terraform-code-standards

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Directory Structure
  • Domain Specific Files
  • Naming Conventions
  • Resource and State Management
  • Modules
  • Variables and Outputs
  • Version Control
  • Documentation
  • Testing and Validation

Directory Structure

• Organize Terraform configuration and workflows logically to separate environments, stages, and manage resource module versioning.

• Example structure:

    ├── workflows
    │   └── template.yml
    ├── versions
    │   ├── modules.prod.yml
    │   ├── modules.stage.yml
    │   └── modules.dev.yml
    ├── environments
    │   ├── prod.tfvars
    │   ├── stage.tfvars
    │   └── dev.tfvars
    ├── modules
    │   ├── network
    │   │   ├── main.tf
    │   │   ├── outputs.tf
    │   │   ├── variables.tf
    │   ├── compute
    │   │   ├── main.tf
    │   │   ├── outputs.tf
    │   │   ├── variables.tf
    ├── terraform
    │   ├── main.tf
    │   ├── variables.tf
    │   ├── outputs.tf
    │   ├── backend.tf
    │   └── provider.tf
    └── README.md
    └── pipeline.development.yaml
    └── pipeline.staging.yaml
    └── pipeline.production.yaml
  

Directory Breakdown

• workflows/:
  • Contains reusable pipeline configuration files that can be run by environments for CI/CD workflows, typically in .yml format.
  • The workflows folder should be renamed according to the requirements or best practices of the CI/CD tool being used. For example, it can be named .github/workflows for GitHub Actions or .azuredevops for Azure DevOps.
  • This folder is only needed if the workflow yml templates in this project are local. If using remote workflows, like shown in the example workflow, the workflow folder may not be necessary.
• ./pipeline.yaml trigger files:
  • Contains trigger yaml files representing actual deployment pipelines. These can be structured to run a single environment, or a set or environments.
  • These files sit at the root of the directory and can either call a local workflows folder, or a remote set of workflows, in the a remote workflow can be setup example workflow.
  • Files like pipeline.production.yaml, pipeline.staging.yaml, and pipeline.development.yaml.yml represent pipeline entrypoints for deployment for different environments. When configuring Azure DevOps pipelines, point it to one of these yaml files.
• versions/:
  • Contains versioning files to manage resource module versions across different environments.
  • This directory is designed to be used by the pipeline token replacement task during runtime, allowing different versions of modules to be provided at runtime for different environments.
  • Example files production.yml, staging.yml, and development.yml specify module versions or specific configurations that may differ between environments.
• environments/:
  • Contains environment-specific variables files (.tfvars) which are used to define different configurations for each environment (e.g., production, staging, development).
• modules/:
  • Holds reusable Terraform modules, organized by functionality, such as network and compute.
  • Each module should include its own main.tf, variables.tf, and outputs.tf to define the resources, variables, and outputs for that specific module.
  • This folder is only needed if there are modules in the project that are local. If using remote modules, the modules folder may not be necessary.
• terraform/:
  • Contains the main Terraform configuration files.
  • main.tf is the primary entry point where you define the infrastructure.
  • variables.tf defines input variables.
  • outputs.tf defines output values.
  • backend.tf is for backend configuration, such as storing the Terraform state remotely.
  • provider.tf contains provider configurations.
• README.md:
  • A documentation file to describe the project, directory structure, usage instructions, and any relevant details.

A documentation file to describe the project, directory structure, usage instructions, and any relevant details. [^ table of contents ^](#table-of-contents)

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