Provision Stacks with a Terraform Module

For customers that prefer to manage their stacks using Terraform, we publish modules for each platform Nuon supports.

This is the recommended way to provision install stacks using Terraform. The legacy flow, based on generated inputs.auto.tfvars and secrets.auto.tfvars files, is described in Provision Stacks with Terraform.

How it works

When creating an install, you will be presented with a “TF Module” option for provisioning the stack. This will provide Terraform code your customer can use to import the stack module and authenticate with your Nuon control plane to fetch configuration data.

Prerequisites

In order to use a Terraform module, your customer will need the following.

A Terraform project, with their own state backend configured.
A secret store.
Credentials for the cloud account they want to provision the stack in.
Outbound network access to the Terraform Registry from their CI (to install the module and the nuonco/stack provider).
Outbound network access to the Nuon runner API from their CI (so the provider can fetch the stack configuration at plan time).

Provision a new install stack

Create a new install, and retrieve the Terraform code and Nuon credentials from the “Await install stack” step of the provision workflow. You will need to share these with your customer.

Define customer-facing inputs and secrets

In your app config, configure the inputs and secrets your customer needs to provide.

name              = "instance_type"
display_name      = "Node Instance Size"
description       = "EC2 instance type for EKS worker nodes"
group             = "compute"
default           = "t3a.medium"
type              = "string"
required          = false
user_configurable = true

[[secret]]
name          = "license_key"
display_name  = "License Key"
description   = "License key enabling access"
required      = true

See Configuring Inputs & Secrets for more details.

Create the install stack

Create an install and wait for the Await install stack step. The TF Module tab will display Terraform code tailored to this install, interpolating the install ID, region, and the customer-facing inputs and secrets.A Service Account has been created and assigned the “Stack” role. This is the identity the Stack SDK will use to perform stack operations for this install.

Create auth credentials

The stack provider needs credentials to read the install’s configuration. Create a static token, and share it with your customer through a secure channel.

The rest of the process is completed by your customer, using the information you provide to them.

Import the stack module

Your customer must import the module using the Terraform snippet you saved from the provision workflow.

main.tf

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws   = { source = "hashicorp/aws" }
    stack = { source = "nuonco/stack" }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-west-2"
}

provider "stack" {}

module "aws_stack" {
  source  = "nuonco/stack/aws"
  version = "~> 0.2"

  install_id = "<install-id>"

  inputs = {
    instance_type = "t3a.medium"
  }

  secrets = {
    license_key = { value = var.license_key }
  }
}

variable "license_key" {
  type        = string
  sensitive   = true
  description = "License key that activates the product."
}

Configure the secret values

Nuon credentials and app secret values are supplied using environment variables, so they are never written to Terraform files or committed to version control. Ideally, these should be saved by your customer in their CI’s secret store.

Like any Terraform-managed secret, app secret values are stored in Terraform state once applied. Your customer’s state backend must be encrypted and access-controlled.

export NUON_API_TOKEN='<api-token>'
export TF_VAR_license_key='<license-key-value>'

Init and apply

Your customer can simply init and apply the Terraform. If any inputs are missing or invalid, there will be a Terraform validation error.

terraform init && terraform apply

Updating the stack

There are two kinds of stack updates your customer may need to apply.

A new version of the stack — updates to the inputs, secrets, roles, or permissions in the app config.
A new version of the Terraform module — updates to the stack module itself, such as fixes or changes to the network topology or runner VM.

The two are independent of each other. A new stack version doesn’t require a module upgrade, and vice versa.

Updating to a new stack version

Stack version updates are ordinary Terraform edits followed by terraform apply.

Change an input value

Your customer edits the inputs map and re-applies. The merged values phone home and become the install’s current inputs, triggering redeployment of dependent components.

  inputs = {
    instance_type = "t3a.medium"
    instance_type = "t3a.large"
  }

Removing a key from inputs falls back to the control plane’s current value on the next apply. It does not unset the input.

Vendor adds a new input

When you add a customer-facing input to the app config, or make an existing vendor-side input customer-facing, your customer can add the input to the inputs map and re-apply.

  inputs = {
    instance_type = "t3a.large"
    domain        = "acme-corp.example.com"
  }

If the new input is required and has no default, the apply will fail, and your customer will be shown an error message telling them to provide the input value.

Vendor adds or removes a customer secret

If you add a new secret, your customer should store the value in a secret store, and pass it to Terraform as a TF_VAR_ environment variable.

module "aws_stack" {
  source  = "nuonco/stack/aws"
  version = "~> 0.2"

  // other module config...

  secrets = {
    license_key   = { value = var.license_key }
    smtp_password = { value = var.smtp_password } 
  }
}

variable "smtp_password" { 
  type      = string
  sensitive = true
} 

export TF_VAR_smtp_password='<smtp-password-value>'

Removing a secret is the reverse: delete the variable block, the secrets entry, and the export.

Vendor changes roles or permissions

Operation-role permissions, break-glass roles, and custom roles are read from the control plane, and are pulled in automatically by the next terraform plan. Whether a break-glass or custom role is enabled is also served by the control plane, but your customer can override it with the module’s roles map:

  roles = {
    "app-break-glass" = true
  }

An entry set here wins over the control plane in both directions, so your customer can turn a role off or switch one on ahead of the next apply. Keys are role names — either the full served name or the name without its leading <install-id>- prefix. A roles key naming a role the app does not declare fails the plan, with an error listing the valid keys. The roles map also accepts three reserved keys — provision, maintenance, and deprovision — to disable an operation role:

  roles = {
    deprovision = false
  }

This is useful for keeping teardown permissions off until your customer intends to decommission the install. Disabling provision or maintenance prevents Nuon from performing those operations until the role is re-enabled and applied.

Vendor removes an input

If you remove an input (or make it vendor-facing again) while your customer’s inputs map still names it, their next plan will fail with an error message telling them to remove it.

Upgrading the module version

To upgrade the Terraform module itself, your customer will update the version pin, run terraform init -upgrade, then terraform apply. To avoid your customer having to upgrade too frequently, we recommend using a minor version constraint instead of pinning to a specific version. For example, with version = "~> 0.2", running terraform init -upgrade will automatically pick up new patch versions.

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Advanced

Provision Stacks with a Terraform Module

How it works

Prerequisites

Provision a new install stack

Updating the stack

Updating to a new stack version

Change an input value

Vendor adds a new input

Vendor adds or removes a customer secret

Vendor changes roles or permissions

Vendor removes an input

Upgrading the module version

​How it works

​Prerequisites

​Provision a new install stack

​Updating the stack

​Updating to a new stack version

​Change an input value

​Vendor adds a new input

​Vendor adds or removes a customer secret

​Vendor changes roles or permissions

​Vendor removes an input

​Upgrading the module version

How it works

Prerequisites

Provision a new install stack

Updating the stack

Updating to a new stack version

Change an input value

Vendor adds a new input

Vendor adds or removes a customer secret

Vendor changes roles or permissions

Vendor removes an input

Upgrading the module version