Standardize your IaC, Secure by Design
and Scale your Processes

In this article, I will share my extensive knowledge of the Cloud Infrastructure industry, which I have gained through discussions with over 20,000 engineers. Drawing from these conversations, I will provide insights into the major trends that are currently shaping the industry.

For situations where, for e.g. you deploy a large web application infrastructure using Terraform, you often need certain endpoints, IP addresses, database user credentials, and so forth. This information is most useful for passing the values to modules along with other scenarios. Output variables in Terraform are used to display the required information in the console output after a successful application of configuration for the root module.

To create self-service infrastructure on Brainboard, use Terraform to define your infrastructure as code, provide access to your Terraform code through version control, use modules to encapsulate complex infrastructure configurations, and automate the deployment and management of your resources. This will allow your team members to deploy and manage their own infrastructure, reducing the need for manual intervention and making it easier to manage your infrastructure at scale.

Yes, Brainboard supports Terraform variables. Terraform variables are a way to parameterize Terraform configurations, allowing you to pass values into your Terraform code that can be used to configure your resources. In Brainboard, you can define Terraform variables in your Terraform code and use them to parameterize your resources. Brainboard integrates with Terraform, providing a visual representation of your infrastructure and making it easier to manage your Terraform variables and the resources that they configure.

Yes, Brainboard supports Terraform modules. To use Terraform modules on Brainboard, you simply need to include the module in your Terraform code and configure it as you would any other Terraform resource. Brainboard integrates with Terraform, allowing you to manage your Terraform state, visualize your infrastructure, and automate the deployment and management of your resources, including modules.

Yes, you can create multiple Terraform files in Brainboard. Terraform supports organizing your Terraform code into multiple files, which can be useful for large or complex infrastructure deployments. For example, you can create separate Terraform files for different components of your infrastructure, such as network, compute, and storage. You can also create separate Terraform files for different environments, such as development, staging, and production. To use multiple Terraform files, you need to include the main Terraform file in your Brainboard CI/CD pipeline and specify the other Terraform files in the same directory. Terraform will automatically find and use all of the Terraform files in the directory when executing your Terraform code. Here's an example of how you can organize your Terraform code into multiple files: ``` main.tf: provider "aws" { region = "us-west-2" } module "network" { source = "./modules/network" } module "compute" { source = "./modules/compute" } modules/network/main.tf: module "network" { source = "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws" name = "example-vpc" cidr = "10.0.0.0/16" private_subnets = ["10.0.1.0/24", "10.0.2.0/24", "10.0.3.0/24"] public_subnets = ["10.0.101.0/24", "10.0.102.0/24", "10.0.103.0/24"] tags = { Terraform = "true" Environment = "dev" } } modules/compute/main.tf: module "compute" { source = "terraform-aws-modules/instance/aws" instance_type = "t2.micro" ami = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0" count = 3 subnet_id = module.network.private_subnets[0] security_groups = [module.network.default_security_group_id] tags = { Terraform = "true" Environment = "dev" } } ``` In this example, the main Terraform file (main.tf) includes two Terraform modules, one for the network and one for the compute, which are defined in separate Terraform files (modules/network/main.tf and modules/compute/main.tf). This allows you to organize your Terraform code into smaller, reusable, and more manageable components.

With so many diagramming solutions available, why would you need another one? Brainboard is not just a comprehensive diagramming solution suitable for scalable teams, but also a deployment engine and an alternative to Terraform Cloud. It places a strong emphasis on visualizing existing infrastructure and managing cloud assets at scale.

Brainboard's diagram-to-code solution allows you to quickly and easily create Terraform code from pre-made diagrams. This helps to streamline your cloud infrastructure development process and make it easier to manage.

Brainboard makes it easy to get started with Terraform. With its intuitive user interface, you can create and manage your cloud infrastructure with ease. Get started now!

Yes, there is a free version of Brainboard. When you sign up, you have 21 days free trial that gives you access to all feature of Brainboard, after that, if you don't upgrade you'll be automatically put in the free tier.

With regard to managing Terraform state files, this functionality is available on Brainboard's enterprise subscription. With regard to deploying your infrastructure, Brainboard integrates with your Git provider, allowing you to create pull/merge requests directly from Brainboard. From Git you can resume your existing processes which may include provisioning the resources at the cloud provider through Terraform Cloud.

The update process is automatic. As soon as a new version is released, we automatically trigger the update process that will do extensive tests. Tests usually take up to 48h to complete, and if they are successful we release the new version automatically.

There are 2 aspects in terms of collaboration:Build: 1. Brainboard supports real time editing of the same architecture by multiple users. All you need to do is to invite your colleagues and give them the right access. 2.Deploy: when you build your CI/CD pipeline within Brainboard, you have the possibility to request approvals from any team/person, which allows you to orchestrate the execution by involving all stakeholders.

You have the possibility to import your existing infrastructure and auto-generate the diagram. We support importing any file that contains a valid Terraform code.There are 2 ways to do it: - Provide the URL of the Git repo (Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket...) - Upload one or multiple files

Terraform is a powerful IaC tool that deploys the code you write. Brainboard, on the other hand, is an end-to-end cloud management solution built on top of Terraform with a visual architecture designer, where the Terraform code is automatically generated. It also has a secure CI/CD engine, native Git integrations and more features to help you standardize and centralize your cloud.

No. You don't need to be a Terraform or IaC expert to use Brainboard. In fact, Brainboard simplifies the complexity of Terraform and help you configure cloud resources with a configuration files menu. It will then write clean Terraform code according to best practices. We also help the community by providing free Terraform trainings, or you can even book a 30min session with us to help on your use-cases. For advanced Terraform users, Brainboard will just change your life. You'll design faster, test earlier and automate at scale.

Brainboard is a one-stop solution for you and your team to Design, Deploy & Manage modern cloud infrastructure. You design your architecture, auto-generate your Terraform code, and deploy your infrastructure within Brainboard.

The Terraform code is automatically generated for you cloud architecture as you design.