Terraform is a widely used infrastructure creation tool that has gained substantial popularity due to its extensive support for various providers and resources since its introduction over five years ago.
In contrast, Cluster.dev functions as management software, leveraging both Terraform and other infrastructure tools as foundational elements. Positioned as a higher-level abstraction, Cluster.dev establishes a singular source of truth and harmonizes diverse infrastructure tools within a unified framework.
In general terms, Cluster.dev works extremely well with Terraform’s capabilities and even facilitates the export of code into plain Terraform. However, Terraform does have certain limitations, notably in its deficient relation system, protracted planning processes, absence of automatic reconciliation, and inadequacies in configuration templates which Cluster.dev is specifically able to resolve.
Let’s delve into the problems that Cluster.dev can address:
Table of Contents
Internal Relations
Terraform’s intricate rendering logic complicates the establishment of relations among its components. For instance, integrating a provider for, say, Kubernetes or Helm within the same codebase that generates a Kubernetes cluster remains challenging within Terraform’s structure. This predicament often necessitates users having to resort to internal workarounds or employ custom wrappers to accommodate two distinct deployments—an obstacle effectively tackled by Cluster.dev.
Another drawback lies in Terraform generating unwieldy execution plans for substantial projects. Users attempting to circumvent this issue by utilizing smaller Terraform repositories have encountered issues regarding feeble “remote state” relations and restricted reconciliation possibilities. Alterations in the output of a relied-upon module couldn’t effectively trigger a related module, but Cluster.dev, which streamlines GitOps functionality, is able to mitigate this by enabling selective triggering of specific components.
Templating
Because Terraform lacks support for templating its tf files, users end up having to resort to convoluted workarounds that further entangle their Terraform files. Cluster.dev, on the other hand, seamlessly incorporates templating. For instance, it enables the inclusion of a Jenkins Terraform module with tailored inputs for a development environment while excluding it from staging and production environments—all accomplished within a single codebase.
Third-Party Integration
Terraform does allow the execution of Bash or Ansible, but it lacks the instruments needed to control where and how these tools will be run. As a cloud-native manager, Cluster.dev offers comprehensive support and integration capabilities for all tools at an equal level.
In essence, while Terraform stands as a robust infrastructure creation tool, Cluster.dev serves as a higher-level orchestrator that not only embraces Terraform but also resolves its limitations, providing a more integrated and flexible approach to managing and building infrastructure.