59 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
59 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "language"
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page_title: "Backend Overview - Configuration Language"
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description: "A backend defines where Terraform stores its state. Learn about how backends work."
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---
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# Backends
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Backends define where Terraform's [state](/docs/language/state/index.html) snapshots are stored.
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A given Terraform configuration can either specify a backend,
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[integrate with Terraform Cloud](/docs/language/settings/terraform-cloud.html),
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or do neither and default to storing state locally.
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The rest of this page introduces the concept of backends; the other pages in
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this section document how to configure and use backends.
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- [Backend Configuration](/docs/language/settings/backends/configuration.html) documents the form
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of a `backend` block, which selects and configures a backend for a
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Terraform configuration.
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- This section also includes a page for each of Terraform's built-in backends,
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documenting its behavior and available settings. See the navigation sidebar
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for a complete list.
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## What Backends Do
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Backends primarily determine where Terraform stores its [state](/docs/language/state/index.html).
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Terraform uses this persisted [state](/docs/language/state/index.html) data to keep track of the
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resources it manages. Since it needs the state in order to know which real-world infrastructure
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objects correspond to the resources in a configuration, everyone working with a given collection of
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infrastructure resources must be able to access the same state data.
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By default, Terraform implicitly uses a backend called
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[`local`](/docs/language/settings/backends/local.html) to store state as a local file on disk.
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Every other backend stores state in a remote service of some kind, which allows multiple people to
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access it. Accessing state in a remote service generally requires some kind of access credentials,
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since state data contains extremely sensitive information.
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Some backends act like plain "remote disks" for state files; others support
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_locking_ the state while operations are being performed, which helps prevent
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conflicts and inconsistencies.
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-> **Note:** In Terraform versions prior to 1.1.0, backends were also classified as being 'standard'
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or 'enhanced', where the latter term referred to the ability of the
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[remote backend](/docs/language/settings/backends/remote.html) to store state and perform
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Terraform operations. This classification has been removed, clarifying the primary purpose of
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backends. Refer to [Using Terraform Cloud](/docs/cli/cloud/index.html) for details about how to
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store state, execute remote operations, and use Terraform Cloud directly from Terraform.
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## Available Backends
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Terraform includes a built-in selection of backends, which are listed in the
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navigation sidebar. This selection has changed over time, but does not change
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very often.
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The built-in backends are the only backends. You cannot load additional backends
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as plugins.
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