Which outcome is expected when a creation-time provisioner fails?

Which outcome is expected when a creation-time provisioner fails?

• A. The resource will be tainted
• B. The plan is aborted
• C. No effect
• D. The resource will be destroyed

Answer: (A)

Creation-time provisioners run right after a resource is created to configure it further. If that configuration step fails, Terraform marks the resource as tainted. Tainting tells Terraform that this resource is in an unhealthy state and should be replaced, so on the next apply it will be destroyed and recreated to achieve the desired final state. So the expected outcome is that the resource becomes tainted, leading to recreation on a future apply. This isn’t about nothing happening or the plan being aborted by default, and the resource isn’t destroyed immediately during the same apply due to the failed provisioner.

Creation-time provisioners run right after a resource is created to configure it further. If that configuration step fails, Terraform marks the resource as tainted. Tainting tells Terraform that this resource is in an unhealthy state and should be replaced, so on the next apply it will be destroyed and recreated to achieve the desired final state. So the expected outcome is that the resource becomes tainted, leading to recreation on a future apply. This isn’t about nothing happening or the plan being aborted by default, and the resource isn’t destroyed immediately during the same apply due to the failed provisioner.