Terraform Interview Questions

General Terraform Questions

1. What is Terraform and how does it differ from other IaC tools?

2. Explain the difference between declarative and imperative configuration

languages.

3. What are the main features of Terraform?

4. How does Terraform achieve infrastructure provisioning?

5. What is an execution plan in Terraform, and why is it important?

6. What is the state file in Terraform, and why is it important?

7. How does Terraform handle dependencies between resources?

8. Can you explain how Terraform works with modules?

9. What is a Terraform provider, and how does it work?

10. How does Terraform handle resource dependencies and ordering?

Terraform Commands

11. What is the purpose of terraform init?

12. How do you validate the Terraform configuration?

13. How does terraform plan work, and what information does it provide?

14. What does the terraform apply command do?

15. What is the purpose of the terraform destroy command?

16. How can you perform a dry run using Terraform?

17. What is the function of terraform output?

18. How would you update an existing infrastructure with Terraform?

19. How do you work with multiple Terraform environments?

20. What does terraform import do?

Terraform Configuration Language (HCL)

21. What is HCL, and how is it used in Terraform?

 22. How do you define variables in Terraform, and why are they used?

23. Explain the difference between locals and variables in Terraform.

24. How can you use conditional statements in Terraform?

25. What is the purpose of count in resource definitions?

26. How do you define a map or list in Terraform?

27. How would you use outputs in Terraform?

28. How do you reference a resource in another resource configuration?

29. What is the significance of depends_on in Terraform?

30. Can you explain the use of dynamic blocks in Terraform?

Modules

31. What are Terraform modules?

32. How do you create and use a module in Terraform?

33. What is the purpose of module blocks in Terraform configuration?

34. Can you share a practical example of how you would structure Terraform
modules?

35. How would you version and distribute a Terraform module?

36. What is the difference between a local module and a remote module?

37. How can you pass values to a module in Terraform?

38. How do you use the module outputs in the root module?

39. How can you structure a Terraform project with multiple modules?

40. How do you handle input validation for modules?

Terraform State

41. What is Terraform state, and why is it important?

42. How do you store Terraform state remotely?

43. What is the difference between terraform state and terraform plan?

44. What happens if Terraform state gets corrupted?

 45. How do you back up and restore Terraform state?

46. How do you manage the Terraform state file securely?

47. Can multiple people work with the same Terraform state file? If so, how?

48. What is the state argument in Terraform, and how do you use it?

49. What is the purpose of the terraform refresh command?

50. How can you migrate the state to a new backend?

Terraform Backend

51. What is a backend in Terraform?

52. What are the different types of backends available in Terraform?

53. How do you configure a backend in Terraform?

54. Explain the differences between local and remote backends in Terraform.

55. What is a shared backend in Terraform, and why is it useful?

56. How can you ensure that only one person is modifying the state at a time?

57. What is the role of the terraform backend block?

58. Can you switch backends in the middle of a Terraform project?

59. How do you configure and use an S3 backend with DynamoDB for state locking?

60. What is the significance of backend configuration when working in teams?

Terraform Providers

61. What is a Terraform provider, and how does it work?

62. How do you install and configure a Terraform provider?

63. How do you use multiple providers in a single Terraform configuration?

64. How would you authenticate a provider, such as AWS or Azure, in Terraform?

65. Can you explain how a provider interacts with APIs to manage infrastructure?

66. What is the difference between an official provider and a community provider?

67. How do you create custom providers in Terraform?

68. How do you manage provider versions in Terraform?

 69. How can you use different versions of a provider in multiple configurations?

70. What is the role of provider blocks in Terraform configuration files?

Terraform Provisioners

71. What is a provisioner in Terraform?

72. What types of provisioners are available in Terraform?

73. How do you use remote-exec and local-exec provisioners?

74. When should you use provisioners in Terraform, and when should you avoid
them?

75. What is the connection block, and how is it used in Terraform provisioners?

76. How do you debug provisioning failures in Terraform?

77. What is the best practice when using provisioners in Terraform?

78. How can you execute commands on remote machines using Terraform?

79. How would you handle errors in provisioning scripts with Terraform?

80. Can you chain multiple provisioners together in Terraform?

Terraform Workspaces

81. What are workspaces in Terraform, and why are they useful?

82. How do you create and manage Terraform workspaces?

83. How do you use a workspace to handle multiple environments?

84. Can you switch between different workspaces in Terraform?

85. What is the default workspace in Terraform?

86. How do you use workspaces in Terraform for environment-specific

configurations?

87. What happens when you change workspaces in Terraform?

88. Can you apply the same Terraform configuration to different workspaces?

89. What is the significance of workspace isolation in Terraform?

90. How do you configure workspaces in a CI/CD pipeline?

Terraform Cloud & Enterprise

91. What is Terraform Cloud, and how does it differ from Terraform Open Source?

92. How does Terraform Cloud handle state management?

93. What are the benefits of using Terraform Enterprise for team collaboration?

94. How do you use Terraform Cloud for policy enforcement?

95. What are workspaces in Terraform Cloud, and how do they work?

96. How can you integrate version control systems (VCS) with Terraform Cloud?

97. How do you configure and use Terraform Cloud for CI/CD pipelines?

98. How do you define and enforce access policies in Terraform Cloud?

99. What is the purpose of Sentinel in Terraform Enterprise?

100. How can you use Terraform Cloud to manage multiple environments and
teams?