Free HashiCorp Terraform-Associate-003 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 3

Terraforminstalls providers during the terraform init phase.

Providers aredownloaded and installedwhen running terraform init.

A (terraform plan)is incorrect because terraform plan only calculates changes but does not install providers.

C (terraform refresh)is incorrect because terraform refresh only updates the state but does not install providers.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

Provider Installation - HashiCorp Documentation

Terraform is built on a plugin-based architecture, enabling developers to extend Terraform by writing new plugins or compiling modified versions of existing plugins1. Terraform plugins are executable binaries written in Go that expose an implementation for a specific service, such as a cloud resource, SaaS platform, or API2. If there is no existing provider for your API, you can create one using the Terraform Plugin SDK3 or the Terraform Plugin Framework4. References =

•1: Plugin Development - How Terraform Works With Plugins | Terraform | HashiCorp Developer

•2: Lab: Terraform Plug-in Based Architecture - GitHub

•3: Terraform Plugin SDK - Terraform by HashiCorp

•4: HashiCorp Terraform Plugin Framework Now Generally Available

In the given Terraform configuration snippet:

resource "aws_vpc" "main" {

name = "test"

}

The provider for the resource aws_vpc is aws. The provider is specified by the prefix of the resource type. In this case, aws_vpc indicates that the resource type vpc is provided by the aws provider.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer (C):Credentials should not be hardcoded in Terraform files. Best practice is to configure them via environment variables or secret managers.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A: Shared servers introduce risk and drift.

B: Storing secrets in config/version control is insecure.

D: Incorrect since option C is valid.

Key Concept:Separation of credentials from code is a Terraform security best practice.

State locking prevents other users from modifying the state file while a Terraform operation is in progress. This prevents conflicts and data loss1.

terraform graphgeneratesGraphviz DOT formatoutput, which allows visualization ofresource dependenciesin Terraform.

A (terraform refresh)– Incorrect, as it only updates the state file.

C (terraform output)– Incorrect, as it only displays Terraform output values.

D (terraform show)– Incorrect, as it only displays the Terraform state.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

terraform graph - HashiCorp Documentation

Terraform follows adeclarativeapproach, meaning it ensures the infrastructure matches the configuration.

If you run terraform apply againwithout any changes, Terraform willdetect that the infrastructure is already up to dateand willdo nothing.

The command will complete successfully with the message"No changes. Your infrastructure matches the configuration."

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

Terraform Apply - HashiCorp Documentation

Changes invoked by terraform apply take effect once the resource provider has fulfilled the request, not after Terraform has updated the state file or immediately. The state file is only a reflection of the real resources, not a source of truth.

The terraform validate command is used to check that your Terraform configuration files are syntactically valid and internally consistent. It is a useful command for ensuring your Terraform code is error-free before applying any changes to your infrastructure.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) provides several benefits, including the ability to version control infrastructure, reuse code, and automate infrastructure management. However, IaC is typically associated with declarative configuration files and does not inherently provide a graphical user interface (GUI). A GUI is a feature that may be provided by specific tools or platforms built on top of IaC principles but is not a direct benefit of IaC itself1.

References = The benefits of IaC can be verified from the official HashiCorp documentation on “What is Infrastructure as Code with Terraform?” provided by HashiCorp Developer1.