🚀 Launch an EC2 Instance & Migrate Terraform State to Terraform Cloud Via Vscode

INTRODUCTION

Terraform is a powerful Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tool, but managing its state properly is crucial for team collaboration and scalability. This guide walks you through launching an EC2 instance and migrating the Terraform state to Terraform Cloud—ensuring secure storage and seamless teamwork.

✅ Goals

By the end of this tutorial, you will:

• Provision an EC2 instance using Terraform

• Use Terraform Cloud as a remote backend

• Migrate your local terraform.tfstate to Terraform Cloud, step by step

Before proceeding, ensure you have the following:

• Terraform CLI - Installed (terraform -v)

• Vscode -Installed & configured (with terraform extention)

• AWS Account -IAM user with EC2 & VPC permissions

• Terraform Cloud Account - Organization set up

🔨 Step-by-Step Guide

🏗 Step 1: Create Your Terraform Project Locally

Setting up your project locally ensures you have full control over your infrastructure before migrating state.

1. Create a folder in vscode named ec2-tfc-migration

   Add the following files and input your desired codes

• main.tf (Defines provider setup & EC2 resource)

• variables.tf (Stores reusable parameters)

• terraform.tfvars (Optional – overrides defaults)

• outputs.tf (Displays key outputs)

🔄 Step 2: Run Terraform Locally First

Running Terraform locally helps validate your configurations before integrating Terraform Cloud.

• terraform init

• terraform plan

• terraform apply

✅ Confirm that the EC2 instance has launched in the AWS Console.

At this point, you'll have a local Terraform state file (terraform.tfstate) storing the infrastructure state.

🏢 Step 3: Create a Workspace in Terraform Cloud

Terraform Cloud provides secure, remote storage for your infrastructure state.

1. Log into Terraform Cloud

2. Select your organization

3. Click New Workspace

4. Choose CLI-driven workflow

5. Name it: ec2-tfc-migration

6. Click Create Workspace

🔐 Step 4: Authenticate Terraform CLI to Terraform Cloud

To connect Terraform CLI with Terraform by generating a token as shown in the diagram

Copy the token as shown in the diagram

Run ‘terraform login’ in your terminal and input the copied token

Note that the copied token is pasted in the terminal once you right-click and won’t be visible to you

✅ The terraform logo appears in the terminal once the login is successful

⚙️ Step 5: Configure Terraform Cloud Backend in Your Code

Copy the backend code and paste in the main.tf file which will enable configuration state storage in Terraform Cloud.

🔄 Step 6: Re-Initialize Terraform to Migrate State

Migrating your state ensures Terraform can track infrastructure changes remotely.

terraform init

🚨 Terraform will prompt:
Do you want to migrate your state? → Type yes

✅ Terraform automatically uploads your state file to Terraform Cloud.

🔍 Step 7: Verify Migration Worked

1. Log into Terraform Cloud

2. Navigate to the ec2-tfc-migration workspace

3. Confirm the latest state under the States tab

🚀 Step 8: Continue Using Terraform Remotely

Terraform now stores its state in Terraform Cloud, ensuring safe collaboration.

Try running:

terraform plan terraform apply

Each run will be logged in Terraform Cloud for better visibility.

Check your AWS Account and all resources will be visible

🧹 Cleanup (Optional)

If you no longer need the EC2 instance, simply destroy it:

terraform destroy

🎓 Key Takeaways