Provisioners and Packaging

Updated Jan 24, 2021 ·

Overview

Terraform can package small deployment artifacts and run provisioners, but infrastructure definitions should stay the main responsibility of Terraform.

Archive File

The archive_file data source can create a zip file for simple Lambda deployments.

data "archive_file" "lambda_zip" {
  type        = "zip"
  source_file = "main.py"
  output_path = "main.zip"
}

The generated zip should not be committed. It can be recreated during terraform plan or terraform apply.

Provisioners

Provisioners run scripts or local commands as part of resource creation.

Provisioner	Runs on	Common use
local-exec	Terraform workstation	Build or registration commands.
remote-exec	Created instance	Bootstrap commands over SSH or WinRM.
file	Created instance	Copy scripts or config files.

warning

Use provisioners carefully. Prefer cloud-init, user data, managed images, or a configuration management tool when those options fit the job.