Install and configure Terraform

You must install and configure Terraform before you can use its simple template language to define, preview, and deploy cloud infrastructure.

1. Download the appropriate software package for your operating system from the official website of Terraform.
2. Decompress the package to /usr/local/bin.
   If you decompress the executable file to another directory, you must define a global path for the file by using one of the following methods:

   • For Linux operating systems, follow the method as described in How to define a global path on Linux.
   • For Windows operating systems, follow the method as described in How to define a global path on Windows.
   • For macOS operating systems, follow the method as described in How to define a global path on macOS.
3. Run the terraform command to verify the path.
   If the following similar list of available Terraform options is displayed, the installation is complete:

   username:~$ terraform
   Usage: terraform [-version] [-help] <command> [args]

4. Create and authorize a RAM user to improve the flexibility and security of permission management.
   1. Log on to the RAM console.
   2. Create a RAM user named Terraform and create an AccessKey pair for the user. For more information, see Create a RAM user.
   3. Authorize the RAM user. In this example, the AliyunECSFullAccess and AliyunVPCFullAccess permissions are granted to the Terraform user. For more information, see Grant permissions to a RAM user.
5. Create an environment variable to store authentication information.

   export ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY="LTAIUrZCw3********"
   export ALICLOUD_SECRET_KEY="zfwwWAMWIAiooj14GQ2*************"
   export ALICLOUD_REGION="cn-beijing"