Master Terraform

An Associate 004-aligned path from Infrastructure as Code and HCL to state, modules, safe lifecycle changes, HCP Terraform collaboration, and production security—paired with 20 real offline FakeCloud labs.

Modules

• Infrastructure as Code Foundations - Why declarative infrastructure exists, where Terraform fits, and how teams turn infrastructure changes into reviewable engineering work.
• Core Workflow and HCL - Working directories, init/validate/plan/apply/destroy, HCL blocks and expressions, and disciplined plan review.
• Providers and Dependency Management - Plugin architecture, source addresses, constraints, lock files, aliases, authentication, and provider troubleshooting.
• Resources, Data Sources, and Dependencies - Managed versus queried objects, addresses, references, graphs, meta-arguments, and stable identity.
• Variables, Locals, Outputs, and Validation - Typed interfaces, value precedence, transformations, validation, outputs, and sensitive-value behavior.
• State: Terraform's Memory - State identity, refresh and drift, local and remote backends, locking, recovery, and state CLI safety.
• Modules and Reuse - Module boundaries, sources, versions, interfaces, composition, provider passing, testing, and safe evolution.
• Workspaces and Environment Patterns - CLI workspaces, directory-per-environment designs, promotion, isolation, cross-state outputs, and tradeoffs.
• Lifecycle and Safe Change - Replacement semantics, lifecycle meta-arguments, controlled refactoring, taint replacement, and zero-downtime reasoning.
• Import, Drift, and Refactoring - Adopting existing infrastructure, configuration generation, drift decisions, moved/removed blocks, and recovery playbooks.
• Provisioners and Imperative Escape Hatches - Why provisioners are a last resort, failure semantics, terraform_data triggers, and safer image/configuration alternatives.
• Collaboration, Automation, and HCP Terraform - Remote runs, locking, VCS workflows, HCP Terraform workspaces/projects, governance, policy, and run integrations.
• Security and Sensitive Data - Secrets in configuration and state, least-privilege identities, supply-chain controls, policy, logs, artifacts, and incident response.
• Operations, Troubleshooting, and Exam Synthesis - A production troubleshooting method, logging, plan interpretation, recovery, and an Associate 004 objective review.