Default workspace in Terraform - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Terraform Default Workspace Setup

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a Terraform project to manage cloud infrastructure. Terraform uses workspaces to separate different environments like development and production. By default, Terraform uses the default workspace if no other workspace is selected.In this project, you will create a Terraform configuration that uses the default workspace to deploy a simple resource.

🎯 Goal: Create a Terraform configuration that initializes the default workspace and deploys a simple resource using it.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Terraform configuration file named main.tf.

Use the default workspace without creating or switching to any other workspace.

Define a simple resource (e.g., a null resource) to confirm the default workspace is used.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Terraform workspaces help manage multiple environments like development, staging, and production using the same configuration code but separate states.

💼 Career

Understanding Terraform workspaces is essential for cloud engineers and DevOps professionals to manage infrastructure environments safely and efficiently.

1

Create a Terraform configuration file with provider setup

Create a file named main.tf and add a terraform block with required_version set to ">= 1.0.0". Then add a provider block for null provider with no configuration.

Terraform

# Create terraform block with required_version and null provider block
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The terraform block sets the Terraform version requirement. The null provider is used for testing and does not require configuration.

2

Add a null_resource to the configuration

In the main.tf file, add a resource block for null_resource named example with no additional arguments.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0.0"
}

provider "null" {}

# Add null_resource named example below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The null_resource is a simple resource that does nothing but can be used to test Terraform configurations.

3

Initialize Terraform to use the default workspace

Run terraform init to initialize the working directory. Then ensure the configuration uses the default workspace by not creating or switching to any other workspace in the configuration.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0.0"
}

provider "null" {}

resource "null_resource" "example" {}

# No workspace block needed; default workspace is used
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Terraform uses the default workspace automatically if you do not specify any workspace configuration.

4

Add an output to confirm the default workspace is active

Add an output block named current_workspace that uses the built-in Terraform function terraform.workspace to output the name of the current workspace.

Terraform

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.0.0"
}

provider "null" {}

resource "null_resource" "example" {}

# Add output block for current_workspace
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The terraform.workspace function returns the name of the workspace Terraform is currently using.