Terraform Explorer,Explorer - Terraform - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Overview

Terraform Explorer is an online tool provided by Alibaba Cloud based on the open-source Terraform version for debugging Terraform configuration files. It simplifies the process of writing Terraform configuration files and operating Terraform, helping developers reduce the barriers to using Terraform. With Terraform Explorer, developers can automatically generate and transform Terraform configuration files through form filling and run Terraform online with simple button operations.

Features

Terraform configuration files

Terraform configuration files define infrastructure resources in a code-based way. Writing Terraform configuration files is the first step in the IaC workflow. After defining the required Alibaba Cloud resources (such as ECS instances, RDS database instances) and dependencies between resources in the configuration file, Terraform automatically creates and configures the defined resources based on the file content, achieving automated deployment and operations. Terraform Explorer supports both automatic generation of configuration files and online editing of configuration file templates by developers.

Feature set

Feature point

Feature description

Writing configuration files

Automatically generating configuration files

After developers select a cloud product and related resource type, and click the "Start Debugging" button, Terraform Explorer will automatically generate a configuration file for the selected resource type. You can then continuously improve the configuration file by filling in some or all parameters through the form on the left.

Online editing of configuration files

Terraform Explorer provides one or more example templates for each resource type. If you do not want to fill in too many parameters or want to create multiple resources, you can select a specific example template after selecting the resource type, click the "Start Debugging" button to view the template details and start debugging.

If the content of the example template does not meet your requirements, you can click the "Edit Mode" button in the upper right corner of the template to add or modify content in the existing template online, save it, and continue to start debugging.

Terraform online execution

Initialization, preview, and execution are the workflow nodes of Terraform after the configuration file is written. Terraform Explorer uses debugging tasks as carriers to implement Terraform workflow nodes through task execution. Each debugging task execution completes initialization, preview, and execution actions in sequence.

Feature set	Feature point	Feature description
Executing configuration files	Online initialization	Initialization is the first step for preview and execution, so it runs as part of preview and execution in Terraform Explorer.
	Online preview	When you click the "Preview" button, Terraform Explorer will create a new debugging task or execute `terraform init` and `terraform plan` commands in sequence in an existing debugging task. After execution, a Terraform execution plan will be generated and the execution plan details will be displayed on the page. You can preview the execution plan and choose to continue execution or abandon execution.
	Online execution	When the execution plan meets your expectations, you can click the "Execute" button to run the execution plan. Terraform Explorer will execute the `terraform apply` command based on your selection, thereby completing the creation and modification operations of the resources contained in the execution plan. When you click the "Preview and Execute" button, it means that after generating the execution plan, it will automatically execute without manual confirmation. That is, Terraform Explorer will execute `terraform init`, `terraform plan`, and `terraform apply` commands in sequence.
	Resource destruction	When you finish debugging and want to destroy resources, click the "Destroy Resources" button. Terraform Explorer will generate an execution plan for destroying resources through `terraform plan`. After you confirm the destruction, Terraform Explorer will complete the execution of this destruction plan through `terraform apply`, thereby releasing all resources contained in the task.

Benefits

Terraform Explorer supports online management of the main functions of the Terraform open-source version, with advantages such as no environment installation required, no code writing required, and no state management required.

No environment installation required

Terraform Explorer supports online hosting of the Terraform client and accelerated download of the Alibaba Cloud Provider when executing Terraform commands. You no longer need to worry about environment issues such as Terraform installation, configuration, or slow Provider downloads.

No code writing required

Terraform Explorer provides the ability to automatically generate template configuration files through forms for single resources. You no longer need to worry about not knowing how to write Terraform code or finding it troublesome to write. Additionally, it is equipped with related example templates for each resource type, which can be run with one click by selecting a template.

Furthermore, Terraform Explorer helps you save the templates and parameters used for each Terraform execution by default. When you initiate a new debugging task, you can choose to load content from historical templates and parameters.

No state management required

State management is an important part of Terraform, divided into local state and remote state. Terraform Explorer supports the management of these two states, using local state management by default. It helps you host the running state of each Terraform execution to ensure that the same configuration file can be run multiple times, while maintaining the native state management mechanism of Terraform and ensuring state security.

Terms

Concept	Description
Version	The version of Alibaba Cloud Terraform Provider. The minimum supported version is currently 1.202.0
Product	The list of cloud products supported by each Provider version, supporting fuzzy search by keywords
Resource type	The resource types supported by the selected cloud product in each Provider version, supporting fuzzy search by keywords
Template	A Terraform configuration file, which is a text file in HCL format with UTF-8 encoding. You can automatically generate it by filling in form parameters or reference an example template under a certain resource type.
Template version	Each time a debugging task is executed, the template used will be saved as a template version. You can view the details of different template versions.
Task	Whenever a new debugging action is initiated through the "Start Debugging" button, Terraform Explorer will create a new debugging task. Each task corresponds to a unique state file, so only one preview or execution operation can be performed at a time.
Debugging record	Each run (preview or preview and execute) of each task will generate a debugging record. New debugging records are generated and executed based on the previous debugging record.
Debugging history	All debugging tasks for each resource type are recorded in the debugging history. You can select a historical task and continue debugging based on the latest debugging record.

Resource Access Management

When accessing Terraform Explorer, some functions require authorization first, such as creating debugging tasks, previewing, previewing and executing, destroying resources, viewing debugging history, viewing resource details, and more. The APIs and functions used by Terraform Explorer that require authentication are shown in the following table:

API name	API description	Related feature points (buttons)
CreateExplorerModule	Save template content	Preview, Preview and Execute
GetExplorerModule	Get template content details	View template
CreateExplorerModuleVersion	Each time you continue debugging, the template content will be saved as a new version	Preview, Preview and Execute, Continue Debugging
CreateExplorerTask	Create debugging task	Preview, Preview and Execute
GetExplorerTask	Get debugging task details	Debugging results
UpdateExplorerTaskAttribute	Update debugging task	Destroy resources
CreateJob	Create job, run debugging task	Preview, Preview and Execute, Destroy resources
GetJob	Get debugging task execution details	Debugging results
OperateJob	Operate job, execute debugging task after preview is complete	Preview and Execute, Execute, Destroy resources
ListJobs	Get job list, i.e., execution records of debugging tasks	Debugging records
CreateExplorerHistory	Record each debugging task	Debugging history
ListExplorerHistory	Get debugging history details and historical parameters	Debugging history, Use historical parameters
ListResources	Get list and details of successfully created resources	Resource details

Before using Terraform Explorer, you can implement fine-grained access control through the APIs above, or you can complete quick authorization through the following access policy:

{
  "Version": "1",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iacservice:CreateExplorerModuleVersion",
        "iacservice:GetExplorerModule",
        "iacservice:CreateExplorerModule"
      ],
      "Resource": "acs:iacservice:*:*:explorermodule/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iacservice:CreateExplorerTask",
        "iacservice:UpdateExplorerTaskAttribute",
        "iacservice:GetExplorerTask"
      ],
      "Resource": "acs:iacservice:*:*:explorertask/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iacservice:CreateJob",
        "iacservice:GetJob",
        "iacservice:listJobs",
        "iacservice:OperateJob"
      ],
      "Resource": "acs:iacservice:*:*:task/*/job/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iacservice:ListResources",
        "iacservice:ListExplorerHistories",
        "iacservice:CreateExplorerHistory"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}