File provisioner in Terraform - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Provision a File on a Virtual Machine Using Terraform File Provisioner

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a virtual machine (VM) in the cloud. You want to place a configuration file on this VM automatically during its creation.This helps you prepare the VM with necessary settings without manual copying.

🎯 Goal: Create a Terraform configuration that provisions a file named config.txt with specific content onto the VM using the file provisioner.

📋 What You'll Learn

Define a resource for a virtual machine named example_vm.

Create a local file named config.txt with the exact content environment=production.

Use the file provisioner to copy config.txt to the VM's /tmp/config.txt path.

Ensure the provisioner is correctly attached to the example_vm resource.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Automating file placement on virtual machines during provisioning saves time and reduces manual errors in cloud infrastructure setup.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers and DevOps professionals often use file provisioners in Terraform to prepare VMs with necessary configuration files automatically.

1

Create a virtual machine resource named example_vm

Write a Terraform resource block for a virtual machine named example_vm using the null_resource provider as a placeholder.

Terraform

# Your code here to create a null_resource named example_vm

Need a hint?

Use resource "null_resource" "example_vm" { } to create a simple VM placeholder.

2

Create a local file named config.txt with content environment=production

Add a Terraform local_file resource named config_file that creates a file config.txt with the content environment=production.

Terraform

resource "null_resource" "example_vm" {
}

# Your code here to create local_file resource named config_file

Need a hint?

Use resource "local_file" "config_file" { filename = "config.txt" content = "environment=production" }.

3

Add a file provisioner to copy config.txt to the VM

Inside the example_vm resource, add a provisioner "file" block that copies the local file config.txt to the remote path /tmp/config.txt.

Terraform

resource "null_resource" "example_vm" {
  # Your code here to add file provisioner
}

resource "local_file" "config_file" {
  filename = "config.txt"
  content  = "environment=production"
}

Need a hint?

Use provisioner "file" { source = "config.txt" destination = "/tmp/config.txt" } inside example_vm.

4

Complete the Terraform configuration with proper resource structure

Ensure the example_vm resource includes the file provisioner block exactly as specified, and the local_file resource is defined after it.

Terraform

# Verify the full resource blocks are correct
# Your code here if any final adjustments needed

Need a hint?

Check that the provisioner is inside example_vm and local_file resource is present.