Introduction:
In this blog post, we will explore ten powerful Terraform tools that can enhance your infrastructure provisioning and management workflows. These tools offer features such as linting, policy enforcement, security scanning, documentation generation, visualization, and enterprise-level capabilities.
Disclaimer: The order of the list provided in this blog post has no correlation with popularity or community usage. The inclusion of any item in the list is based solely on its relevance to the topic and should not be interpreted as a reflection of its popularity or widespread adoption within the community.
Let's dive in and discover these valuable Terraform tools.
TFLint:
TFLint is a Terraform linter that checks configuration files for errors, best practices, and style violations.
It helps identify and fix issues in your Terraform code before deployment, ensuring clean and standardized configurations.
TFLint offers a wide range of built-in rules to catch common mistakes and
The tool integrates with popular editors and IDEs, providing real-time feedback during code development.
It supports custom rule configurations, allowing you to tailor linting rules to your specific requirements.
TFLint is an open-source project with an active community, ensuring regular updates and improvements.
It can be easily incorporated into your CI/CD pipelines for automated code checks.
Scalr:
Scalr is a Terraform Automation and Collaboration (TACO) platform for scaling Terraform usage.
It provides workflows, policy enforcement, reporting, and integrations, making it a viable alternative to Terraform Cloud.
Scalr offers unique features like organizational structure, custom RBAC, and competitive pricing.
With Scalr, you gain the ability to visualize and review Terraform plans, ensuring accuracy and integrity.
The platform highlights resource changes, making it easier to identify and assess the impact of modifications.
Scalr provides comprehensive reporting capabilities, enabling you to monitor and track infrastructure changes over time.
It offers competitive pricing, making it a cost-effective solution for managing Terraform workflows.
Brainboard:
Brainboard is an intuitive and collaborative platform for managing Terraform deployments.
It offers a visual interface to review, plan, and apply changes to your infrastructure.
Brainboard streamlines collaboration and code review processes, ensuring infrastructure changes align with requirements.
The platform provides visibility into resource modifications, making it easier to identify potential issues or conflicts.
Brainboard supports role-based access control, allowing you to manage user permissions and access to resources.
It offers integration with version control systems, enabling seamless deployment workflows.
Brainboard provides real-time notifications and alerts, keeping you informed about infrastructure changes.
Terraform Graph:
Terraform Graph generates a visual representation of resource dependencies in your Terraform configuration.
It provides an overview of the relationships between resources, helping you understand the impact of changes.
Terraform Graph helps identify potential issues, such as circular dependencies or missing dependencies.
The tool supports different output formats, including DOT and JSON, for flexibility in visualizing and analyzing the graph.
It integrates with other visualization tools and platforms, allowing you to incorporate the graph into your workflow.
Terraform Graph is built into Terraform, making it readily available without additional installations.
It simplifies troubleshooting and optimization by providing a clear visualization of the infrastructure topology.
Terraform Cloud:
Terraform Cloud is an advanced version of Terraform that offers enterprise-level features.
It provides additional capabilities for collaboration, governance, and scalability, ideal for large-scale deployments.
Terraform Cloud offers a web-based interface for managing Terraform workspaces, variables, and states.
The platform supports team collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on Terraform projects simultaneously.
It provides a centralized state management system, ensuring consistency and version control.
Terraform Cloud offers remote operations, allowing you to execute Terraform commands on remote infrastructure.
It integrates with version control systems, enabling seamless workflows with code repositories.
Link to the tool: Terraform Cloud
Atlantis:
Atlantis is a pull request automation tool for Terraform.
It enables creating, applying, and testing Terraform changes directly from pull requests.
Atlantis integrates with popular version control systems like GitLab, GitHub, and Bitbucket.
It helps enforce policy checks and code reviews before merging Terraform changes.
Atlantis provides a comment-based workflow, allowing users to trigger Terraform operations through comments.
The tool offers a centralized interface to manage Terraform operations across different repositories and branches.
Atlantis logs and tracks Terraform operations, providing visibility into the history and status of changes.
Link to the tool: Atlantis
Terraform Docs:
Terraform Docs generates documentation for your Terraform modules and configurations.
It automatically extracts documentation from your code, providing a clear reference for your infrastructure.
Terraform Docs supports multiple output formats, including Markdown and HTML, for flexible documentation rendering.
The tool captures input and output variables, resource descriptions, and usage examples in the documentation.
It integrates with popular documentation generators and static site generators, simplifying documentation workflows.
Terraform Docs can be incorporated into your CI/CD pipelines to automate documentation generation.
It helps ensure that your Terraform code is well-documented and easily understandable by others.
Link to the tool: Terraform Docs
Gruntwork:
Gruntwork provides a collection of reusable, battle-tested Terraform modules, configurations, and best practices.
It offers Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions for various infrastructure components and deployment patterns.
Gruntwork modules cover a wide range of services, including AWS, GCP, Azure, and Kubernetes.
The modules follow best practices, incorporating security, scalability, and reliability considerations.
Gruntwork modules are versioned and tested, ensuring compatibility and stability across different Terraform versions.
The project has an active community and documentation, providing support and examples for module usage.
Gruntwork modules can be easily integrated into your Terraform projects, saving development time and effort.
Link to the tool: Gruntwork
Terrahub:
Terrahub is a GitOps-based Terraform workflow automation tool.
It manages Terraform configurations in Git repositories, enabling version control and change tracking.
Terrahub provides automated workflows for code review, testing, and deployment, ensuring a controlled release process.
The tool integrates with popular Git hosting platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.
Terrahub supports role-based access control, allowing fine-grained permission management for team members.
It offers pre-defined CI/CD pipelines for streamlined integration with popular CI/CD tools.
Terrahub simplifies collaboration and promotes DevOps best practices by enabling Infrastructure as Code processes.
Link to the tool: Terrahub
Terrascan:
Terrascan is a security scanning tool for Terraform configurations.
It identifies potential security risks and compliance issues in your infrastructure code.
Terrascan supports multiple security standards, including CIS benchmarks and custom policies.
The tool provides detailed reports on security findings, helping you address vulnerabilities and ensure compliance.
Terrascan integrates with CI/CD pipelines, enabling automated security scanning in your deployment workflow.
It supports different scanning modes, including static analysis and policy enforcement, to suit your security requirements.
Terrascan is regularly updated with new security checks and enhancements to address emerging threats.
Link to the tool: Terrascan
Points to consider when choosing a Terraform tool:
Community Support: Evaluate the community support and active development of the tool. A strong community ensures continuous improvement, bug fixes, and access to a wide range of resources, such as forums, documentation, and examples.
Skills set within the team: Consider the skills and expertise within your team. Choose a tool that aligns with their familiarity and comfort level. This will help streamline adoption and ensure efficient usage of the tool.
Integration with existing tools: Assess how well the tool integrates with your existing infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and other DevOps tools. Smooth integration can enhance your overall workflow and productivity.
Cost and licensing: Evaluate the cost structure and licensing terms of the tool. Consider your budget and requirements to choose a tool that provides value for your investment.
Vendor support and reliability: Consider the reputation and reliability of the tool's vendor. Ensure that the tool is actively maintained and supported to avoid potential issues in the long run.
Conclusion:
These ten Terraform tools provide valuable functionalities that can significantly enhance your infrastructure provisioning and management workflows. From linting and policy enforcement to security scanning and documentation generation, these tools empower you to build secure, compliant, and well-documented infrastructure.
When selecting a tool, it's important to consider factors such as community support and the skills set within your team. By incorporating these tools into your Terraform workflow, you can streamline and optimize your infrastructure-as-code practices in 2023 and beyond.