Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Terraform, AWS CLI, and Your AWS Environment.

Reading: Chapter 2 of "Terraform: Up & Running" by Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman, focusing on "Setting Up Your AWS Account", and "Installing Terraform."

Activity: Setting up AWS and Terraform Development Environment

Set up your AWS account.

• Go to AWS website and click "Create an AWS Account"

• Complete the registration process providing email, password, and account information

• Enter payment information, credit card required, even for free tier

• Complete phone verification

• Select a support plan, Free tier recommended for beginners

Install Terraform locally.

• Download Terraform from terraform.io/downloads

• Extract the downloaded zip file

• Add Terraform to your system PATH:

  • Windows: Move terraform.exe to a directory in your PATH or add its location to PATH

  • macOS/Linux: Move the terraform binary to /usr/local/bin/

• Verify installation by opening a terminal and typing: terraform -version

Install AWS CLI and configure it.

• Download AWS CLI:

  • Windows: Download and run the MSI installer

  • macOS: Run brew install awscli or download the PKG installer

  • Linux: Run appropriate package manager command (e.g., apt install awscli)

• Configure AWS CLI by running: aws configure

• Enter your AWS Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, default region, and output format

• Find your access keys in the AWS Console under IAM → Security credentials

  

Install Visual Studio Code (VSCode) and add the AWS plugin.

• Download VSCode from code.visualstudio.com

• Install VSCode on your system

• Open VSCode and navigate to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X)

• Search for "AWS Toolkit" and install it

• Also install the "HashiCorp Terraform" extension for Terraform support

  

Configure your VSCode to work with AWS.

• Click on the AWS icon in the activity bar

• Select "Connect to AWS"

• Choose to use the credentials from your AWS CLI configuration

• Verify connection by expanding your region in the AWS Explorer panel

• Configure Terraform settings in VSCode:

  • Go to Settings (Ctrl+,)

  • Search for "terraform" and adjust formatting settings as needed

  • Enable auto-formatting and validation features