Module outputs in Terraform - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using Module Outputs in Terraform

📖 Scenario: You are building a Terraform configuration to deploy cloud resources. You want to organize your code using modules and then access the outputs from those modules in your main configuration.

🎯 Goal: Create a Terraform module that defines a resource and outputs a value. Then, in the main Terraform configuration, call the module and access its output value.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Terraform module with a resource and an output

Call the module from the main Terraform configuration

Access the module's output in the main configuration

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Modules help organize Terraform code for reusable infrastructure components. Outputs allow sharing information between modules and the main configuration.

💼 Career

Understanding modules and outputs is essential for managing complex infrastructure as code in professional cloud engineering roles.

1

Create a Terraform module with a resource and output

Create a Terraform module directory called my_module. Inside it, create a file main.tf that defines a resource random_pet.example with length = 2. Then create an output called pet_name that outputs the random_pet.example.id.

Terraform

# Your code here to create the module resource and output

Need a hint?

Use the random_pet resource to generate a random name. Then create an output block with the exact name pet_name.

2

Call the module from the main Terraform configuration

In the main Terraform configuration file main.tf, add a module block called example_module that uses the source ./my_module.

Terraform

resource "random_pet" "example" {
  length = 2
}

output "pet_name" {
  value = random_pet.example.id
}

# Your code here to add the module block

Need a hint?

Use a module block with the exact name example_module and set source = "./my_module".

3

Access the module output in the main configuration

Create an output in the main Terraform configuration called module_pet_name that outputs the value of module.example_module.pet_name.

Terraform

resource "random_pet" "example" {
  length = 2
}

output "pet_name" {
  value = random_pet.example.id
}

module "example_module" {
  source = "./my_module"
}

# Your code here to add the output accessing module output

Need a hint?

Define an output block with the exact name module_pet_name and set its value to module.example_module.pet_name.

4

Complete the Terraform configuration with required provider

Add the terraform block with required providers specifying random provider with source hashicorp/random and version constraint "~> 3.0".

Terraform

resource "random_pet" "example" {
  length = 2
}

output "pet_name" {
  value = random_pet.example.id
}

module "example_module" {
  source = "./my_module"
}

output "module_pet_name" {
  value = module.example_module.pet_name
}

# Your code here to add terraform block with required providers

Need a hint?

Use the terraform block at the top level with required_providers specifying the random provider.