AWS Terraform Course

Lesson 1 • Installing and Configuring Terraform

Walks through Terraform installation, version management, and editor setup. Students finish with a validated, ready-to-use Terraform environment.

Lesson 2 • AWS Account and CLI Setup

Guides students through creating an AWS account, configuring credentials, and installing required tools. Prepares a working local environment for all labs.

Lesson 3 • Infrastructure as Code Core Concepts

Covers the shift from manual provisioning to declarative IaC and why it matters. Establishes the mental model for all Terraform work ahead.

Lesson 1 • HCL Language Fundamentals

Introduces HCL data types, expressions, and file structure. Provides the language literacy needed to write any Terraform configuration.

Lesson 2 • Variables and Outputs

Covers input variable declaration, type constraints, defaults, and output values. Enables parameterized, reusable configurations.

Lesson 3 • Resources and Providers Configuration

Teaches how to declare the AWS provider and define resource blocks. Students write their first real AWS resource configurations.

Lesson 4 • Terraform Functions and Expressions

Surveys built-in functions for strings, collections, and encoding, plus conditional and for expressions. Unlocks dynamic, logic-driven configurations.

Lesson 1 • Route Tables and Associations

Creates route tables, default routes, and subnet associations for both public and private tiers. Completes the routing layer of the VPC.

Lesson 2 • Security Groups and NACLs

Defines stateful security groups and stateless network ACLs using Terraform. Students apply least-privilege ingress and egress rules.

Lesson 3 • Internet and NAT Gateways

Provisions internet gateways for public subnets and NAT gateways for private egress. Students understand dependency ordering and Elastic IP allocation.

Lesson 1 • Workspaces for Environment Isolation

Uses Terraform workspaces to maintain separate state files per environment. Students evaluate workspaces against directory-based isolation strategies.

Lesson 2 • Remote State with S3 and DynamoDB

Configures an S3 backend with versioning and a DynamoDB table for state locking. Students migrate local state to a shared, locked remote backend.

Lesson 3 • State Commands and Operations

Covers terraform state list, show, mv, rm, and import commands. Equips students to manage state without destroying and recreating resources.

Lesson 1 • Module Concepts and Structure

Defines root vs. child modules, standard directory layout, and module boundaries. Establishes the design principles that guide all module work.

Lesson 2 • Building a Reusable AWS Module

Constructs a VPC or compute module with well-defined variables, outputs, and defaults. Demonstrates encapsulation and interface design in practice.

Lesson 3 • Calling and Versioning Modules

Shows how to call local and registry modules, pin versions, and pass variables. Students consume the Terraform Registry and private module sources.

Lesson 1 • IAM Roles and Instance Profiles

Creates IAM roles, policies, and instance profiles for EC2 service access. Applies least-privilege principles to compute resource permissions.

Lesson 2 • EC2 Instance Configuration

Provisions EC2 instances with AMI data sources, instance types, key pairs, and user data. Connects compute resources to the VPC built in earlier chapters.

Lesson 3 • Launch Templates and Auto Scaling

Creates launch templates and Auto Scaling groups with scaling policies. Students configure desired, minimum, and maximum capacity with lifecycle hooks.

Lesson 1 • Secrets Management with AWS Secrets Manager

Stores and retrieves database credentials using Secrets Manager resources and data sources. Eliminates hardcoded secrets from Terraform configurations.

Lesson 2 • S3 Bucket Configuration and Policies

Creates S3 buckets with versioning, encryption, lifecycle rules, and bucket policies. Demonstrates secure object storage configuration aligned with compliance needs.

Lesson 3 • RDS Database Provisioning

Provisions RDS instances and subnet groups with multi-AZ, parameter groups, and backups. Students configure a production-ready relational database tier.

Lesson 1 • Testing and Validation Strategies

Applies terraform validate, tflint, and Terratest to catch errors before deployment. Builds a quality gate layer that prevents misconfigured infrastructure from reaching production.

Lesson 2 • Terraform Cloud and Remote Execution

Configures Terraform Cloud workspaces for remote plan and apply with policy enforcement. Students connect a VCS repository to automated Terraform runs.

Lesson 3 • Advanced Resource Patterns

Uses count, for_each, and dynamic blocks to manage collections of resources efficiently. Reduces code duplication across multi-environment and multi-region configs.

Lesson 4 • CI/CD Pipeline Integration

Embeds terraform fmt, validate, plan, and apply steps into a CI/CD pipeline. Students implement automated gating with plan output review and approval steps.