What does running a terraform plan do?

What does running a terraform plan do?

• A. Imports all of your existing cloud provider resources to the state file
• B. Compares the state file to your Terraform code and determines if any changes need to be made
• C. Imports all of your existing cloud provider resources to your Terraform configuration file
• D. Compares your Terraform code and local state file to the remote state file in a cloud provider and determines if any changes need to be made

Answer: (B)

Terraform plan is a dry-run that forecasts what changes are needed to bring your real infrastructure in line with the configuration you’ve written. It loads the current state from a state file (local or remote backend), compares that state to what your configuration describes, and outputs the proposed actions to reach the desired state. It does not actually create, modify, or delete resources at this stage. This is why the description that matches best is that it compares the state file to your Terraform code and determines if any changes need to be made. If you’re using a remote backend, plan will use the latest state from that backend to ensure the plan reflects current reality. Importing resources or pushing resources into the configuration are separate actions, not what plan performs.

Terraform plan is a dry-run that forecasts what changes are needed to bring your real infrastructure in line with the configuration you’ve written. It loads the current state from a state file (local or remote backend), compares that state to what your configuration describes, and outputs the proposed actions to reach the desired state. It does not actually create, modify, or delete resources at this stage.

This is why the description that matches best is that it compares the state file to your Terraform code and determines if any changes need to be made. If you’re using a remote backend, plan will use the latest state from that backend to ensure the plan reflects current reality. Importing resources or pushing resources into the configuration are separate actions, not what plan performs.