Infrastructure as Code: Beyond the Basics

Beyond Terraform Init

If you're still manually running terraform apply, it's time to level up. This guide covers advanced patterns for production IaC.

Pattern 1: Environment Promotion

Use workspaces and variable files for environment management:

# environments/prod/terraform.tfvars
environment = "prod"
instance_type = "m5.xlarge"
min_capacity = 3
max_capacity = 10
# environments/staging/terraform.tfvars
environment = "staging"
instance_type = "t3.medium"
min_capacity = 1
max_capacity = 3

Pattern 2: Module Composition

Build composable, reusable modules:

module "api" {
  source = "./modules/api-gateway"
  name        = "orders-api"
  lambda_arns = module.order_functions.arns
  authorizer  = module.auth.authorizer_id
}

Pattern 3: Automated Testing

Test your infrastructure:

• Unit tests - Validate module logic


• Integration tests - Deploy to test account


• Policy tests - Ensure compliance

Pattern 4: Drift Detection

Implement continuous drift detection:

Schedule terraform plan runs

Alert on detected drift

Auto-remediate or require approval

Pattern 5: State Management

Secure your state:

• Remote backend (S3 + DynamoDB)


• State encryption


• Access controls


• State locking

Tools We Recommend

• Terraform - Multi-cloud IaC


• AWS CDK - TypeScript/Python infrastructure


• Terragrunt - Terraform wrapper for DRY configs


• Checkov - Security scanning