Launching an EC2 instance using Terraform

Terraform is a powerful tool for automating the creation and management of cloud infrastructure. In this guide, we'll walk through the process of launching an EC2 instance on AWS using Terraform, including setting up necessary IAM roles and configuring resources.

Step 1: Create an IAM Role with Required Permissions

Navigate to the IAM Dashboard > Click on IAM > Click Create role.

Choose AWS service

Select EC2 as the service that will use this role > Click Next.

In the Attach permissions policies section, search for vpc > Select AmazonVPCFullAccess

Search for ec2 > Select AmazonEC2FullAccess

Click Next

Provide a Role name > Terraform-ec2-vpc-role

Click Create role

The IAM role is now created.

Select the EC2 instance to which you want to attach the IAM role > click on the Actions button > Under the Security section, select Modify IAM role

In the Modify IAM role dialog, select the IAM role you created from the drop-down menu. > Click on Update IAM role to attach the role to the instance

Step 2: Set Up Your Terraform Project

Create a directory for your Terraform project

Inside this directory, create a file named main.tf. This file will contain the configuration for your AWS EC2 instance.

Copy the blow content and paste it in to the main.tf file

vi main.tf

# Configure the AWS Provider
provider "aws" {
  region = "ap-south-1"  # Choose your desired region
}

# Create a VPC
resource "aws_vpc" "my_vpc" {
  cidr_block = "10.0.0.0/16"
}

# Create a Subnet
resource "aws_subnet" "my_subnet" {
  vpc_id     = aws_vpc.my_vpc.id
  cidr_block = "10.0.1.0/24"
}

# Create an Internet Gateway
resource "aws_internet_gateway" "my_igw" {
  vpc_id = aws_vpc.my_vpc.id
}

# Create a Route Table
resource "aws_route_table" "my_route_table" {
  vpc_id = aws_vpc.my_vpc.id

  route {
    cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0"
    gateway_id = aws_internet_gateway.my_igw.id
  }
}

# Associate the Route Table with the Subnet
resource "aws_route_table_association" "my_route_table_assoc" {
  subnet_id      = aws_subnet.my_subnet.id
  route_table_id = aws_route_table.my_route_table.id
}

# Create a Security Group
resource "aws_security_group" "my_sg" {
  vpc_id = aws_vpc.my_vpc.id

  ingress {
    from_port   = 22
    to_port     = 22
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }
}

# Create an EC2 Instance
resource "aws_instance" "Ansible" {
  ami           = "ami-0c2af51e265bd5e0e" # Replace with a valid AMI ID for ap-south-1
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  subnet_id     = aws_subnet.my_subnet.id
  security_groups = [aws_security_group.my_sg.id]

  tags = {
    Name = "Ansible VM"
  }

  # Optional: Add an SSH key pair for access
  key_name = "key"  # Replace with your actual key pair name
}