AWS CloudFormation vs HashiCorp Terraform comparison

AWS CloudFormation provides a common language for you to model and provision AWS and third party application resources in your cloud environment. AWS CloudFormation allows you to use programming languages or a simple text file to model and provision, in an automated and secure manner, all the resources needed for your applications across all regions and accounts. This gives you a single source of truth for your AWS and third party resources.

HashiCorp Terraform is a powerful configuration management solution that aims to provide users with the ability to maximize the ease with which users can perform their configuration management operations. It makes it so that organizations can reliably configure and manage their infrastructure. Terraform is a tool that transforms every user into an administrator and project collaborator. Businesses that use it have at their command a solution that they can use for the entire lifecycle of their infrastructure.

HashiCorp Terraform Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy HashiCorp Terraform include:

• Disaster recovery. Terraform provides users with the ability to prevent a catastrophic loss of infrastructure from taking place. It stores the blueprint for the infrastructure in a centralized state file. This central file contains all of the data, resources, and metadata that make up an organization’s infrastructure setup. If their infrastructure is damaged or destroyed this file can be used to reconstitute the infrastructure as it was before the damage was done. Users need never worry that they will lose their infrastructure.

• Reduce overhead costs while offering maximum benefit. Terraform is designed so that users can deploy it relatively cheaply while still gaining the maximum level of benefit. It offers users a diverse collection of out-of-the-box modules that users can use and reuse without having to purchase anything else. The solution is also agentless which means that it can be deployed without requiring users to download anything else to make it function.

• Flexibility. Terraform is highly flexible. It is a totally platform-agnostic solution. It can be used to manage architecture being run on both physical devices and virtual machines. Users who use cloud environments can utilize it just as effectively as those who are working with physical on-premises servers. This enables users to use whatever system they wish without being beholden to any kind of restrictions.

• Remote operation. Terraform can be remotely operated and managed from anywhere in the world. This empowers organizations to operate internationally without worrying that they will somehow be less effective than if they were working from their headquarters.

• Self-service infrastructure. Terraform can be operated by many members of an organization. Users can take on some of the responsibilities that would be handled by administrators. They can leverage the ServiceNow Integration to create workspaces, perform Terraform runs, and even order service items. Additionally, users can deploy Configuration Designer to leverage predefined modules in order to handle infrastructure requests themselves.

HashiCorp Terraform Features

• Integration suite. Terraform enables users to integrate their systems with it regardless of what kind of infrastructure system they are using. It leverages a wide variety of APIs to empower users to take their workflows and integrate them with Terraform’s powerful management capabilities.

• Automation tool. Organizations can leverage Terraform to automate a vast variety of features. One example of a feature that administrators can automate is its system update application. Terraform makes it so that the solution itself is charged with applying updates and the like. This ensures that all operations are performed uniformly and in a manner that is consistent with the infrastructure’s configuration. It also guarantees that the possibility of human error need not be considered.

• Collaboration feature. Terraform Cloud makes it simple for users to share their workflows with colleagues. This enables them to efficiently collaborate on whatever project they are working on. Teams that are authorized to work on a particular project will be able to securely cooperate and accomplish their tasks.

• Notifications. Terraform offers users the ability to set it so that they receive notifications. The nature of these notifications can vary based on a user’s needs. They can range from notifications about the occurrence of particular events to progress reports concerning operations that the user is running.

• Security suite. Terraform comes with a suite of security capabilities that aim to keep users and their infrastructures from being harmed by digital threats. One such capability is a feature that auto-generates short-lived security credentials. This prevents access codes from being leaked or stolen by hackers. The credentials last for a specified period of time and are then deleted from the system. When new credentials are needed they will once again generate a set for the user in question.

Reviews from Real Users

HashiCorp Terraform is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two significant advantages it offers are its ability to help users create deployment pipelines that make the deployment process simple and its ability to recover infrastructure fully should something delete or damage it.

Patryk G., the chief technology officer at Translucent Computing Inc, writes, “Furthermore, Terraform enables the creation of a deployment pipeline using tools, such as Atlantis, which automates the process of scanning and deploying the code. This streamlines the deployment process and adds features, such as auditing, risk management, and security scanning to the deployment process. Terraform provides a more organized and secure way of managing infrastructure, compared to the traditional ad-hoc method.”

Rakib M., the chief technology and strategy officer at the White House, says, “One of the other major features of terraform is its ability to act as a Disaster Recovery tool. Since terraform is an Infrastructure-As-A-Service tool, it can be used as part of the rest of the DR toolset to restore affected infrastructure to its original state without any variation.”