Terraform-Associate-004 Exam Dumps - HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (004) (HCTA0-004)

Rationale for Correct Answer:

C: Securely managed .tfvars files are acceptable if not committed to version control.

D: HCP Terraform provides secure storage for sensitive variables.

E: HashiCorp Vault is designed for secrets management and integrates with Terraform.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A: Plaintext storage is insecure.

B: Secrets should never be committed to version control.

Key Concept:Sensitive values must be stored using secure secret management solutions.

The terraform apply command changes both the cloud infrastructure and the state file after you approve the execution plan. The command creates, updates, or destroys the infrastructure resources to match theconfiguration. It also updates the state file to reflect the new state of the infrastructure. The .terraform directory, the execution plan, and the Terraform code are not changed by the terraform apply command. References = Command: apply and Purpose of Terraform State

You must initialize your working directory before running terraform validate, as it will ensure that all the required plugins and modules are installed and configured properly. If you skip this step, you may encounter errors or inconsistencies when validating your configuration files.

terraform init is the first command that should be run after writing a new Terraform configuration or cloning an existing one from version control. It initializes a working directory containing Terraform configuration files and downloads any required providers and modules. The other commands are used for different purposes, such as importing existing resources, switching between workspaces, generating execution plans, etc.

The Terraform Cloud private registry provides the ability to restrict modules to members of Terraform Cloud or Enterprise organizations. This allows you to share modules within your organization without exposing them to the public. The private registry also supports importing modules from your private VCS repositories. The public Terraform Module Registry, on the other hand, publishes modules from public Git repositories and makes them available to any user of Terraform. References = : Private Registry - Terraform Cloud : Terraform Registry - Provider Documentation

The key principle of infrastructure as code that is not listed among the options is golden images. Golden images are pre-configured, ready-to-use virtual machine images that contain a specific set of software and configuration. They are often used to create multiple identical instances of the same environment, such as for testing or production. However, golden images are not a principle of infrastructure as code, but rather a technique that can be used with or without infrastructure as code. The other options are all key principles of infrastructure as code, as explained below:

Self-describing infrastructure: This means that the infrastructure is defined in code that describes its desired state, rather than in scripts that describe the steps to create it. This makes the infrastructure easier to understand, maintain, and reproduce.

Idempotence: This means that applying the same infrastructure code multiple times will always result in the same state, regardless of the initial state. This makes the infrastructure consistent and predictable, and avoids errors or conflicts caused by repeated actions.

Versioned infrastructure: This means that the infrastructure code is stored in a version control system, such as Git, that tracks the changes and history of the code. This makes the infrastructure code reusable, auditable, and collaborative, and enables practices such as branching, merging, and rollback. References = [Introduction to Infrastructure as Code with Terraform], [Infrastructure as Code in a Private or Public Cloud]

This is the backend that the Terraform CLI uses by default, unless you specify a different backend in your configuration. The local backend stores the state file in a local file named terraform.tfstate, which can be used to track and manage the state of your infrastructure.

terraform initretrieves and caches providers and modules, butonly for explicitly declared modulesin the configuration.

If a module isadded or updated, terraform init needs to be re-run to download the new version.

Terraform does not automatically cache all remote modules unless they are explicitly referenced in the configuration.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

terraform init - HashiCorp Documentation