Terraform destroy for cleanup - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Terraform destroy for cleanup

📖 Scenario: You have created a simple cloud infrastructure using Terraform. Now, you want to learn how to clean up and remove all the resources you created to avoid extra costs.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to write a Terraform configuration for a basic resource and then use terraform destroy to clean up the resources safely.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Terraform configuration file with a simple resource

Initialize Terraform in the project directory

Apply the Terraform configuration to create the resource

Use terraform destroy to remove the resource

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Cloud engineers often create resources for testing or development. Cleaning up with <code>terraform destroy</code> helps avoid unnecessary costs and keeps the cloud environment tidy.

💼 Career

Knowing how to safely create and destroy infrastructure with Terraform is essential for cloud infrastructure management roles.

1

Create a Terraform configuration with an AWS S3 bucket

Create a file named main.tf and write a Terraform configuration that defines an AWS S3 bucket resource named my_bucket with the bucket name my-unique-bucket-12345. Use the AWS provider with region us-east-1.

Terraform

# Write the Terraform provider and resource configuration here
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Start by declaring the AWS provider with the region us-east-1. Then define an S3 bucket resource with the exact name my_bucket and bucket name my-unique-bucket-12345.

2

Initialize Terraform in the project directory

Write the Terraform CLI command to initialize the Terraform working directory so that the AWS provider plugin is downloaded and ready.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 4.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "my_bucket" {
  bucket = "my-unique-bucket-12345"
  acl    = "private"
}

# Write the command to initialize Terraform below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the command terraform init to prepare your working directory.

3

Apply the Terraform configuration to create the S3 bucket

Write the Terraform CLI command to apply the configuration and create the S3 bucket resource. Use the -auto-approve flag to skip manual approval.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 4.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "my_bucket" {
  bucket = "my-unique-bucket-12345"
  acl    = "private"
}

# terraform init
# Write the command to apply the configuration below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use terraform apply -auto-approve to create the resources without manual confirmation.

4

Destroy the Terraform-managed infrastructure to clean up

Write the Terraform CLI command to destroy all the resources created by Terraform. Use the -auto-approve flag to skip manual approval.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 4.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "my_bucket" {
  bucket = "my-unique-bucket-12345"
  acl    = "private"
}

# terraform init
# terraform apply -auto-approve
# Write the command to destroy the infrastructure below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use terraform destroy -auto-approve to remove all resources without manual confirmation.