terraform/website/source/docs/configuration/providers.html.md

---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Configuring Providers"
sidebar_current: "docs-config-providers"
description: |-
  Providers are responsible in Terraform for managing the lifecycle of a resource: create, read, update, delete.
---

# Provider Configuration

Providers are responsible in Terraform for managing the lifecycle
of a [resource](/docs/configuration/resources.html): create,
read, update, delete.

Every resource in Terraform is mapped to a provider based
on longest-prefix matching. For example the `aws_instance`
resource type would map to the `aws` provider (if that exists).

Most providers require some sort of configuration to provide
authentication information, endpoint URLs, etc. Provider configuration
blocks are a way to set this information globally for all
matching resources.

This page assumes you're familiar with the
[configuration syntax](/docs/configuration/syntax.html)
already.

## Example

A provider configuration looks like the following:

```
provider "aws" {
	access_key = "foo"
	secret_key = "bar"
	region = "us-east-1"
}
```

## Description

The `provider` block configures the provider of the given `NAME`.
Multiple provider blocks can be used to configure multiple providers.

Terraform matches providers to resources by matching two criteria.
Both criteria must be matched for a provider to manage a resource:

  * They must share a common prefix. Longest matching prefixes are
    tried first. For example, `aws_instance` would choose the
    `aws` provider.

  * The provider must report that it supports the given resource
    type. Providers internally tell Terraform the list of resources
    they support.

Within the block (the `{ }`) is configuration for the resource.
The configuration is dependent on the type, and is documented
[for each provider](/docs/providers/index.html).

## Multiple Provider Instances

You can define multiple instances of the same provider in order to support
multiple regions, multiple hosts, etc. The primary use case for this for
multiple cloud regions. Other use cases including targeting multiple
Docker hosts, multiple Consul hosts, etc.

To define multiple provider instances, repeat the provider configuration
multiple times, but set the `alias` field and name the provider. For
example:

```
# The default provider
provider "aws" {
	# ...
}

# West coast region
provider "aws" {
	alias = "west"

	region = "us-west-2"
}
```

After naming a provider, you reference it in resources with the `provider`
field:

```
resource "aws_instance" "foo" {
	provider = "aws.west"

	# ...
}
```

If a provider isn't specified, then the default provider configuration
is used (the provider configuration with no `alias` set). The value of the
`provider` field is `TYPE.ALIAS`, such as "aws.west" above.

## Syntax

The full syntax is:

```
provider NAME {
	CONFIG ...
	[alias = ALIAS]
}
```

where `CONFIG` is:

```
KEY = VALUE

KEY {
	CONFIG
}
```