github.com/nicgrayson/terraform@v0.4.3-0.20150415203910-c4de50829380/website/source/docs/configuration/providers.html.md (about)

     1  ---
     2  layout: "docs"
     3  page_title: "Configuring Providers"
     4  sidebar_current: "docs-config-providers"
     5  description: |-
     6    Providers are responsible in Terraform for managing the lifecycle of a resource: create, read, update, delete.
     7  ---
     8  
     9  # Provider Configuration
    10  
    11  Providers are responsible in Terraform for managing the lifecycle
    12  of a [resource](/docs/configuration/resource.html): create,
    13  read, update, delete.
    14  
    15  Every resource in Terraform is mapped to a provider based
    16  on longest-prefix matching. For example the `aws_instance`
    17  resource type would map to the `aws` provider (if that exists).
    18  
    19  Most providers require some sort of configuration to provide
    20  authentication information, endpoint URLs, etc. Provider configuration
    21  blocks are a way to set this information globally for all
    22  matching resources.
    23  
    24  This page assumes you're familiar with the
    25  [configuration syntax](/docs/configuration/syntax.html)
    26  already.
    27  
    28  ## Example
    29  
    30  A provider configuration looks like the following:
    31  
    32  ```
    33  provider "aws" {
    34  	access_key = "foo"
    35  	secret_key = "bar"
    36  	region = "us-east-1"
    37  }
    38  ```
    39  
    40  ## Description
    41  
    42  The `provider` block configures the provider of the given `NAME`.
    43  Multiple provider blocks can be used to configure multiple providers.
    44  
    45  Terraform matches providers to resources by matching two criteria.
    46  Both criteria must be matched for a provider to manage a resource:
    47  
    48    * They must share a common prefix. Longest matching prefixes are
    49      tried first. For example, `aws_instance` would choose the
    50      `aws` provider.
    51  
    52    * The provider must report that it supports the given resource
    53      type. Providers internally tell Terraform the list of resources
    54      they support.
    55  
    56  Within the block (the `{ }`) is configuration for the resource.
    57  The configuration is dependent on the type, and is documented
    58  [for each provider](/docs/providers/index.html).
    59  
    60  ## Syntax
    61  
    62  The full syntax is:
    63  
    64  ```
    65  provider NAME {
    66  	CONFIG ...
    67  }
    68  ```
    69  
    70  where `CONFIG` is:
    71  
    72  ```
    73  KEY = VALUE
    74  
    75  KEY {
    76  	CONFIG
    77  }
    78  ```