Terraform 101 (Exam 002) - Legacy
LEGACY COURSE: This course covers Terraform Associate Exam 002 and is kept for students who purchased it. For current exam content, see: Terraform Associate: AWS (Exam 004), Terraform Associate: GCP (Exam 004), or Terraform Associate: Azure (Exam 004).
Why This Course is Different
Get everything you need to master platform engineering and advance your career
Certificate of Completion
Earn a certificate while gaining real-world skills that go beyond traditional certification prep
Hands-on Labs
8 practical labs with real-world scenarios in pre-configured cloud environments
Expert-Led
Learn from Sam Gabrail, Former HashiCorp Sr. Solutions Engineer with 18+ years experience
Community Support
Join our community where members help each other and collaborate on learning
What You'll Master
Understand Infrastructure as Code concepts and benefits
Master Terraform workflow and core commands
Work with resources, data sources, and providers
Implement variables, expressions, and functions effectively
Create reusable modules for efficient infrastructure management
Use Terraform Cloud for team collaboration
Implement secrets management patterns with Vault
Prepare for the HashiCorp Terraform Associate certification exam
What You'll Build
Real portfolio artifacts you can put on your GitHub and show hiring managers.
Terraform-managed AWS infrastructure with modules and remote state
Provision AWS resources including VPCs, EC2 instances, and S3 buckets using Terraform modules with remote state in Terraform Cloud. Demonstrates the core Infrastructure as Code workflow that hiring managers look for in DevOps and cloud engineering candidates.
Vault-integrated Terraform secrets management
Integrate HashiCorp Vault with Terraform to retrieve secrets dynamically at plan time, eliminating static credentials from Terraform configurations. A foundational security pattern for teams running Terraform in production.
Course Curriculum
SECTION 1 – COURSE INTRODUCTION AND SETUP
Learn about course introduction and setup
- •Important: This is a Legacy Course
- •Terraform 101 Course Intro and Setup
- •Code Repository
- •Community
- •[Optional] Installing Git for Windows Users
- •[Optional] Windows Terminal Installation
- •[Optional] Installing Git for Windows Users
- •[Optional] Visual Studio Code IDE with WSL
- •[Optional] Docker on WSL2
- •Terraform vSphere with Terraform Cloud Agents Demo (Optional)
- •AWS Account Setup
- •HashiCorp Terraform VS Code Extension
- •What We'll Build
SECTION 2 – INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE (IAC) CONCEPTS
Learn about infrastructure as code (iac) concepts
- •What is IaC?
- •Advantages of IaC Patterns
- •Terraform's Purpose vs Other IaC Providers
- •Declarative vs Procedural Programming
- •Section 2 QuizQuiz
SECTION 3 – TERRAFORM IN ACTION
Learn about terraform in action
- •Basic Commands
- •Terraform State, Show, and, Console Commands
- •Terraform Taint
- •Terraform Import
- •Workspaces
- •Managing Drifts with Refresh
- •Terraform Logs
- •Terraform in ActionLab
- •Section 3 QuizQuiz
- •I need your help
SECTION 4 – TERRAFORM ARCHITECTURE
Learn about terraform architecture
- •Core + Providers
- •Version Constraints
- •Lock and Upgrade Providers
- •Provisioners
- •A Better Option: user_data
- •Terraform State Deeper Dive
- •Terraform ArchitectureLab
- •Section 4 QuizQuiz
SECTION 5 – RESOURCES AND DATA BLOCKS
Learn about resources and data blocks
- •Overview and Referencing
- •Resource Graph
- •Resources and Data BlocksLab
- •Section 5 QuizQuiz
SECTION 6 – VARIABLES
Learn about variables
- •Variables Overview
- •Variables and Outputs to Separate Files
- •Variable Assignment in Files
- •Sensitive Variables
- •Variable Validation
- •Precedence
- •Local Values
- •Variables and ConfigurationLab
- •Section 6 QuizQuiz
SECTION 7 – EXPRESSIONS AND FUNCTIONS
Learn about expressions and functions
- •Rebuilding with Networking
- •Data Types and String Interpolation
- •Operators Conditionals and Templatefiles
- •Count and the Splat Expression
- •For Loops
- •For_Each
- •Dynamic Blocks
- •Lifecycle Meta-Argument
- •AWS Launch Templates
- •Output Tags with Values and Zipmap Functions
- •Deploy a Load Balancer
- •Expressions and FunctionsLab
- •Section 7 QuizQuiz
SECTION 8 – MODULES
Learn about modules
- •Modules Overview
- •TLS Module and Outputs
- •LB Module and Variables
- •Networking Module
- •EC2 Module
- •Data Flow
- •Terraform ModulesLab
- •Section 8 QuizQuiz
SECTION 9 – TERRAFORM CLOUD
Learn about terraform cloud
- •Terraform Cloud (TFC) Overview
- •TFC Setup
- •Migrate to TFC
- •Workspaces
- •Remote State Storage
- •Move our Modules to the Private Registry
- •Workflows
- •Execution Modes
- •Terraform vSphere with Terraform Cloud Agents Demo (Optional)
- •Sentinel Example Demo (Optional)
- •Sentinel Example Demo (Optional)
- •Comparing
- •Terraform CloudLab
- •Section 9 QuizQuiz
SECTION 10 – SECRETS MANAGEMENT PATTERNS
Learn about secrets management patterns
- •Secrets Management Patterns Overview
- •Set up Vault.
