Pass the HashiCorp Terraform Associate Terraform-Associate-004 Questions and answers with CertsForce

terraform init is the first command that should be run after writing a new Terraform configuration or cloning an existing one from version control. It initializes a working directory containing Terraform configuration files and downloads any required providers and modules. The other commands are used for different purposes, such as importing existing resources, switching between workspaces, generating execution plans, etc.

Purpose of Refresh-Only Mode: Running Terraform inrefresh-only modeupdates Terraform's state file with the current state of resources in your infrastructure without making changes to the resources themselves.

Context of Terraform Import: When usingterraform import, you’re adding existing resources to the state file, and running Terraform in refresh-only mode before this operation can ensure that any initial configuration syncs precisely with the actual state.

For more on refresh-only mode in relation to terraform import, refer to Terraform's import documentation.

It is not a best practice to store secret data in the same version control repository as your Terraform configuration, as it could expose your sensitive information to unauthorized parties or compromise your security. You should use environment variables, vaults, or other mechanisms to store and provide secret data to Terraform.

The description argument for Terraform variables and outputs is purely for documentation purposes and isnotstored in the Terraform state file.

Terraform variables and outputs can have descriptions for readability and clarity in .tf files.

However, these descriptions are not retained in the Terraform state file.

The state file only stores actual values and references needed for resource management, not metadata such as descriptions.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

Terraform Variables - HashiCorp Documentation

Terraform Outputs - HashiCorp Documentation

Some backends support state locking, which prevents other users from modifying the state file while a Terraform operation is in progress. This prevents conflicts and data loss. Not all backends support this feature, and you can check the documentation for each backend type to see if it does.

Terraform creates the .terraform.lock.hcl file after the first terraform init command. This lock file ensures that the dependencies for your project are consistent across different runs by locking the versions of the providers and modules used.

The terraform taint command marks a resource as tainted, which means it will be destroyed and recreated on the next apply. This way, you can replace the VM instance without affecting the database or other resources. References = [Terraform Taint]

The terraform import command is not part of any other Terraform workflow. It must be explicitly invoked by the user with the appropriate arguments, such as the resource address and the ID of the existing infrastructure to import. References = [Importing Infrastructure]

In Terraform Cloud, speculative plan runs are not automatically started when changes are merged or committed to the version control repository linked to a workspace. Instead, speculative plans are typically triggered as part of proposed changes in merge requests or pull requests to give an indication of what would happen if the changes were applied, without making any real changes to the infrastructure. Actual plan and apply operations in Terraform Cloud workspaces are usually triggered by specific events or configurations defined within the Terraform Cloud workspace settings.References = This behavior is part of how Terraform Cloud integrates with version control systems and is documented in Terraform Cloud's usage guidelines and best practices, especially in the context of VCS-driven workflows.

Terraform validate reports configuration consistency errors, such as declaring a resource identifier more than once. This means that the same resource type and name combination is used for multiple resource blocks, which is not allowed in Terraform. For example, resource "aws_instance" "example" {...} cannot be used more than once in the same configuration. Terraform validate does not report errors related to module versions, state differences, or formatting issues, as these are not relevant for checking the configuration syntax and structure. References = [Validate Configuration], [Resource Syntax]