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Day 6 - Organizing Terraform Files the Right Way

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On Day 6, I learned something simple but powerful: Terraform code should not just work, it should also be easy to read. As projects grow, putting everything into a single main.tf file becomes messy. It may work for a small demo, but once more resources are added, it quickly becomes difficult to maintain. That is where file structure becomes important. Terraform reads all .tf files in the current directory as a single configuration. This means file names do not control the logic of the deployment. Instead, file names are there to help us organize the code better. Dependencies are handled through references between resources, not because one file comes before another. For this exercise, I split the configuration into multiple files: backend.tf for remote state configuration provider.tf for the AWS provider variables.tf for inputs locals.tf for reusable values vpc.tf for networking resources storage.tf for S3 resources outputs.tf for output values terraform.tf...
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Day 5 - Terraform Variables

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  Content Today felt different. Terraform started feeling less like writing config and more like writing logic. Until now I was hardcoding values. Today I learned how to pass values, build them, and get them back using variables. There are 3 types Input variables Local variables Output variables At first it was confusing, but once I ran it myself, it made sense. What I built I created a simple S3 bucket using variables instead of hardcoding the name. To understand variables better, I created a small setup with multiple Terraform files. I used separate files for input variables, local values, main resource creation, and outputs. I also added tfvars files to test different environments like development and production. What I tested I tried a few things to understand how variables behave. First I ran normally using terraform.tfvars Terraform picked those values automatically Then I removed tfvars and ran again Terraform used default values from variables.tf Then ...
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Day 4 - Terraform State File Management with Remote Backend

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Today felt different. Until now, Terraform was just creating resources. But today, I learned how Terraform remembers what it creates, and how to manage that memory safely using a remote backend. Why Remote State Matters When Terraform runs, it keeps track of infrastructure in a state file. If that file stays on a local machine: It’s not shareable It’s not safe It can easily get corrupted or lost Moving state to Amazon S3 solves this. Teams can collaborate State is stored securely Changes are tracked with versioning Locking prevents conflicts What I Built Today I configured Terraform to: Store state in an S3 bucket Enable encryption Use native state locking (no DynamoDB required) Create a new S3 bucket using Terraform Step 1: Created S3 Bucket for State I manually created an S3 bucket and enabled versioning. Step 2: Configured Remote Backend I updated my Terraform configuration to use S3 as backend: backend "s3" { bucket =...
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Day 3 - Creating My First S3 Bucket Using Terraform

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  Introduction Day 3 felt like the first real interaction with AWS. Not just writing Terraform code,  but actually creating something in the cloud. A small step, a simple S3 bucket, but it carried an important lesson: before infrastructure, comes authentication. Understanding the Basics Before Terraform can create anything in AWS, it needs permission. This is handled using AWS credentials. I configured mine using: aws configure Once set, Terraform can securely communicate with AWS APIs. What is S3? Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is an object storage service. It allows you to store files like: Images Backups Logs Application data One key rule: S3 bucket names must be globally unique across AWS. Terraform Code Here’s the simple configuration I used: provider "aws" { region = "us-east-1" } resource "aws_s3_bucket" "my_bucket" { bucket = "jay-day3-s3-bucket-123456" tags = { Name = "Day3B...
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Day 2 – Terraform Providers and Versioning Explained with Real AWS Deployment

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  Introduction On Day 2 of my 30-Day AWS Terraform Challenge, I moved from understanding concepts to actually running Terraform against AWS. This day focused on Terraform Providers, versioning, and why controlling versions is critical when working with Infrastructure as Code. More importantly, I successfully created real AWS resources using Terraform. AWS Configuration Before running Terraform, I configured AWS CLI to allow my local environment to connect to my AWS account. First, I installed AWS CLI and verified it. Then I configured credentials as below.  This confirmed that my local machine was successfully authenticated with AWS. What are Terraform Providers Terraform providers act as a bridge between Terraform and external systems like AWS. Terraform itself does not directly create resources. Instead, it uses providers such as the AWS provider to communicate with cloud APIs. For AWS, the provider used is hashicorp/aws . Terraform Core vs Provider Version O...
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Day 1 – Introduction to Terraform and Infrastructure as Code

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Introduction I recently started the 30 Days AWS Terraform Challenge to strengthen my understanding of Infrastructure as Code and cloud automation. Day 1 focused on the fundamentals. It may sound basic, but it sets the foundation for everything that follows. The shift from manual provisioning to automated infrastructure is not just a technical improvement. It is a mindset change. What is Terraform and Infrastructure as Code Terraform, developed by HashiCorp , is a tool that allows us to define cloud infrastructure using code. Infrastructure as Code means we describe resources such as virtual machines, storage, and networks in configuration files instead of creating them manually through a console. This approach makes infrastructure: Repeatable Consistent Version-controlled Easy to scale Instead of remembering steps, we define the desired state and let Terraform handle the execution. Problems with Manual Infrastructure Before Infrastructure as Code, most systems were...
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The Price Is a Story. The Cost Is the Truth.

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The other day, I was looking at a pair of sunglasses. Same model, same lenses, same performance, yet two very different prices: $244 and $162 . That’s when something clicked. Price isn’t what we think it is. The Illusion of Price We grow up believing a simple rule: higher price means better product, lower price means compromise. But the real world doesn’t work like that. Most of the time, price has little to do with the product itself. It’s about positioning. Brands don’t just sell utility. They sell perception, trust, and convenience, and all of that gets baked into the price tag. What You’re Really Paying For By the time a product reaches you, it carries far more than its manufacturing cost. It includes production, branding, marketing, retail margins, logistics, and customer service. What you pay isn’t just for the object; it’s for the entire system behind it. The price is a story. The cost is the truth. Same Product, Different Buyers Two people can buy the exact same product and pa...
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