HashiCorp Terraform-Associate-004 - HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (004) (HCTA0-004)

Variables declared within a module are only accessible within that module, unless they are explicitly exposed as output values1.

Referencing Terraform Built-in Functions:

✅chomp: removes trailing newlines

✅join: combines list into string

✅split: splits string into list

❌slice:is nota valid Terraform string function (it's used in other languages like Python)

This is a key benefit of the Terraform state file, as it stores and tracks the metadata and attributes of the resources that are managed by Terraform, and allows Terraform to compare the current state with the desired state expressed by your configuration files.

Terraformis written in Go, but it isdistributed as a standalone binaryanddoes notrequire the Go runtime.

Users do not need to install Go to run Terraform.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

Terraform Install Guide

Rationale for Correct Answer: To expose values from a child module to a parent module, you define an output in the child module (e.g., output "public_ip" { value = aws_instance.example.public_ip }). The parent module can then reference it via module..public_ip.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

B: A data source in the parent could look up an instance, but that’s unnecessary and brittle compared to using module outputs (and may require extra identifiers).

C: Import is for bringing existing resources into state; it doesn’t expose attributes between modules.

D: Locals are only scoped within the module; they are not accessible from the parent.

Key Concept: Module composition: outputs are the contract for passing data from child to parent.

These are features of Terraform Cloud, which is a hosted service that provides a web-based UI, remote state storage, remote operations, collaboration features, and more for managing your Terraform infrastructure.

Rationale for Correct Answer:

D: Many remote backends support state locking, preventing concurrent operations from corrupting state and enabling safer team collaboration.

E: Remote state often supports encryption at rest (for example, via the remote storage system’s server-side encryption), improving security of sensitive values that may reside in state.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A: Incorrect—remote state does not prevent drift; drift can still occur if changes are made outside Terraform.

B: Incorrect—credentials for providers are still required; remote state doesn’t remove that need (though a platform like HCP Terraform can centralize variable/credential management).

C: Incorrect—remote backends do not inherently make plan/apply faster; latency can even increase. Performance depends on environment and backend behavior.

Key Concept: Benefits of remote state: collaboration via locking and improved security controls for state storage.

 Terraform configuration (including any module references) can contain more than one Terraform provider type. Terraform providers are plugins that Terraform uses to interact with various cloud services and other APIs. A Terraform configuration can use multiple providers to manage resources across different platforms and services. For example, a configuration can use the AWS provider to create a virtual machine, the Cloudflare provider to manage DNS records, and the GitHub provider to create a repository. Terraform supports hundreds of providers for different use cases and scenarios. References = [Providers], [Provider Requirements], [Provider Configuration]

To import existing resources into Terraform, you need to do two things1:

Write a resource configuration block for each resource, matching the type and name used in your state file.

Run terraform import for each resource, specifying its address and ID. There is no such command as terraform Import-gcp, and provisioning new VMs with the same names will not import them into Terraform.

Rationale for Correct Answer: To enforce constraints on an input variable, Terraform provides variable validation using a validation block inside the variable block. If the condition fails, Terraform produces an error and prevents the operation (plan/apply) from continuing with invalid input.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A (Top-level check block): check blocks validate conditions, but they are not the standard mechanism for constraining input variable values at the point of declaration; variable validation is.

C (Top-level validation block): Terraform does not support a standalone top-level validation block.

D (check block in the variable block): check is not placed inside variable blocks for input validation; the correct construct is validation.

Key Concept: Input variable validation to enforce constraints and fail fast.