from_port = 22 to_port = 22 protocol = "tcp" cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] }

ingress { description = "HTTP" from_port = 80 to_port = 80 protocol = "tcp" cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] }

egress { from_port = 0 to_port = 0 protocol = "-1" cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] } }

data "aws_ami" "ubuntu" { most_recent = true

filter { name = "name" values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"] }

filter { name = "virtualization-type" values = ["hvm"] }

owners = ["099720109477"] # Canonical (Ubuntu) }

resource "aws_instance" "web" { ami = data.aws_ami.ubuntu.id instance_type = var.instance_type key_name = var.key_name

vpc_security_group_ids = [aws_security_group.web_sg.id]

tags = { Name = "terraform-web-instance" } }

Step 3: Paste `outputs.tf`

Open `outputs.tf` and paste:

output "public_ip" { description = "Public IP of the EC2 instance" value = aws_instance.web.public_ip }

Step 4: Set `terraform.tfvars`

Open `terraform.tfvars` and paste (edit the key name):

key_name = "YOUR_KEYPAIR_NAME"

⚠️ This must be your AWS Key Pair name (example: nodejs-key) — not nodejs-key.pem.

Step 5: Run Terraform commands (from Git Bash in project-3 folder)

terraform init terraform fmt terraform validate terraform plan

STEP 6: Confirm the **Key Pair** exists

Back in `AWS Console → Key Pairs`

You should see:

terraform-key

👉 Terraform uses the **name**
👉 SSH uses the **.pem file**

STEP 7: Prepare for **Terraform**

Now go back to your local machine.

Open:

`project-3-terraform-aws/terraform.tfvars`


Set:

key_name = "terraform-key"

✅ This is correct.

🚀 PROJECT 3 — CLASS 2 (CONTINUED)
Terraform Plan → Apply → Verify → Destroy (Cost-Safe)

You already have:

✅ Terraform installed

✅ AWS CLI configured

✅ Key pair created: terraform-key

✅ Terraform files created

Now we proceed.

✅ **Step 1: Set the key pair in Terraform**

Open `terraform.tfvars` and confirm it contains exactly:

`key_name = "terraform-key"`

Save the file.

✅ FIX AWS CLI v2 (Windows 11)

Step 1: Check if AWS CLI files actually exist

Open File Explorer and go to:

C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLIV2\

Look for:

aws.exe

Also check this folder:

C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLIV2\bin\

Look for:

aws.exe

How to add PATH:

Press **Win key** → type **Environment Variables**

Open **Edit the system environment variables**

Click **Environment Variables…**

Under User variables (top), select **Path** → **Edit**

New → paste the path above

**OK → OK → OK**

✅ Now close ALL terminals (PowerShell + Git Bash) and reopen PowerShell.

Test:

**where aws
aws --version**

**After AWS works: configure creds for Terraform**

Once `aws --version` works, do:

aws configure

Set:

region: `us-east-1
`
output: `json`

Then confirm:

aws sts get-caller-identity

Then go back to your **Terraform folder** and **run**:

terraform plan

Expected output (example):

C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLIV2\aws.exe aws-cli/2.xx.x Python/3.xx Windows/10 exe/AMD64

✅ **Then continue Project 3 (Terraform AWS)**
Configure AWS credentials:

aws configure

Enter:

**Access Key ID** → from AWS IAM
**Secret Access Key** → from AWS IAM
**Region** → `us-east-1`
**Output** → `json`

Verify:

aws sts get-caller-identity

Then:

Copy code terraform init terraform plan

You should get a successful result.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5nmvwgspcd28m35yxgap.png)

**Next step (Project 3)**

From the same folder `(~/OneDrive/Desktop/project-3-terraform-aws)` run:

terraform apply

Type **yes **when it asks.

After it finishes, **run**:

terraform output

You should see the

public_ip

**1) Get the EC2 Public IP**

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/6gwnfgstg8rlqvp0a7kf.png)

Run (in the same project folder):

terraform output public_ip

If it says “no outputs found”, run:

terraform refresh terraform output

(That will display it.)

Then we test it

1) SSH into the server (Git Bash)

Your keypair name is terraform-key, so your file is likely on Desktop.

Run:

chmod 400 ~/OneDrive/Desktop/terraform-key.pem ssh -i ~/OneDrive/Desktop/terraform-key.pem ubuntu@34.229.201.13

If your key is in **Downloads** instead:

chmod 400 ~/Downloads/terraform-key.pem ssh -i ~/Downloads/terraform-key.pem ubuntu@34.229.201.13

2) Once you’re inside EC2: install Docker and run the proof app

Paste these **exactly**:

sudo apt-get update -y sudo apt-get install -y docker.io sudo systemctl enable --now docker sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu newgrp docker docker run -d --name hello -p 80:80 nginx:alpine

Now open in your browser:

http://34.229.201.13

You should see the Nginx page ✅

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/284x0mgp2nyppdwk2obl.png)

Destroy everything (from your Terraform folder)

Make sure you’re in the right folder:

cd ~/OneDrive/Desktop/project-3-terraform-aws

Run:

terraform destroy

Type: yes

This will remove:

• EC2 instance

• Security Group

2. Confirm it’s gone

After it completes, run:

terraform output

It should either show nothing useful or error because resources are gone.