Providers & Resources

Configure providers and declare core infrastructure resources

Providers & Resources

What Is a Provider?

A provider is a plugin that Terraform uses to interact with a cloud platform (Azure, AWS, GCP). Each provider exposes resource types (VMs, databases, networks) that you can declare.

hcl

terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~> 3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

Block	What it does
`terraform {}`	Global Terraform settings
`required_providers`	Declares which providers and versions to use
`provider "azurerm" {}`	Configures the provider (auth, region defaults)
`features {}`	Required boilerplate for AzureRM provider

Common Provider Example

hcl

# Provider configuration
terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = ">= 3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

# Resources
resource "azurerm_resource_group" "main" {
  name     = "production-rg"
  location = "East US"
}

resource "azurerm_storage_account" "data" {
  name                     = "proddata123"
  resource_group_name      = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  location                 = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  account_tier             = "Standard"
  account_replication_type = "GRS"
}

How It Works

When you run terraform init:

Terraform reads the `required_providers` block

Downloads the provider plugin (azurerm) from the Terraform Registry

Validates the version constraint

When you run terraform plan:

Terraform connects to Azure via the provider

Compares your config against what exists

Shows what will be created, changed, or deleted

Common Mistakes

Wrong	Why	Right
Running `terraform apply` before `init`	Providers aren't downloaded yet	Always run `terraform init` first
Misspelling provider source	Provider not found in registry	`hashicorp/azurerm` not `azurerm/azure`
Hard-coding resource group name across resources	Breaks if you rename it	Always reference via `azurerm_resource_group.main.name`

Your Turn!

Create a Terraform config that:

Declares the AzureRM provider (version >= 3.0)

Creates a resource group

Creates a storage account inside that resource group (Standard_LRS)

💡Need a hint? (3 available)

#1Providers are declared in a required_providers block inside terraform {}

#2Always reference resource group names via attribute references

#3Storage account names must be globally unique and lowercase

🔑Show solution (try it yourself first!)

terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = ">= 3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "main" {
  name     = "my-storage-rg"
  location = "East US"
}

resource "azurerm_storage_account" "data" {
  name                     = "mystorage$(random_integer.suffix.result)"
  resource_group_name      = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  location                 = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  account_tier             = "Standard"
  account_replication_type = "LRS"
}

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