Terraform · Operational reference
Toolkit
Operational artefacts for Terraform: checklists for cadences, runbooks for incidents, hands-on labs for skills, and break/fix scenarios for troubleshooting reflexes. None of this replaces reading the corresponding lessons — these are the artefacts you keep open in a second tab during real work.
- Runbooks
- 22
- Checklists
- 12
- Labs
- 21
- Break/Fix
- 26
- Assessments
- 1
Operational checklists
Repetitive tasks performed on a schedule.
Before deployment
Runbooks
Step-by-step procedures. Treat the rollback as part of the procedure — never skip it.
Critical risk
- criticalcluster affectingRunbook: Recover Lost State~30 min · 6 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- criticalcluster affectingRunbook: Recover from a Partial Apply Failure~25 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- criticalcluster affectingRunbook: Recover from an Unexpected Apply~25 min · 7 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- criticalcluster affectingRunbook: Review a Terraform Plan for Production~20 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
High risk
- highcluster affectingRunbook: Detect and Respond to State Corruption~25 min · 7 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- highcluster affectingRunbook: Investigate Provider Failure~25 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- highcluster affectingRunbook: Upgrade Terraform Core and Providers~25 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
Medium risk
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Coordinate a Cross-Team Terraform Change~30 min · 6 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Handle Cloud Quota Exhaustion~20 min · 6 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Handle State Backend Size Limit~20 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Investigate Provider API Rate Limiting~20 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Investigate a Stuck State Lock~15 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Respond to a Drift Incident~20 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Rollback to a Previous State Version~20 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-13→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Add a New Provider to the Configuration~15 min · 6 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Investigate Drift and Reconcile~15 min · 7 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Investigate a State Lock Incident~15 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Migrate the State Backend~20 min · 7 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: On-Call Engineer Terraform Review~15 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
- mediumcluster affectingRunbook: Reconcile Manual Drift~15 min · 5 steps · verified 2026-08-12→
Hands-on labs
Time-boxed exercises.
C · Simulation
- Capstone: A Production Terraform Estate~480 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: count vs for_each for Resource Instances~20 min · 2 objectives→
- Lab: Reading Existing Infrastructure with Data Sources~20 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: depends_on and Implicit Dependencies~20 min · 2 objectives→
- Lab: Drift Detection and Remediation~25 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: First Terraform Configuration~25 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: Importing an Existing Resource~25 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Importing Existing Infrastructure~25 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: Using Locals for Readability and DRY~15 min · 3 objectives→
- Lab: Modules — Build, Call, Refactor~25 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Modules and Refactoring with moved Blocks~30 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: Refactoring Resources with the moved Block~25 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: A Partial Apply Failure and Recovery~25 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: Plan Review and Interpretation~30 min · 5 objectives→
- Lab: lifecycle.prevent_destroy on a Critical Resource~15 min · 3 objectives→
- Lab: Using the terraform refresh Command~20 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Using terraform output for Cross-Stack Consumption~25 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: State Backup, Recovery, and Lost State~35 min · 6 objectives→
- Lab: Sentinel Lock Investigation and Recovery~20 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: state mv and state rm~20 min · 2 objectives→
- Lab: Workspaces for Short-Lived Environments~20 min · 4 objectives→
Break/Fix scenarios
Troubleshooting drills. Each scenario gives symptoms and evidence, then hides the solution behind a reveal.
terraform-plan
terraform-import
terraform-provider
- advancedCI/CD Pipeline Locked Out: Credentials Not Authorised~25 min · 3 symptoms→
- advancedProvider Bug Replaces Everything on Minor Upgrade~30 min · 3 symptoms→
- intermediateBreak/Fix: Provider API Rate Limit~20 min · 4 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: Unexpected Replace from Provider Schema Change~25 min · 4 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: Provider Upgrade Changes Plan~25 min · 4 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: Unexpected Apply Failure with Quota Exceeded~25 min · 4 symptoms→
terraform-state
- intermediateState Lock Held While Apply Is In Progress~20 min · 3 symptoms→
- advancedmoved Block Maps Resources in Wrong Direction~30 min · 3 symptoms→
- advancedState Out of Sync After Failed Apply~25 min · 3 symptoms→
- intermediateState Refuses to Restore from Backup~20 min · 3 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: Lost State~25 min · 3 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: Partial Apply Failure~25 min · 4 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: State Becomes Inconsistent After Crash~30 min · 4 symptoms→
- intermediateBreak/Fix: State Lock Incident~20 min · 3 symptoms→
terraform-drift
terraform-supply-chain
Assessments
Production-readiness examinations. Each combines auto-scored questions with scenario-based rubrics you can use to grade yourself.