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Terragrunt v0.0.1, with DynamoDB locking #2
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# Terragrunt | ||
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Terragrunt is a thin wrapper for the [Terraform client](https://www.terraform.io/) that provides a distributed locking | ||
mechanism which allows multiple people to collaborate on the same Terraform state without overwriting each other's | ||
changes. Terragrunt currently uses Amazon's [DynamoDB](https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/) to acquire and release locks. | ||
DynamoDB is part of the [AWS free tier](https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/pricing/), so if you're already using AWS, this | ||
locking mechanism should be completely free. Other locking mechanisms may be added in the future. | ||
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## Motivation | ||
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When you use Terraform to provision infrastructure, it records the state of your infrastructure in [state | ||
files](https://www.terraform.io/docs/state/). In order to make changes to your infrastructure, everyone on your | ||
team needs access to these state files. You could check the files into version control (not a great idea, as the state | ||
files may contain secrets) or use a supported [remote state | ||
backend](https://www.terraform.io/docs/state/remote/index.html) to store the state files in a shared location such as | ||
[S3](https://www.terraform.io/docs/state/remote/s3.html), | ||
[Consul](https://www.terraform.io/docs/state/remote/consul.html), | ||
or [etcd](https://www.terraform.io/docs/state/remote/etcd.html). The problem is that none of these options provide | ||
*locking*, so if two team members run `terraform apply` on the same state files at the same time, they may overwrite | ||
each other's changes. The official solution to this problem is to use [Hashicorp's | ||
Atlas](https://www.hashicorp.com/atlas.html), but that requires using a SaaS platform for all Terraform operations and | ||
can cost a lot of money. | ||
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The goal of Terragrunt is to provide a simple, free locking mechanism that allows multiple people to safely collaborate | ||
on Terraform state. | ||
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There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Well said. |
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## Install | ||
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1. Install [Terraform](https://www.terraform.io/). | ||
1. Install Terragrunt by going to the [Releases Page](https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases), downloading | ||
the binary for your OS, renaming it to `terragrunt`, and adding it to your PATH. | ||
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## Quick start | ||
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Go into the folder with your Terraform templates and create a `.terragrunt` file. This file uses the same | ||
[HCL](https://github.com/hashicorp/hcl) syntax as Terraform and is used to configure Terragrunt and tell it how to do | ||
locking. To use DynamoDB for locking (see [Locking using DynamoDB](#locking-using-dynamodb)), `.terragrunt` should | ||
have the following contents: | ||
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```hcl | ||
lockType = "dynamodb" | ||
stateFileId = "my-app" | ||
``` | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Don't I need to specify a DynamoDB table name, or is that what There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Can you clarify why the following isn't needed here? dynamoLock = {
awsRegion = "us-east-1"
tableName = "terragrunt_locks"
maxLockRetries = 360
} There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. This was a left-over from the initial work that included git locking. I've refactored this in #3. All DynamoDB config is now under the |
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Now everyone on your team can use Terragrunt to run all the standard Terraform commands: | ||
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```bash | ||
terragrunt get | ||
terragrunt plan | ||
terragrunt apply | ||
terragrunt output | ||
terragrunt destroy | ||
``` | ||
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Terragrunt forwards most commands directly to Terraform. However, for the `apply` and `destroy` commands, it will first | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. May be worth mention if you can blindly pass in args as well, and whether terragrunt will automatically support all new terraform commands added, or if we have to issue a new release to handle that? There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Updated docs to say we forward args/options too and that we are just shelling out to the Terraform you have installed, so it'll use whatever version you have. |
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acquire a locking using [DynamoDB](#locking-using-dynamodb): | ||
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``` | ||
terragrunt apply | ||
[terragrunt] 2016/05/30 16:55:29 Attempting to acquire lock for state file my-app in DynamoDB | ||
[terragrunt] 2016/05/30 16:55:30 Attempting to create lock item for state file my-app in DynamoDB table terragrunt_locks | ||
[terragrunt] 2016/05/30 16:55:30 Lock acquired! | ||
[terragrunt] 2016/05/30 16:55:30 Running command: terraform apply | ||
terraform apply | ||
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aws_instance.example: Creating... | ||
