Configuring a Terraform remote backend with S3 and DynamoDB

State: A file that keeps track of the current state of the infrastructure managed by Terraform.

Remote Backends : A remote backend stores the Terraform state file outside of your local file system and version control. Using S3 as a remote backend is a popular choice due to its reliability and scalability.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Create an S3 Bucket: Create an S3 bucket in your AWS account to store the Terraform state. Ensure that the appropriate IAM permissions are set up.

2. Create a DynamoDB Table: DynamoDB is used for state locking when a remote backend is configured.

Setting Up AWS S3 Bucket and DynamoDB Table with Terraform

Step 1: Provider Configuration

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

Step 2: Create an S3 Bucket

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "s3_bucket" {
  bucket = "vaibhav-s3-demo-xyz" # Change this to a unique bucket name
}

Step 3: Create a DynamoDB Table

Now, create a DynamoDB table to be used for Terraform state locking. This table uses PAY_PER_REQUEST billing mode and has a primary key named LockID.

resource "aws_dynamodb_table" "terraform_lock" {
  name         = "terraform-lock"
  billing_mode = "PAY_PER_REQUEST"
  hash_key     = "LockID"

  attribute {
    name = "LockID"
    type = "S"
  }
}

Step 4: Configure Terraform Backend

Finally, configure the Terraform backend to use the S3 bucket and DynamoDB table.

# backend.tf
terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "vaibhav-s3-demo-xyz" # Change this BUCKET NAME
    key            = "vaibhav/terraform.tfstate" # Create a folder inside the S3 bucket and state file
    region         = "us-east-1" # S3 bucket region
    encrypt        = true
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-lock"
  }
}