195 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
195 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
---
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layout: "enterprise"
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page_title: "Glossary - Terraform Enterprise"
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sidebar_current: "docs-enterprise-glossary"
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description: |-
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Terminology for Terraform Enterprise.
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---
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# Glossary
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Terraform Enterprise, and this documentation, covers a large set of terminology
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adopted from tools, industry standards and the community. This glossary seeks to
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define as many of those terms as possible to help increase understanding in
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interfacing with the platform and reading documentation.
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## Authentication Tokens
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Authentication tokens are tokens used to authenticate with Terraform Enterprise
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via APIs or through tools. Authentication tokens can be revoked, expired or
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created under any user.
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## ACL
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ACL is an acronym for access control list. This defines access to a set of
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resources. Access to an object in Terraform Enterprise limited to "read" for
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certain users is an example of an ACL.
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## Alert
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An alert represents a health check status change on a Consul node that is sent
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to Terraform Enterprise, and then recorded and distributed to various
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notification methods.
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## Application
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An application is a set of code that represents an application that should be
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deployed. Applications can be linked to builds to be made available in the
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Packer environment.
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## Apply
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An apply is the second step of the two steps required for Terraform to make
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changes to infrastructure. The apply is the process of communicating with
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external APIs to make the changes.
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## Artifact
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An artifact is an abstract representation of something you wish to store and use
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again that has undergone configuration, compilation or some other build process.
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An artifact is typically an image created by Packer that is then deployed by
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Terraform, or used locally with Vagrant.
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## Box
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Boxes are a Vagrant specific package format. Vagrant can install and uses images
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in box format.
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## Build
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Builds are resources that represent Packer configurations. A build is a generic
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name, sometimes called a "Build Configuration" when defined in the Terraform
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Enterprise UI.
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## Build Configuration
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A build configuration are settings associated with a resource that creates
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artifacts via builds. A build configuration is the name in `packer push -name
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acemeinc/web`.
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## Catalog
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The box catalog is a publicly available index of Vagrant Boxes that can be
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downloaded from Terraform Enterprise and used for development.
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## Consul
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[Consul](https://consul.io) is a HashiCorp tool for service discovery,
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configuration, and orchestration. Consul enables rapid deployment,
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configuration, monitoring and maintenance of service-oriented architectures.
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## Datacenter
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A datacenter represents a group of nodes in the same network or datacenter
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within Consul.
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## Environment
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Environments show the real-time status of your infrastructure, any pending
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changes, and its change history. Environments can be configured to use any or
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all of these three components.
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Environments are the namespace of your Terraform Enterprise managed
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infrastructure. As an example, if you to have a production environment for a
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company named Acme Inc., your environment may be named
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`my-username/production`.
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To read more about features provided under environments, read the
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[Terraform](/docs/enterprise) sections.
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## Environment Variables
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Environment variables injected into the environment of Packer builds or
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Terraform Runs (plans and applies).
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## Flapping
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Flapping is something entering and leaving a healthy state rapidly. It is
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typically associated with a health checks that briefly report unhealthy status
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before recovering.
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## Health Check
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Health checks trigger alerts by changing status on a Consul node. That status
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change is seen by Terraform Enterprise, when connected, and an associated alert
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is recorded and sent to any configured notification methods, like email.
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## Infrastructure
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An infrastructure is a stateful representation of a set of Consul datacenters.
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## Operator
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An operator is a person who is making changes to infrastructure or settings.
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## Packer
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[Packer](https://packer.io) is a tool for creating images for platforms such as
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Amazon AWS, OpenStack, VMware, VirtualBox, Docker, and more — all from a single
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source configuration.
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## Packer Template
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A Packer template is a JSON file that configure the various components of Packer
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in order to create one or more machine images.
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## Plan
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A plan is the second step of the two steps required for Terraform to make
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changes to infrastructure. The plan is the process of determining what changes
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will be made to.
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## Providers
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Providers are often referenced when discussing Packer or Terraform. Terraform
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providers manage resources in Terraform.
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[Read more](https://terraform.io/docs/providers/index.html).
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## Post-Processors
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The post-processor section within a Packer template configures any
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post-processing that will be done to images built by the builders. Examples of
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post-processing would be compressing files, uploading artifacts, etc..
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## Registry
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Often referred to as the "Artifact Registry", the registry stores artifacts, be
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it images or IDs for cloud provider images.
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## Run
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A run represents a two step Terraform plan and a subsequent apply.
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## Service
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A service in Consul represents an application or service, which could be active
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on any number of nodes.
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## Share
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Shares are let you instantly share public access to your running Vagrant
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environment (virtual machine).
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## State
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Terraform state is the state of your managed infrastructure from the last time
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Terraform was run. By default this state is stored in a local file named
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`terraform.tfstate`, but it can also be stored in Terraform Enterprise and is
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then called "Remote state".
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## Terraform
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[Terraform](https://terraform.io) is a tool for safely and efficiently changing
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infrastructure across providers.
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## Terraform Configuration
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Terraform configuration is the configuration files and any files that may be
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used in provisioners like `remote-exec`.
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## Terraform Variables
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Variables in Terraform, uploaded with `terraform push` or set in the UI. These
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differ from environment variables as they are a first class Terraform variable
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used in interpolation.
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