->> Day-27 Automating AWS Infrastructure Using Terraform & Github Actions

Source: Dev.to

In modern cloud environments, manually provisioning infrastructure is inefficient, error‑prone, and not scalable.
To solve this, I built a fully automated AWS infrastructure using Terraform integrated with GitHub Actions for CI/CD.

The project provisions a production‑style architecture including:

• Custom VPC
• Application Load Balancer
• Auto Scaling Group
• EC2 instances
• Remote backend using S3
• Multi‑environment configuration (dev, test, prod)

All infrastructure is defined as code and deployed automatically via GitHub—no manual console clicks.

Architecture

Deployment Flow

1. Developer pushes Terraform code to GitHub.
2. GitHub Actions workflow triggers.

Terraform executes:

terraform init
terraform validate
terraform plan
# Manual approval required
terraform apply

AWS infrastructure is provisioned automatically.

Tech Stack

• Terraform – Infrastructure as Code
• GitHub Actions – CI/CD automation
• AWS – VPC, EC2, ASG, ALB, S3
• Remote backend with S3 for state management

Project Structure

.
├── terraform/
│   ├── main.tf
│   ├── vpc.tf
│   ├── security_groups.tf
│   ├── alb.tf
│   ├── asg.tf
│   ├── s3.tf
│   ├── backend.tf
│   ├── dev.tfvars
│   ├── test.tfvars
│   └── prod.tfvars
│
├── .github/workflows/
│   ├── terraform.yaml
│   └── terraform-destroy.yaml
│
├── scripts/
│   └── user_data.sh
│
└── README.md

Multi‑Environment Deployment

The project supports three isolated environments:

• dev
• test
• prod

Each environment has its own .tfvars file, allowing controlled configuration changes without modifying core infrastructure code.

Remote State Management

Terraform state is stored in an S3 remote backend, providing:

• Centralized state storage
• Team collaboration support
• State consistency

This avoids local state conflicts and improves production readiness.

GitHub Actions Workflow

1. Deployment Workflow (terraform.yaml)

Triggers on push and performs:

• Checkout repository
• Configure AWS credentials via GitHub Secrets
• Set up Terraform
• Initialize backend
• Validate configuration
• Plan and apply infrastructure

2. Destroy Workflow (terraform-destroy.yaml)

Allows controlled teardown of infrastructure:

terraform destroy

This helps prevent unnecessary AWS costs.

Implemented Features

• Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
• CI/CD pipeline integration with GitHub Actions
• Auto Scaling architecture
• Application Load Balancer routing
• EC2 bootstrapping via user_data script
• Multi‑environment deployment
• Remote backend configuration

Conclusion

The project demonstrates how Terraform and GitHub Actions can be combined to build a fully automated, scalable AWS infrastructure. By eliminating manual provisioning and adopting Infrastructure as Code, we achieve:

• Consistency
• Scalability
• Faster deployments
• Reduced human error

Resources

• GitHub Repository
• Auto Scaling Docs
• AWS VPC Best Practices
• Terraform AWS Provider Docs