Plan and apply separation in pipelines in Terraform - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is the purpose of separating 'plan' and 'apply' stages in Terraform pipelines?

Separating 'plan' and 'apply' stages helps to review and approve infrastructure changes before they are made, reducing errors and improving control.

beginner

In Terraform pipelines, what does the 'terraform plan' command do?

It creates an execution plan showing what changes Terraform will make to reach the desired state without applying them.

intermediate

Why is it important to store the Terraform plan output and use it in the apply stage?

Storing the plan output ensures that the exact reviewed plan is applied, preventing unexpected changes during apply.

intermediate

How can manual approval be integrated between plan and apply stages in a pipeline?

By adding a manual approval step after the plan stage, teams can review the plan output and confirm before applying changes.

beginner

What is a common tool or service used to automate Terraform pipelines with plan and apply separation?

CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins are commonly used to automate Terraform pipelines with separate plan and apply stages.

What does the 'terraform apply' command do?

A Shows the planned changes without applying them

B Validates the Terraform configuration syntax only

C Applies the changes to reach the desired infrastructure state

D Deletes all infrastructure resources

The 'terraform apply' command executes the planned changes to create, update, or delete infrastructure resources.

Why should the plan output be saved and reused in the apply stage?

A To speed up the apply process

B To automatically approve changes

C To avoid running terraform init again

D To ensure the exact reviewed plan is applied

Saving the plan output ensures that the apply stage uses the exact plan reviewed, preventing unexpected changes.

What is a benefit of adding a manual approval step between plan and apply?

A It allows review and prevents accidental changes

B It speeds up deployment

C It automatically fixes errors

D It removes the need for version control

Manual approval lets team members review planned changes before applying, reducing risk of mistakes.

Which command generates a Terraform execution plan?

A terraform plan

B terraform apply

C terraform init

D terraform validate

'terraform plan' creates a preview of changes without applying them.

Which tool can be used to automate Terraform pipelines with plan and apply separation?

A Microsoft Word

B GitHub Actions

C Adobe Photoshop

D Slack

GitHub Actions is a CI/CD tool that can automate Terraform pipelines including separate plan and apply stages.

Explain why separating the 'plan' and 'apply' stages in Terraform pipelines is a best practice.

Think about how reviewing before doing helps avoid mistakes.

Describe how you would implement a pipeline that separates Terraform plan and apply stages with manual approval.

Consider the flow from planning to approval to applying.