Terraform Associate (004) – Exam Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet is based on my notes from online courses, Hashicorp documentation, and missing & updated concepts for the Terraform Associate 004 exam after completing the exam. It is optimized for quick revision before the exam.

---

1. Terraform Core Workflow

Core Commands

terraform init       # Initialize providers & backend
terraform plan       # Preview execution plan
terraform apply      # Apply changes
terraform destroy    # Destroy resources

Typical Workflow

1. Write .tf files

2. terraform init

3. terraform plan

4. terraform apply

---

2. Terraform Configuration Basics

Blocks

resource "aws_instance" "example" {}

---

3. Providers

Provider Types

• Official

• Partner

• Community

Provider Configuration

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

Version Constraints

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 5.0"
    }
  }
}

Version rules:

• >= 1.2.0

• <= 2.0.0

• ~> 1.2 → >=1.2,<2.0

• != 1.4.0

---

4. Variables

Declare Variables

variable "filename" {
  type        = string
  description = "File name"
  default     = "/tmp/file.txt"
}

Types

• string

• number

• bool

• list(type)

• map(type)

• object({})

• tuple([])

Variable Precedence (High → Low)

1. CLI var

2. .tfvars or var-file

3. Environment (TF_VAR_name)

4. Default

---

5. Resource Attributes & References

${resource_type.resource_name.attribute}

Example:

aws_instance.web.public_ip

---

6. Dependencies

Implicit

instance_id = aws_instance.web.id

Explicit

depends_on = [aws_instance.web]

---

7. Output Values

output "public_ip" {
  value = aws_instance.web.public_ip
}

Commands:

terraform output
terraform output public_ip

---

8. Terraform State

Purpose

• Maps config → real infrastructure

• Tracks metadata & dependencies

State Storage

• Local (default)

• Remote (recommended):

  • S3

  • Terraform Cloud

  • GCS

  • Consul

Remote state locking is available, depending on whether the backend supports

Remote Backend (S3 Example)

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "tf-state-bucket"
    key            = "prod/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-east-1"
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-locks"
  }
}

---

9. Terraform State Commands

terraform state list
terraform state show <resource>
terraform state mv
terraform state rm
terraform state pull

---

10. Lifecycle Rules

lifecycle {
  create_before_destroy = true
  prevent_destroy       = true
  ignore_changes        = [tags]
}

---

11. Meta-Arguments

https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/meta-arguments

count vs for_each

• count → indexed list

• for_each → map or set

---

12. Data Sources

Used to read existing resources:

data "aws_ami" "amazon_linux" {
  most_recent = true
}

---

13. Provisioners (Use Sparingly)

Local Exec

provisioner "local-exec" {
  command = "echo Hello"
}

Remote Exec

Requires SSH access.

⚠️ Not recommended for production

---

14. Terraform Import

terraform import aws_instance.web i-123456

⚠️ Does NOT generate .tf code. Only updates the state file.

---

15. Terraform Workspaces

terraform workspace new dev
terraform workspace list
terraform workspace select dev

Each workspace has separate state.

---

16. Terraform Functions (Important)

https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/functions

Numeric

• max()

• min()

• ceil()

• floor()

String

• lower()

• upper()

• split()

• join()

• substr()

Collection

• length()

• contains()

• element()

• lookup()

---

17. Terraform Console

terraform console

Used for testing expressions.

---

18. Debugging

export TF_LOG=TRACE
export TF_LOG_PATH=/tmp/terraform.log

Levels:

• TRACE

• DEBUG

• INFO

• WARN

• ERROR

---

19. Terraform Modules

module "vpc" {
  source  = "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws"
  version = "5.0.0"
}

Commands:

terraform get

---

20. Security Best Practices

• Never commit terraform.tfstate

• Use .gitignore

• Encrypt remote state

• Use least privilege

---

21. Quick Commands Summary

terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply
terraform destroy
terraform fmt
terraform validate
terraform providers
terraform output
terraform graph
terraform workspace list

22. HCP Terraform

The HashiCorp Cloud Platform — https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cloud-docs

In my experience in this exam, you have to know what they are; there is no need to dig deep, so briefly review these topics, and let me know your experience:

• Users

• Teams

• Organizations

• Permissions

• Stacks & Workspaces

• Integration with VCS (Version Control Systems)

• Private registry

• Automatic health checks

• Run triggers