Using Terraform to Manage Infrastructure - Shopify
3/17/2022
This post details the implementation of Terraform for managing third-party infrastructure, specifically Twilio TaskRouter. It explains the necessity of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to overcome the limitations of GUI-based management, such as lack of testing and rollback capabilities. The post outlines the three core components required for Terraform: a reliable API, a Go client library, and a Terraform provider. It then provides a detailed guide on creating a custom Terraform provider using Go, including defining resources, CRUD operations, and the schema. The post also covers the usage of Terraform's DSL for defining resources, the `plan` and `apply` commands, and the integration with Atlantis for GitHub-based workflows, enabling reviewable PRs and automated deployments. The successful adoption by other teams and its impact on empowering business users are highlighted.