- •Configure Vault with the Terraform Vault Provider
- •Inject Secrets into Terraform using Vault
- •Secrets Management with VaultLab
- •Section 10 QuizQuiz
SECTION 11 – EXAM PREPARATION
Learn about exam preparation
- •Exam Objectives
- •What to Expect on the Exam
SECTION 12 – COURSE WRAP-UP
Learn about course wrap-up
- •Closing Remarks
- •I'd like to hear from you
- •I need your help
Course Features
Hands-on Labs
Lots of hands-on labs to learn by doing
Join our Community
Community support to ask questions and collaborate
Test Your Knowledge
Quizzes to help you grasp the material well
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the right course if I want to pass the Terraform Associate exam?
This is the legacy course aligned with Terraform Associate Exam 002. If you are preparing for the current exam, use one of the Terraform Associate 004 courses instead (AWS, Azure, or GCP variants). Terraform 101 is kept for students who purchased it and remains fully valid for learning Terraform fundamentals — core HCL and workflow concepts have not changed significantly.
How long does this course realistically take?
Most students complete the 78-lesson course in 6-10 weeks studying 8-10 hours per week. The 8 hands-on AWS labs add significant practice time on top of the lesson content. If you already have some cloud or scripting background, you can move faster through the foundational sections.
What if I have no Terraform or cloud experience?
The course starts from first principles — what Infrastructure as Code means, why manual cloud provisioning is problematic, and how to run your first Terraform commands. Basic command line familiarity and general cloud awareness are the only real prerequisites.
Are the labs current with the latest Terraform version?
The labs cover Terraform fundamentals that are stable across the 1.x series. Lab environments are provisioned fresh via the TeKanAid academy system with AWS accounts included. No local Terraform installation is required.
Do I need an AWS account to follow along?
No. All AWS labs run in the TeKanAid academy lab system which provisions real AWS accounts automatically. You do not need your own AWS account or credit card for any of the lab exercises.
What happens when I cancel my subscription?
You lose access to the labs and future updates. Your progress and quiz scores are saved so you can resume if you resubscribe. A Lifetime plan is available at academy.tekanaid.com for permanent access.
What is the difference between Pro and Premium for this course?
Pro gives you all lessons and quizzes. Premium adds the 8 hands-on AWS labs in the TeKanAid academy lab system where you provision real infrastructure using Terraform. The labs are where Terraform concepts become practical skills you can demonstrate to employers.
See what others are saying about our Courses
“I like the Crossplane 101 course a lot. I think it is one of the best online courses I have taken (and I've taken a lot in the last 2 years, transitioning into DevOps). The labs are phenomenal – every task has a long tutorial with lots of explanations, gotchas, and recaps, and you always provide the reasoning for implementing a certain solution.”
“I just completed the Crossplane 101 course! Managing infrastructure as Kubernetes resources is a total game-changer. A huge thanks to TeKanAid and Sam Gabrail for the incredible training and insights.”
“Although I've worked with Crossplane in real production environments, I always felt there were gaps in my understanding. Completing this course filled those gaps perfectly. I had to unlearn and relearn quite a few things, especially around Crossplane v2.0 concepts. Well structured and thoughtfully put together. Highly recommended for building a strong, foundational understanding of Crossplane.”
“Dear Sam, I hope this email finds you well. If you remember before the end of last year I register for one your courses Terraform 101 – Certified Terraform Associate, I must admit that I learned a lot even though I was not patient enough for all videos to be available. All in all I enjoy the way you structured the course and how you went through it. The main reason of this email, to send you my gratitude for the content you created and to let you know that I passed my exam/test last week.”
“This course was a perfect introduction to Terraform and Infrastructure as Code. Loved the gitpod, saving me a lot of time for developer environment setup. We have a project at work where we want to go from a click-ops version of server-deploy to a more automated flow using ci/cd and terraform for deploying virtual servers.”
“I want to thank you for such wonderful courses. They are more comprehensive than other courses I have taken in the past. You take the time to explain every detail of the code and what it does exactly, further enforcing your student's understanding and confidence in what they are learning. Your methods are very effective and set you apart from other instructors.”
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Purchase Terraform 101 (Exam 002) - Legacy for a one-time fee of $79. Full access to course content, quizzes, certificates, and community features, lab access is not included.
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Hi there, I'm Sam
I'm a husband and father of two wonderful boys. I'm also very passionate 🔥 about all things technology. From when I was 10, I had a dream to become a computer 💻 engineer one day. Here I am today living the dream!
Thanks for visiting TeKanAid Academy. My goal is to teach you all things DevOps. Below are some of the things I've done over the years. I'm confident that I can help you achieve your dreams too.
- 18+ years of experience in various Information Technology fields from Telecommunications, Computer Networks, Digital Transformation, DevOps, Cybersecurity, and IoT
- President of TeKanAid Solutions Inc. building online content in the DevOps space
- Previous – Sr. Solutions Engineer at HashiCorp
View my Certifications
Terraform: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
Verify my certificate
HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
Vault: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
Verify my certificate
HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (002)
Verify my certificate
Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Terraform.
Issued by HashiCorp
HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate (002)
Verify my certificate
Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Vault.
Issued by HashiCorp
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