github.com/danp/terraform@v0.9.5-0.20170426144147-39d740081351/website/source/docs/enterprise/glossary/index.html.md (about)

     1  ---
     2  layout: "enterprise"
     3  page_title: "Glossary - Terraform Enterprise"
     4  sidebar_current: "docs-enterprise-glossary"
     5  description: |-
     6    Terminology for Terraform Enterprise.
     7  ---
     8  
     9  # Glossary
    10  
    11  Terraform Enterprise, and this documentation, covers a large set of terminology
    12  adopted from tools, industry standards and the community. This glossary seeks to
    13  define as many of those terms as possible to help increase understanding in
    14  interfacing with the platform and reading documentation.
    15  
    16  ## Authentication Tokens
    17  
    18  Authentication tokens are tokens used to authenticate with Terraform Enterprise
    19  via APIs or through tools. Authentication tokens can be revoked, expired or
    20  created under any user.
    21  
    22  ## ACL
    23  
    24  ACL is an acronym for access control list. This defines access to a set of
    25  resources. Access to an object in Terraform Enterprise limited to "read" for
    26  certain users is an example of an ACL.
    27  
    28  ## Alert
    29  
    30  An alert represents a health check status change on a Consul node that is sent
    31  to Terraform Enterprise, and then recorded and distributed to various
    32  notification methods.
    33  
    34  ## Application
    35  
    36  An application is a set of code that represents an application that should be
    37  deployed. Applications can be linked to builds to be made available in the
    38  Packer environment.
    39  
    40  ## Apply
    41  
    42  An apply is the second step of the two steps required for Terraform to make
    43  changes to infrastructure. The apply is the process of communicating with
    44  external APIs to make the changes.
    45  
    46  ## Artifact
    47  
    48  An artifact is an abstract representation of something you wish to store and use
    49  again that has undergone configuration, compilation or some other build process.
    50  An artifact is typically an image created by Packer that is then deployed by
    51  Terraform, or used locally with Vagrant.
    52  
    53  ## Box
    54  
    55  Boxes are a Vagrant specific package format. Vagrant can install and uses images
    56  in box format.
    57  
    58  ## Build
    59  
    60  Builds are resources that represent Packer configurations. A build is a generic
    61  name, sometimes called a "Build Configuration" when defined in the Terraform
    62  Enterprise UI.
    63  
    64  ## Build Configuration
    65  
    66  A build configuration are settings associated with a resource that creates
    67  artifacts via builds. A build configuration is the name in `packer push -name
    68  acemeinc/web`.
    69  
    70  ## Catalog
    71  
    72  The box catalog is a publicly available index of Vagrant Boxes that can be
    73  downloaded from Terraform Enterprise and used for development.
    74  
    75  ## Consul
    76  
    77  [Consul](https://consul.io) is a HashiCorp tool for service discovery,
    78  configuration, and orchestration. Consul enables rapid deployment,
    79  configuration, monitoring and maintenance of service-oriented architectures.
    80  
    81  ## Datacenter
    82  
    83  A datacenter represents a group of nodes in the same network or datacenter
    84  within Consul.
    85  
    86  ## Environment
    87  
    88  Environments show the real-time status of your infrastructure, any pending
    89  changes, and its change history. Environments can be configured to use any or
    90  all of these three components.
    91  
    92  Environments are the namespace of your Terraform Enterprise managed
    93  infrastructure. As an example, if you to have a production environment for a
    94  company named Acme Inc., your environment may be named
    95  `my-username/production`.
    96  
    97  To read more about features provided under environments, read the
    98  [Terraform](/docs/enterprise) sections.
    99  
   100  ## Environment Variables
   101  
   102  Environment variables injected into the environment of Packer builds or
   103  Terraform Runs (plans and applies).
   104  
   105  ## Flapping
   106  
   107  Flapping is something entering and leaving a healthy state rapidly. It is
   108  typically associated with a health checks that briefly report unhealthy status
   109  before recovering.
   110  
   111  ## Health Check
   112  
   113  Health checks trigger alerts by changing status on a Consul node. That status
   114  change is seen by Terraform Enterprise, when connected, and an associated alert
   115  is recorded and sent to any configured notification methods, like email.
   116  
   117  ## Infrastructure
   118  
   119  An infrastructure is a stateful representation of a set of Consul datacenters.
   120  
   121  ## Operator
   122  
   123  An operator is a person who is making changes to infrastructure or settings.
   124  
   125  ## Packer
   126  
   127  [Packer](https://packer.io) is a tool for creating images for platforms such as
   128  Amazon AWS, OpenStack, VMware, VirtualBox, Docker, and more — all from a single
   129  source configuration.
   130  
   131  ## Packer Template
   132  
   133  A Packer template is a JSON file that configure the various components of Packer
   134  in order to create one or more machine images.
   135  
   136  ## Plan
   137  
   138  A plan is the second step of the two steps required for Terraform to make
   139  changes to infrastructure. The plan is the process of determining what changes
   140  will be made to.
   141  
   142  ## Providers
   143  
   144  Providers are often referenced when discussing Packer or Terraform. Terraform
   145  providers manage resources in Terraform.
   146  [Read more](https://terraform.io/docs/providers/index.html).
   147  
   148  ## Post-Processors
   149  
   150  The post-processor section within a Packer template configures any
   151  post-processing that will be done to images built by the builders. Examples of
   152  post-processing would be compressing files, uploading artifacts, etc..
   153  
   154  ## Registry
   155  
   156  Often referred to as the "Artifact Registry", the registry stores artifacts, be
   157  it images or IDs for cloud provider images.
   158  
   159  ## Run
   160  
   161  A run represents a two step Terraform plan and a subsequent apply.
   162  
   163  ## Service
   164  
   165  A service in Consul represents an application or service, which could be active
   166  on any number of nodes.
   167  
   168  ## Share
   169  
   170  Shares are let you instantly share public access to your running Vagrant
   171  environment (virtual machine).
   172  
   173  ## State
   174  
   175  Terraform state is the state of your managed infrastructure from the last time
   176  Terraform was run. By default this state is stored in a local file named
   177  `terraform.tfstate`, but it can also be stored in Terraform Enterprise and is
   178  then called "Remote state".
   179  
   180  ## Terraform
   181  
   182  [Terraform](https://terraform.io) is a tool for safely and efficiently changing
   183  infrastructure across providers.
   184  
   185  ## Terraform Configuration
   186  
   187  Terraform configuration is the configuration files and any files that may be
   188  used in provisioners like `remote-exec`.
   189  
   190  ## Terraform Variables
   191  
   192  Variables in Terraform, uploaded with `terraform push` or set in the UI. These
   193  differ from environment variables as they are a first class Terraform variable
   194  used in interpolation.