Enable javascript in your browser for better experience. Need to know to enable it? Go here.
Last updated : Apr 24, 2019
NOT ON THE CURRENT EDITION
This blip is not on the current edition of the Radar. If it was on one of the last few editions, it is likely that it is still relevant. If the blip is older, it might no longer be relevant and our assessment might be different today. Unfortunately, we simply don't have the bandwidth to continuously review blips from previous editions of the Radar. Understand more
Apr 2019
Adopt ? We feel strongly that the industry should be adopting these items. We use them when appropriate on our projects.

Terraform, is rapidly becoming a de facto choice for creating and managing cloud infrastructures by writing declarative definitions. The configuration of the servers instantiated by Terraform is usually left to Puppet, Chef or Ansible. We like Terraform because the syntax of its files is quite readable and because it supports a number of cloud providers while making no attempt to provide an artificial abstraction across those providers. The active community will add support for the latest features from most cloud providers. Following our first, more cautious, mention of Terraform almost two years ago, it has seen continued development and has evolved into a stable product with a good ecosystem that has proven its value in our projects. The issue with state file management can now be sidestepped by using what Terraform calls a "remote state backend." We've successfully used AWS S3 for that purpose.

Mar 2017
Trial ? Worth pursuing. It is important to understand how to build up this capability. Enterprises should try this technology on a project that can handle the risk.

With Terraform, you can manage cloud infrastructure by writing declarative definitions. The configuration of the servers instantiated by Terraform is usually left to tools like Puppet, Chef or Ansible. We like Terraform because the syntax of its files is quite readable and because it supports a number of cloud providers while making no attempt to provide an artificial abstraction across those providers. Following our first, more cautious, mention of Terraform almost two years ago, it has seen continued development and has evolved into a stable product that has proven its value in our projects. The issue with state file management can now be sidestepped by using what Terraform calls a "remote state backend." We've successfully used Consul for that purpose.

Nov 2016
Trial ? Worth pursuing. It is important to understand how to build up this capability. Enterprises should try this technology on a project that can handle the risk.

With Terraform, you can manage cloud infrastructure by writing declarative definitions. The configuration of the servers instantiated by Terraform is usually left to tools like Puppet, Chef or Ansible. We like Terraform because the syntax of its files is quite readable and because it supports a number of cloud providers while making no attempt to provide an artificial abstraction across those providers. Following our first, more cautious, mention of Terraform almost two years ago, it has seen continued development and has evolved into a stable product that has proven its value in our projects. The issue with state file management can now be sidestepped by using what Terraform calls a "remote state backend." We’ve successfully used Consul for that purpose.

Jan 2015
Assess ? Worth exploring with the goal of understanding how it will affect your enterprise.

With Terraform, cloud infrastructure can be managed by writing declarative definitions. The configuration of the servers instantiated by Terraform is usually left to tools like Puppet, Chef, or Ansible. We like Terraform because the syntax of its files is quite readable and because it supports multiple cloud providers while making no attempt to provide an artificial abstraction across these providers. At this stage, Terraform is new and not everything is implemented yet. We have also found its state management to be fragile, often needing awkward manual work to untangle.

Published : Jan 28, 2015

Download the PDF

 

 

English | Español | Português | 中文

Sign up for the Technology Radar newsletter

 

Subscribe now

Visit our archive to read previous volumes