Configure a Remote Backend in Terraform

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Configure a Remote Backend in Terraform

Hey there, Gurus! Welcome to the lab! This lab will demonstrate how to set up Terraform to use remote state. We will first set up our S3 bucket where we want to store our state file. We will then set up a locking table in DynamoDB, then we will create our remote backend configuration and deploy our resources. We will then end the lab by checking to make sure our state file was written to our S3 bucket successfully. Let's get started!

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 23, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Environment Setup
1. Log in to your lab provided AWS Management Console.
2. Create an S3 bucket called twinkiestatebucket<RANDOM_NUMBER>.
3. Create a DynamoDB table called terraformstatelock with a partition key named LockID.
4. In the terminal, once logged in to your instance, change to the Remote_State directory.
Challenge

Add Backend Configuration
1. In the Remote_State directory, edit the backend.tf file and add in your S3 bucket name, region, and DynamoDB table name.
2. In the Remote_State directory, edit the main.tf file and add your Subnet ID.
3. Initialize your working directory.
4. Deploy your resources.
Challenge

Confirm Remote Backend Status
1. Check your working directory for the state file.
2. Check your S3 bucket for your state file.

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