[Terraform] Automating Local Development Infrastructure with Terraform: Deploying Traefik and Nginx Containers on Docker

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Introduction

Terraform is a declarative powerful Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool used for provisioning on multiple cloud providers as well as locally on your machine (For instance, it can be used to deploy Docker containers for local development purposes).

Using Terraform to provision Traefik and Nginx for local development is a great way to manage and automate the setup of these services. With Terraform, you can define the infrastructure components needed for Traefik and Nginx (used simply for demo purpose), such as virtual machines, networks, and any other dependencies.
Simpler use cases, like local development with Traefik and Nginx, Docker Compose can be a more straightforward alternative to Terraform due to its focus on defining and running multi-container Docker applications.

The Terraform Registry is the official repository for Terraform providers, modules, and other community-contributed resources.
When using Terraform, you typically define providers in your configuration files to interact with various cloud providers, services, or platforms. These providers are often maintained by the community or the respective service providers themselves and are available for use through the Terraform Registry.

What do i need ?

Folder Structure

terraform └── module └── docker/ └── nginx/ └── configs └── html ├── index.html ├── nginx.conf ├── nginx.tf ├── nginx_output.tf ├── variables.tf └── traefik/ └── configs ├── traefik.yml ├── traefik.tf ├── traefik_outputs.tf ├── variables.tf ├── main.tf ├── outputs.tf ├── providers.tf ├── variables.tf
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Core

main.tf

terraform { // Need to add explicitly the provider because it is not being picked up by the parent module  // It is not from hashicorp/docker as it is used in the parent module required_providers { docker = { version = "~> 3.0.2" source = "kreuzwerker/docker" } }
} provider "docker" { host = "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
} resource "docker_network" "traefik" { name = var.network_name driver = "bridge"
} module "docker-nginx" { source = "./module/docker/nginx" network_name = var.network_name nginx_name = var.nginx_name nginx_image_name = var.nginx_image_name
} module "docker-traefik" { source = "./module/docker/traefik" network_name = var.network_name traefik_name = var.traefik_name traefik_image_name = var.traefik_image_name
}
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outputs.tf

output "nginx_ip" { value = module.docker-nginx.nginx_ip
} output "nginx_name" { value = module.docker-nginx.nginx_name
} output "traefik_name" { value = module.docker-traefik.traefik_name
} output "traefik_ip" { value = module.docker-traefik.traefik_ip
}
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providers.tf

Pessimistic Constraint Operator (~>): This operator specifies constraints on the versions of a software package that can be used. In this case, it allows only the rightmost version component (typically the patch version) to increment. This means it allows installing newer patch releases within a specific minor release but prevents upgrading to a newer minor or major release.

terraform { required_version = "~> 1.7.0"
}
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variables.tf

variable "network_name" {}
variable "traefik_name" {}
variable "traefik_image_name" {}
variable "nginx_name" {}
variable "nginx_image_name" {}
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Modules

Terraform modules are reusable units of infrastructure configuration that encapsulate a set of resources and their configurations. They allow you to organize your Terraform code into smaller, more manageable components, promoting code reusability, modularity, and maintainability.

Nginx module

index.html (webpage) and nginx.conf (configuration) are used to configure the nginx.

nginx.tf

terraform { // Need to add explicitly the provider because it is not being picked up by the parent module  // It is not from hashicorp/docker as it is used in the parent module required_providers { docker = { version = "~> 3.0.2" source = "kreuzwerker/docker" } }
} provider "docker" { host = "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
} data "docker_registry_image" "nginx" { name = "nginx:latest"
} resource "docker_image" "nginx" { name = var.nginx_image_name pull_triggers = [data.docker_registry_image.nginx.sha256_digest] keep_locally = false
} resource "docker_container" "nginx" { name = var.nginx_name image = docker_image.nginx.image_id restart = "unless-stopped" destroy_grace_seconds = 30 must_run = true memory = 256 memory_swap = 512 networks_advanced { name = var.network_name aliases = [var.network_name] } volumes { host_path = "/Docker/module/docker/nginx/configs/html" container_path = "/usr/share/nginx/html" } volumes { host_path = "/Docker/module/docker/nginx/configs/nginx.conf" container_path = "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf" } env = [ "PUID=501", "PGID=20" ] ports { internal = 80 external = 90 } labels { # You can tell Traefik to consider (or not) the container by setting traefik.enable to true or false. # This option overrides the value of exposedByDefault. label = "traefik.enable" value = true } labels { label = "traefik.http.routers.${var.nginx_name}.rule" value = "PathPrefix(`/test`)" } labels { label = "traefik.http.routers.${var.nginx_name}.entrypoints" value = "web" } labels { # Overrides the default docker network to use for connections to the container. label = "traefik.docker.network" value = var.network_name }
}
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nginx_outputs.tf

output "nginx_ip" { value = docker_container.nginx.network_data[0].ip_address
} output "nginx_name" { value = docker_container.nginx.name
}
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variables.tf

variable "nginx_name" { type = string default = "nginx"
} variable "nginx_image_name" { type = string default = "nginx:latest"
} variable "network_name" { type = string default = "docknet"
}
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Traefik module

In the config folder, it is the config file for traefik because we have to add the docker providers.

traefik.tf

terraform { // Need to add explicitly the provider because it is not being picked up by the parent module  // It is not from hashicorp/docker as it is used in the parent module required_providers { docker = { version = "~> 3.0.2" source = "kreuzwerker/docker" } }
} provider "docker" { host = "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
} data "docker_registry_image" "traefik" { name = "traefik:latest"
} resource "docker_image" "traefik" { name = var.traefik_image_name pull_triggers = [data.docker_registry_image.traefik.sha256_digest] keep_locally = false
} resource "docker_container" "traefik" { name = var.traefik_name image = docker_image.traefik.image_id restart = "unless-stopped" destroy_grace_seconds = 30 must_run = true memory = 256 memory_swap = 512 networks_advanced { name = var.network_name aliases = [var.network_name] } command = [ "--entrypoints.web.address=:86", "--log.level=DEBUG", "--entrypoints.websecure.http.tls=false", "--providers.docker=true", "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false", "--api" ] volumes { #volume_name = "traefik_config" host_path = "/Docker/module/docker/traefik/configs" container_path = "/etc/traefik" } volumes { host_path = "/var/run/docker.sock" container_path = "/var/run/docker.sock" } ports { internal = 80 external = 80 } ports { internal = 8080 external = 8080 } ports { internal = 443 external = 443 } labels { label = "traefik.enable" value = true } labels { label = "traefik.docker.network" value = var.network_name }
}
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traefik_outputs.tf

output "traefik_name" { value = docker_container.traefik.name
} output "traefik_ip" { value = docker_container.traefik.network_data[0].ip_address
}
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variables.tf

variable "traefik_image_name" { type = string default = "traefik:latest"
} variable "traefik_name" { type = string default = "traefik"
} variable "network_name" { type = string default = "docknet"
}
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Terraform command

First of all, we need to launch the init command to initialize terraform by downloading the provider plugins and modules specified in your configuration files :

terraform init
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By running terraform plan before applying changes to your infrastructure with terraform apply, you can preview the changes that Terraform will make and ensure they align with your expectations, helping to prevent unintended or unexpected modifications to your infrastructure.

To apply this environment, you can launch the command (-auto-approve is used to “auto” validate the deployment) :

terraform apply -auto-approve
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Github code

Here is the link to the project : Github page

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