Terraform and Ansible Dedicated Server Automation

Manually setting up and configuring dedicated servers can be slow and full of errors. You can combine and use tools like Terraform and Ansible to make this process faster and much easier. This tutorial will show you how to use Terraform and Ansible Dedicated Server Automation to configure provisioned infrastructure. You can use Ansible and Terraform for web hosting, databases, game servers, and CI/CD pipelines. Let's start automation with Terraform and Ansible.

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool. You can describe your infrastructure in a .tf file, and Terraform builds it automatically. It automates infrastructure creation and works with many providers like PerLod, AWS, Hetzner, bare-metal, etc.

Ansible is a configuration management tool that installs apps, applies updates, and configures apps after Terraform creates the server. It uses easy YAML files called Playbooks and works perfectly with Terraform.

Let's start by installing Terraform and Ansible.

Depending on your OS, you can use the following commands to install Terraform.

Install Terraform in Debian/Ubuntu Linux:

Install Terraform in RHEL Distributions:

Install Terraform in macOS:

Install Terraform in Windows:

First, download Terraform for Windows. Then, select Windows 64-bit and download the .zip file. Extract the file and copy terraform.exe to C:\Terraform or any folder you want. Add that folder to your System PATH: Press Windows + R, type sysdm.cpl → Advanced → Environment Variables and Edit Path, click New, and add C:\Terraform.

Open PowerShell or Command Prompt to verify the installation:

Once you are done with installing Terraform, proceed to the next step to install Ansible.

You can easily install Ansible on Linux and macOS by using the package manager. In Windows, you can use WSL.

Install Ansible in Debian/Ubuntu Linux:

Install Ansible in RHEL:

Install Ansible in macOS:

Install Ansible in Windows via WSL:

Enable WSL from PowerShell Admin:

This installs Ubuntu by default. Inside Ubuntu, run the command below:

Now you can start automation with Terraform and Ansible.

At this point, we want to show you an example of using Ansible and Terraform together. We will show you an example with PerLod Hosting Servers; you can use other providers like AWS, DigitalOcean, etc. Terraform will build the dedicated server in your provider, and Ansible will configure that server.

First, you must create a Terraform configuration file named main.tf in your working folder and add the following config lines to it:

File explanation:

• provider "pcloud": Provider in use, like PerLod.
• token: API token from provider.
• resource "pcloud_server" "dedicated": Describes a server resource that Terraform should create.
• name: Server's hostname.
• server_type: Size or type of server (small, medium, large, or dedicated).
• image: Operating system.
• location: Data center location (nl1).
• ssh_keys: Allows you to connect via SSH without typing a password (must already be uploaded to PerLod).

Once you are done with creating the main config file, you must run the following command in the same working folder to initialize Terraform:

This will download the provider plugin and prepare Terraform to work.

Then, you can run the preview plan to see what Terraform will do:

Finally, apply the changes to create the server, and Terraform will ask you for confirmation. Type yes to complete the process:

You have created the server with Terraform; now you can use Ansible to configure it.

At this point, you must create an inventory.ini file. This file tells Ansible where your server is and how to connect to it.

Once you are done, you must create a playbook.yml file, which defines the tasks to run on your server:

This will update system packages, install Apache, start Apache, and create a custom homepage in /var/www/html/.

Next, you must run the playbook on your server with the command below:

By running this command, your dedicated server will update packages, install and run Apache, and also have a simple welcome page deployed.

With these three files (main.tf, inventory.ini, playbook.yml) and the commands explained, you now have end-to-end automation. Terraform creates the server, and Ansible configures it.

In the real projects, Terraform will create the server and directly pass the IP address to Ansible. With this way, you can run a server and configure it in just a few minutes.

By using Terraform (infrastructure) and Ansible (configuration), you can easily fully automate dedicated server setups. Terraform will build the server, and Ansible will configure the software. Combining these will improve your speed. We hope you enjoy Automating Server Provisioning with Terraform and Ansible.

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