[Infrastructure] Set up Remote Terraform State Management in S3

[jonathan-d-nguyen]

[Infrastructure] Set up Remote Terraform State Management in S3

Problem Statement

Currently, Terraform state is managed locally, which creates several challenges:

• Risk of state file corruption or loss
• No versioning of state changes
• Difficult collaboration among team members
• No locking mechanism for concurrent operations
• Limited audit trail for infrastructure changes

Proposed Implementation

Set up remote state management using AWS S3 with the following components:

S3 Configuration

• Create dedicated S3 bucket for Terraform state
• Enable versioning on the bucket
• Configure appropriate bucket encryption
• Set up bucket policies for access control
• Enable access logging

DynamoDB Configuration

• Create DynamoDB table for state locking
• Configure table capacity
• Set up appropriate IAM permissions

Terraform Configuration

• Add backend configuration to terraform files:

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "company-terraform-state"
    key            = "environment/component/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-west-2"
    encrypt        = true
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-state-lock"
  }
}

Documentation

• Update README with backend configuration details
• Document state migration process
• Add troubleshooting guidelines
• Include backup/restore procedures

Migration Plan

1. Create necessary AWS resources (S3, DynamoDB)
2. Test state migration in development environment
3. Schedule maintenance window for production migration
4. Perform state migration
5. Update CI/CD pipelines

Security Considerations

• IAM roles and policies need review
• Encryption requirements for state data
• Access logging and monitoring
• Network access controls

Success Criteria

• Remote state successfully configured and tested
• State locking functional for concurrent operations
• All team members can access and modify state
• CI/CD pipelines updated and working
• Documentation complete and reviewed

Additional Context

• This is a prerequisite for scaling our infrastructure team
• Aligns with our goal of improving infrastructure automation
• Should be completed before next quarter's planned infrastructure expansion

Resources

• Terraform S3 Backend Documentation
• AWS S3 Best Practices