Challenge - Write and Apply Your First Terraform Configuration

Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you define cloud resources in declarative configuration files instead of creating them by hand. You describe the end state you want, and Terraform works out which API calls are needed to reach it. Because that description lives in a file, your infrastructure becomes reviewable, repeatable, and version controlled like any other part of your codebase.

The workflow rests on three commands. terraform init downloads the provider plugins your configuration references, terraform plan compares your configuration against recorded state and reports exactly what will change, and terraform apply carries those changes out. The plan step is what separates Terraform from a deployment script: you see the consequences before anything is created.

By completing this Beginner challenge, you will be able to:

• Write a Terraform configuration from scratch using the AWS provider and a DynamoDB table resource
• Configure point-in-time recovery and resource tags through Terraform arguments
• Drive the full Terraform workflow end to end, from init through plan to apply
• Apply a configuration so the table meets specific naming, recovery, and tagging requirements

Prerequisites

Before attempting this challenge, you should be comfortable with:

• Writing and editing Terraform configuration files (HCL syntax)
• Understanding the core Terraform workflow (init, plan, apply)
• Running Terraform CLI commands
• Navigating AWS resources such as DynamoDB tables

Recommended Lab: Introduction to Infrastructure as Code with Terraform on AWS