Terraform Options

This page describes a set of useful Terraform options, and how to apply them to your Orc8r deployment.

Store Terraform state in AWS

Storing Terraform state locally can cause data loss and team-wise synchronization issues. Terraform recommends storing this state remotely when possible.

This walkthrough covers storing Terraform state in an AWS S3 bucket, with synchronization provided by AWS DynamoDB.

1. Create an S3 bucket

2. Create a DynamoDB instance (optional)

3. Update Terraform configuration

Add configuration to the main Terraform module file (likely main.tf file)

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 0.15.0"
  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "YOUR_S3_BUCKET_NAME"
    dynamodb_table = "YOUR_DYNAMODB_TABLE_NAME"
    encrypt = true
    key = "terraform/terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-west-2"  # or chosen region
  }
}

# ...

module "orc8r-app" {
  state_backend = "s3"
  state_config = {
    # Contents should match block above
    bucket = "YOUR_S3_BUCKET_NAME"
    dynamodb_table = "YOUR_DYNAMODB_TABLE_NAME"
    encrypt = true
    key = "terraform/terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-west-2"
  }
  # ...
}

# ...

4. Migrate

Next time you run terraform init, you will be asked if you'd like to migrate. Follow the migration instructions to complete the migration.

Finally, check your S3 bucket is non-empty, meaning the Terraform state has been successfully written.

Override Terraform module values

The Orc8r Terraform modules are configurable.

This walkthrough provides an example of how to override the Orc8r Terraform module variables -- specifically, to override the deployed Postgres version.

1. Introduction

The root Terraform module (i.e. your main.tf file) is used to override variables from imported modules (i.e. Orc8r modules).

2. Locate variable

Let's assume we want to install Postgres 12.6. This infra-related value is managed by the orc8r module.

Checking the contents of orc8r-aws/variables.tf, we'll find the following block

variable "orc8r_db_engine_version" {
  description = "Postgres engine version for Orchestrator DB."
  type        = string
  default     = "9.6.15"
}

3. Override variable

To override this value, go to your main.tf and define the variable in the orc8r module

module "orc8r" {
  # ...
  orc8r_db_engine_version     = "12.6"

At this point, you can run terraform init, terraform plan, and terraform apply to proceed with the deployment.