Popular IaC Tools (Terraform, CloudFormation) Questions and Answers for Viva

Answer-1: Terraform is an open-source Infrastructure as Code tool by HashiCorp used to build, change, and version infrastructure safely and efficiently.

Answer-2: AWS CloudFormation is a service that helps you model and set up AWS resources using templates in JSON or YAML.

Answer-3: Terraform uses declarative configuration files to describe infrastructure and applies changes using its execution plan.

Answer-4: CloudFormation uses templates to create and manage AWS resources as stacks, ensuring dependencies and ordering.

Answer-5: Terraform uses HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL), which is human-readable and JSON-compatible.

Answer-6: CloudFormation supports JSON and YAML for writing templates.

Answer-7: Yes, Terraform supports multiple providers including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and more.

Answer-8: Yes, CloudFormation is specific to AWS resources.

Answer-9: A provider is a plugin that allows Terraform to interact with APIs of cloud platforms or services.

Answer-10: A stack is a collection of AWS resources managed as a single unit by CloudFormation.

Answer-11: Terraform keeps a state file that tracks infrastructure resources to map real-world resources to configuration.

Answer-12: CloudFormation tracks resources within a stack and their statuses internally without an external state file.

Answer-13: Modules are reusable configurations that group resources and can be called multiple times to avoid duplication.

Answer-14: Yes, via nested stacks, you can reuse templates inside other templates.

Answer-15: terraform plan shows the changes Terraform will apply before execution.

Answer-16: Change Sets allow you to preview changes before updating a stack.

Answer-17: With certain providers, Terraform can manage on-premises and hybrid infrastructures.

Answer-18: No, CloudFormation is focused solely on AWS cloud resources.

Answer-19: Workspaces allow multiple state files for the same configuration, useful for managing environments.

Answer-20: CloudFormation uses separate stacks or accounts for environment separation.

Answer-21: Both automatically manage dependencies by analyzing resource references.

Answer-22: Terraform is multi-cloud, supports more providers, has a simpler syntax, and strong community support.

Answer-23: Deep AWS integration, native AWS support, and no additional installation.

Answer-24: Yes, Terraform files are plain text and easily managed in version control systems.

Answer-25: CloudFormation templates are also text files and can be version controlled.

Answer-26: Terraform can roll back changes if an apply fails, but explicit rollback requires reapplying previous configurations.

Answer-27: CloudFormation automatically rolls back stack updates on failure.

Answer-28: Terraform integrates with secret managers like HashiCorp Vault and cloud-native services.

Answer-29: CloudFormation uses AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store to manage secrets.

Answer-30: State locking prevents simultaneous conflicting updates to infrastructure.

Answer-31: CloudFormation manages stack state internally, handling concurrency automatically.

Answer-32: Terraform requires manual commands or third-party tools; CloudFormation has built-in drift detection.

Answer-33: Terraform?s HCL is considered easier to learn and more readable than CloudFormation?s JSON/YAML templates.

Answer-34: Using tools like terraform validate, terratest, and kitchen-terraform.

Answer-35: CloudFormation templates can be validated using AWS CLI and tested with AWS CloudFormation Guard.

Answer-36: Yes, Terraform integrates well with CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and GitHub Actions.

Answer-37: Yes, CloudFormation integrates with AWS CodePipeline and other CI/CD tools.

Answer-38: Provisioners run scripts or commands on a resource after it is created or updated.

Answer-39: CloudFormation uses AWS::CloudFormation::Init and cfn-init scripts to configure instances.

Answer-40: Yes, tagging resources is straightforward in Terraform configuration.

Answer-41: Tags can be applied at resource or stack level in CloudFormation templates.

Answer-42: A public repository of reusable Terraform modules and providers.

Answer-43: CloudFormation uses the AWS Serverless Application Repository for serverless components.

Answer-44: Terraform applies incremental changes based on plan; CloudFormation updates stacks by changing resource properties.

Answer-45: Terraform Open Source is free; Terraform Enterprise offers paid features.

Answer-46: CloudFormation is free; you only pay for AWS resources created.

Answer-47: Yes, via providers like the Kubernetes provider or EKS module.

Answer-48: CloudFormation supports Amazon EKS clusters via AWS resources.

Answer-49: Terraform Cloud offers audit logs; open-source logs are user-managed.

Answer-50: CloudFormation integrates with AWS CloudTrail for resource and API call auditing.