ami: "" => "ami-0d729a60" | ||
instance_type: "" => "t2.micro" | ||
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[...] | ||
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Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed. | ||
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[terragrunt] 2016/05/27 00:39:19 Attempting to release lock for state file my-app in DynamoDB | ||
[terragrunt] 2016/05/27 00:39:19 Lock released! | ||
``` | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Very cool. |
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## Locking using DynamoDB | ||
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Terragrunt can use Amazon's [DynamoDB](https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/) to acquire and release locks. DynamoDB supports | ||
[strongly consistent reads](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/HowItWorks.DataConsistency.html) | ||
as well as [conditional writes](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/Expressions.SpecifyingConditions.html), | ||
which are all the primitives we need for a very basic distributed lock system. It's also part of [AWS's free | ||
tier](https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/pricing/), and given the tiny amount of data we are working with and the | ||
relatively small number of times per day you're likely to run Terraform, it _should_ be a free option for teams already | ||
using AWS. We take no responsibility for any charges you may incur. | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
Ha, I think this goes without saying but comes off a little brusque. Taking a second look, do you still think we need to include this statement? There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Packer and Terraform docs say basically the same thing. |
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#### DynamoDB locking prerequisites | ||
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To use DynamoDB for locking, you must: | ||
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1. Already have an AWS account. | ||
1. Set your AWS credentials in the environment using one of the following options: | ||
1. Set your credentials as the environment variables `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`. | ||
1. Run `aws configure` and fill in the details it asks for. | ||
1. Run Terragrunt on an EC2 instance with an IAM Role. | ||
1. Your AWS user must have an [IAM | ||
policy](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/access-control-identity-based.html) | ||
granting all DynamoDB actions (`dynamodb:*`) on the table `terragrunt_locks` (see the | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Ah, so terragrunt always uses the same table name. Does that create any conflicts if multiple different terraform templates are using it? I guess the implication is that you only get one lock across all terraform templates in your entire infrastructure? Either way, we should explicitly discuss what it looks like to use terragrunt in parallel with multiple different Terraform templates. There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Ok, just saw There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Added a comment clarifying this in #4. |
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[DynamoDB locking configuration](#dynamodb-locking-configuration) for how to configure this table name). Here is an | ||
example IAM policy that grants the necessary permissions on the `terragrunt_locks` table in region `us-west-2` for | ||
an account with account id `1234567890`: | ||
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```json | ||
{ | ||
"Version": "2012-10-17", | ||
"Statement": [{ | ||
"Sid": "", | ||
"Effect": "Allow", | ||
"Action": "dynamodb:*", | ||
"Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:us-west-2:1234567890:table/terragrunt_locks" | ||
}] | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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#### DynamoDB locking configuration | ||
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For DynamoDB locking, Terragrunt supports the following settings in `.terragrunt`: | ||
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```hcl | ||
lockType = "dynamodb" | ||
stateFileId = "my-app" | ||
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dynamoLock = { | ||
awsRegion = "us-east-1" | ||
tableName = "terragrunt_locks" | ||
maxLockRetries = 360 | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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* `lockType`: (Required) Must be set to `dynamodb`. | ||
* `stateFileId`: (Required) A unique id for the state file for these Terraform templates. Many teams have more than | ||
one set of templates, and therefore more than one state file, so this setting is used to disambiguate locks for one | ||
state file from another. | ||
* `awsRegion`: (Optional) The AWS region to use. Default: `us-east-1`. | ||
* `tableName`: (Optional) The name of the table in DynamoDB to use to store lock information. Default: | ||
`terragrunt_locks`. | ||
* `maxLockRetries`: (Optional) The maximum number of times to retry acquiring a lock. Terragrunt waits 10 seconds | ||
between retries. Default: 360 retries (one hour). | ||
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#### How DynamoDB locking works | ||
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When you run `terragrunt apply` or `terragrunt destroy`, Terragrunt does the following: | ||
