Terraform provider

As explained in Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security

A Terraform provider is a plugin that implements resource-management interactions with a particular infrastructure or service platform.

A Terraform provider is a plugin that implements resource-management interactions with a particular infrastructure or service platform. Terraform Core communicates with providers through platform APIs, allowing Terraform to provision and manage resources while tracking infrastructure state. section 25.2.2

Providers connect Terraform’s declarative workflow to concrete infrastructure platforms:

• Public-cloud providers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. section 25.2.2
• Other supported platforms include VMware vSphere, OpenStack, Kubernetes, Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco ACI, and IOS XE. section 25.2.2
• Terraform Core compares the desired state in HCL configuration files with the current Terraform state and uses providers to apply required changes. section 25.2.2

Figure 25.6 Provisioning resources with Terraform. Configuration files are processed byTerraform Core to interact with various providers (i.e., public cloud providers) and manage infrastructure resources while maintaining state information in the state file.

Trace how configuration files pass through Terraform Core to providers, which manage platform resources while maintaining state information. section 25.2.2

How Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security covers it

How deep it goes

Explains provider communication through APIs and state comparison, but does not detail provider implementation internals.

Examples

Uses AWS, Azure, GCP, VMware vSphere, OpenStack, Kubernetes, Catalyst Center, ACI, and IOS XE as platform examples.

What it assumes

Assumes familiarity with Terraform configuration files and HCL while defining the provider-mediated workflow.

What you can do after

Operate/configure infrastructure resources through Terraform configuration, planning, application, and provider APIs.

How it connects

Connects Terraform Core, HCL, Terraform state, declarative infrastructure, and platform APIs.

liveBookmanning.com

Read Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security on liveBook Get the book at manning.com

Also explained in

• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Terraform in Depth: Infrastructure as Code with Terraform and OpenTofuA provider server is the running implementation of a Terraform provider that serves provider operations to Terraform.
• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Bootstrapping Microservices, Second Edition: With Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and TerraformA Terraform provider is a plugin that enables Terraform to interact with a specific infrastructure platform or service through its API.
• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Google Anthos in ActionA Terraform provider is a plugin that maps Terraform resources and operations to an external platform's provisioning API.

Compare how 4 books explain Terraform provider →

Related concepts

• root moduleconfigured by · A root module is the Terraform module defined by the configuration files in the current working directory and serving as the entry point for a Terraform operation.
• Terraformused by · Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing infrastructure resources through declarative configuration.
• terraform initused by · terraform init is a Terraform command that initializes a working directory and installs or configures its required providers, modules, and backend.
• provider blockconfigured by · A provider block is a Terraform configuration block that configures a provider's settings, such as the target cloud region.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.