Sensitive output values in Terraform - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Sensitive output values

📖 Scenario: You are managing cloud infrastructure using Terraform. Some outputs contain sensitive information like passwords or API keys. You want to keep these values hidden when Terraform shows outputs after applying changes.

🎯 Goal: Create a Terraform configuration that defines an output with a sensitive value. Mark the output as sensitive so Terraform does not display it openly.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Terraform output named db_password with the value "supersecret123"

Mark the db_password output as sensitive using the sensitive = true attribute

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Cloud engineers often manage secrets like passwords or API keys. Marking outputs as sensitive helps keep these secrets safe from accidental exposure.

💼 Career

Knowing how to handle sensitive data in Terraform is essential for secure infrastructure management and compliance.

1

Create a basic Terraform output

Write a Terraform output block named db_password with the value "supersecret123".

Terraform

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the output block with a value attribute.

2

Add the sensitive attribute

Add the attribute sensitive = true inside the db_password output block to mark it as sensitive.

Terraform

output "db_password" {
  value = "supersecret123"
  # Add sensitive attribute here
}

Need a hint?

The sensitive attribute hides the output value from Terraform's normal output.

3

Add a second non-sensitive output

Create another Terraform output named db_username with the value "adminuser" without marking it sensitive.

Terraform

output "db_password" {
  value     = "supersecret123"
  sensitive = true
}

# Add db_username output here

Need a hint?

Outputs without sensitive = true will show their values normally.

4

Complete the Terraform outputs configuration

Ensure the Terraform configuration includes both outputs: db_password marked sensitive and db_username not sensitive, exactly as before.

Terraform

# Configuration complete. Review your outputs.

Need a hint?

Both outputs should be present with correct attributes.