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1. Create the `terragrunt_locks` table if it doesn't already exist. | ||
1. Try to write an item to the `terragrunt_locks` with `stateFileId` equal to the id specified in your | ||
`.terragrunt` file. This item will include useful metadata about the lock, such as who created it (e.g. your | ||
username) and when. | ||
1. Note that the write is a conditional write that will fail if an item with the same `stateFileId` already exists. | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. I didn't see this in the docs, but just wanted to do a sanity check: Is the conditional write's reading of There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Yes, as best as I can tell, it should be. http://stackoverflow.com/a/23371813/483528 |
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1. If the write succeeds, it means we have a lock! | ||
1. If the write does not succeed, it means someone else has a lock. Keep retrying every 10 seconds until we get a | ||
lock. | ||
1. Run `terraform apply` or `terraform destroy`. | ||
1. When Terraform is done, delete the item from the `terragrunt_locks` table to release the lock. | ||
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## Cleaning up old locks | ||
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If Terragrunt is shut down before it releases a lock (e.g. via `CTRL+C` or a crash), the lock might not be deleted, and | ||
will prevent future changes to your state files. To clean up old locks, you can use the `release-lock` command: | ||
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``` | ||
terragrunt release-lock | ||
Are you sure you want to forcibly remove the lock for stateFileId "my-app"? (y/n): | ||
``` | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Nice. It might be nice to have a There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Added as a TODO |
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## Developing terragrunt | ||
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#### Running tests | ||
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**Note**: The tests in the `dynamodb` folder for Terragrunt run against a real AWS account and will add and remove | ||
real data from DynamoDB. DO NOT hit `CTRL+C` while the tests are running, as this will prevent them from cleaning up | ||
temporary tables and data in DynamoDB. We are not responsible for any charges you may incur. | ||
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Before running the tests, you must configure your AWS credentials as explained in the [DynamoDB locking | ||
prerequisites](#dynamodb-locking-prerequisites) section. | ||
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To run all the tests: | ||
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```bash | ||
go test -v -parallel 128 $(glide novendor) | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
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``` | ||
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To run a single test called `TestFoo`: | ||
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```bash | ||
go test -v -parallel 128 -run TestFoo | ||
``` | ||
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#### Releasing new versions | ||
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To release a new version, just go to the [Releases Page](https://github.com/gruntwork-io/terragrunt/releases) and | ||
create a new release. The CircleCI job for this repo has been configured to: | ||
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1. Automatically detect new tags. | ||
1. Build binaries for every OS using that tag as a version number. | ||
1. Upload the binaries to the release in GitHub. | ||
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See `circle.yml` and `_ci/build-and-push-release-asset.sh` for details. | ||
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## TODO | ||
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* Implement best-practices in Terragrunt, such as checking if all changes are committed, calling `terraform get`, | ||
calling `terraform configure`, etc. | ||
* Consider implementing alternative locking mechanisms, such as using Git instead of DynamoDB. | ||
* Consider embedding the Terraform Go code within Terragrunt instead of calling out to it. | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
I'm not a fan of this personally. It means that we now have to make sure we're tracking the main terraform repo to ensure that how we invoke each command is identical to how terraform invokes each command. At least if we shell out, we guarantee we're using their "official" interface. There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. That's my thinking as well, but there is one compelling reason to consider embedding in the future: we get full control over the tfstate files. I've never been a fan of Terraform's cavalier attitude with a) storing secrets in tfstate files and then b) copying them, unencrypted, to any system where you run Terraform. One solution for a future version would be for Terragrunt manage tfstate completely. It could store it in an encrypted remote store (e.g. S3, Vault) or encrypt it itself using KMS and store it wherever (e.g. DynamoDB, along with the locks). When you run terragrunt, it would load the tfstate files into memory (not disk) and feed it directly to the embedded Terraform Go code. |
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s/Other locking mechanisms/Other locking mechanism options/
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Fixed in the #4 readme to avoid merge conflicts.