Building a Secure, Scalable AWS VPC with Terraform: A Production-Ready Guide

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Terraform

   • Why IaC Matters in Modern DevOps
   • Terraform vs. Other Tools (CloudFormation, Ansible)

2. AWS Networking Fundamentals

   • What is a VPC?
   • Subnets, Route Tables, and Gateways: The Building Blocks
   • Public vs. Private Subnets: Use Cases and Security

3. Setting Up Your Terraform Environment

   • Installing Terraform and AWS CLI
   • Configuring AWS Credentials Securely

4. Designing a Production-Grade VPC

   • Multi-AZ Architecture for High Availability
   • Security Best Practices: NACLs, Security Groups, and Least Privilege

5. Step-by-Step Terraform Implementation

   • Defining the VPC and Subnets
   • Internet Gateway (IGW) and NAT Gateway
   • Route Tables and Associations
   • Security Groups for Public/Private Resources

6. Real-World Use Cases

   • Hosting a Web Application with Public/Private Tiers
   • Hybrid Cloud Connectivity with VPN/VPC Peering
   • Cost Optimization: NAT Instances vs. NAT Gateways

7. Advanced Terraform Techniques

   • Using Variables and Modules for Reusability
   • Enabling VPC Flow Logs for Auditing
   • Integrating with CI/CD Pipelines

8. Best Practices for Enterprise Environments

• Tagging Strategies for Cost Management
• Monitoring with AWS CloudWatch
• Disaster Recovery and Backup

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