Terraform S3 backend

Terraform S3 backend (doc)

Make sure you enable Bucket Versioning on the S3 bucket

• profile: https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#profile
• key: path to the state file inside the S3 Bucket. https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#key
• use_lockfile (ref) .tflock
• dynamodb_table, use use_lockfile

• Bucket versioning: aws_s3_bucket_versioning

Basic S3 examples in backend.tf

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "your-terraform-states"
    key    = "terraform.tfstate"
    profile = "your-profile"
  }
}

https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#example-configuration

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "mybucket"
    key    = "path/to/my/terraform.tfstate"
    encrypt = true
    region = "us-east-1"
  }
}

#This simple example will prompt you for bucket name once you executed terraform init
terraform {
  backend "s3" {
  }
}

Example including DynamoDB table

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket = "your-terraform-states"
    key    = "terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-west-2"
    dynamodb_table = "your-terraform-states"
    profile = "your-profile"
    workspace_key_prefix = "your-workspace"
  }
}

• profile: https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#profile
• key: path to the state file inside the S3 Bucket. https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#key

Successfully configured the backend "s3"! Terraform will automatically
use this backend unless the backend configuration changes.
Error refreshing state: AccessDenied: Access Denied status code: 403, request id: JDK297FD1E5GY3TT, host id: JJJ1ThvIKmNSYOO3h2IZFECn9l8DnsofwXWk4F6a9/nzrqgNNbOzyw9d2PcAXSb4DDYwkr/VNWZ0

S3 backend errors

• Error: Backend configuration changed
• Error: Failed to get existing workspaces: S3 bucket does not exist.: aws s3 mb
• Error: no valid credential sources for S3 Backend found

Changelog

• 1.6.0 (Oct 2023) https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/v1.6/CHANGELOG.md#160-october-4-2023

Related terms

• terraform init
• Remote state backends to manage Terraform state
• terraform_remote_state data source
• aws s3api create-bucket and aws s3 mb
• aws s3 ls
• provider.tf
• Terraform backend: gcs

See also

• Terraform S3 backend: use_lockfile, .tflock
• Terraform backends: S3, dynamodb_table, GCS, remote (Terraform Cloud), backend.tf, http

https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#key

https://www.terraform.io/docs/language/settings/backends/s3.html#key