If you’re a DevOps or Infrastructure engineer, chances are you’ve used Terraform to manage cloud infrastructure. Terraform has been one of the most widely used IaC tools out there for the last decade and has a customer base of over 25,000 customers and a market share of 32.93%. This makes it easier to provision your infrastructure without having to rely on a cloud console or shell scripts. Terraform builds your cloud infrastructure the way that you want it to be using code. Terraform integrates with all major cloud providers - AWS, Azure, and GCP - and supports on-premises environments. It’s a reliable way to keep your cloud infrastructure consistent regardless of the size or complexity of your environment.In 2023, HashiCorp switched Terraform’s licensing from open-source to a business source license. This shift added limitations on the usage of terraform. That’s when the OpenTofu community created OpenTofu as an open-source fork of Terraform. In this blog, we’ll look at the similarities and differences between Terraform and OpenTofu and why most organizations are moving towards OpenTofu. Additionally, we’ll walk you through the migration steps and recommend some tips for effective infrastructure management when used with either of these tools.Similarities between Terraform and OpenTofu. OpenTofu is a form of Terraform version 1.5.6. Both tools allow you to define infrastructure as code, manage resources using providers, and track infrastructure states with a state file.
Since OpenTofu was designed to stay compatible with Terraform, there’s a minimal learning curve if you’re transitioning from Terraform to OpenTofu. Differences: OpenTofu vs Terraform While Terraform and OpenTofu have the same foundation, here are some key differences between the two. For the most part, these differences are due to differences in licensing, encryption support, and how the tools they support are maintained and developed.
These differences are why some teams are switching to OpenTofu from Terraform. Its open-source nature ensures freedom from licensing restrictions and commercial use while still maintaining compatibility with all Terraform’s features. On the other hand, Terraform offers official support and a well-defined update cycle managed by HashiCorp.Why Are Organizations Migrating to OpenTofu?
- Open-Source and Free: OpenTofu is a fully open-source project, Apache 2.0 licensed, so it's free and unrestricted for anyone to use.
- No Vendor Lock-In: OpenTofu is owned by no single entity, so it will stay free of corporate control and simple to license. The independence of this long-term choice ensures that OpenTofu is a reliable and safe choice for users.
- Compatible with Terraform: The goal of OpenTofu is for it to be compatible with Terraform. It supports the same configurations, providers, and workflows that Terraform users are used to. This effectively means that you don’t have to rewrite your existing infrastructure code or how you manage resources to use OpenTofu.
- Community-Driven: The Linux Foundation and a global community of contributors back the OpenTofu team, making sure the tool remains transparent and evolves to meet user needs. They also include companies like Spacelift and env0 that help contribute to the ecosystem.
Migrating from Terraform to OpenTofuMigrating to OpenTofu doesn’t require major changes and can be done with a few simple steps. Let’s walk through the process:
Step 1: Back Up Your State File and Code
Before starting, create a backup of your Terraform state file (terraform.tfstate) and your configuration files to make sure that you can recover if anything goes wrong within the migration process. You can do this by copying the state file to a different location:cp terraform.tfstate /kapstan/instances/prod/backup/Also, back up your Terraform configuration files (*.tf and related files) by archiving them:tar -czvf terraform-config-backup.tar.gz *.tfThese steps make sure that you have a recovery point in case of any issues during the migration.
Step 2: Install OpenTofu
To install OpenTofu, visit the OpenTofu website, download the binary for your operating system, and move it to a directory in your system’s PATH. Once installed, verify it by running: tofu version.
Step 3: Update Your Configuration Files and Workflows
OpenTofu uses the same syntax as Terraform, so you don’t need to rewrite your .tf files. Instead, replace any Terraform commands in your scripts and CI/CD pipelines with OpenTofu commands. For example:
- Replace terraform init with tofu init.
- Replace terraform apply with tofu apply.
Step 4: Reinitialize Your Project
When you run tofu init, it will reinitialize your project directory. During this step:
- Updates may be made to the .terraform.lock.hcl file.
- Provider references like registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/azurerm will be updated to align with OpenTofu’s provider conventions.
OpenTofu supports all Terraform providers, but if you encounter any mismatches or issues, check the OpenTofu provider documentation.
Step 5: Verify the State File
After initialization, OpenTofu will detect and use your existing terraform.tfstate file to track the current state of your infrastructure. You can confirm this by running tofu show, which displays the imported state.
Step 6: Run a Dry Plan
Before making any changes, it’s a good idea to run a dry plan using tofu plan. This command previews the changes OpenTofu will make to your infrastructure based on your configurations. Carefully review the output to make sure that everything is as expected.
Step 7: Apply Changes
When you’re ready, use tofu apply to implement the changes. During this step:
- OpenTofu will update the state file to reflect the new changes.
- You might see updates in the provider references, such as “provider_name”: “registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/azurerm”, making sure that the state file remains consistent with the applied infrastructure.
If you’re using Terraform-specific functions like encode_tfvars, decode_tfvars, or encode_expr, note that these are not supported in OpenTofu 1.8. Instead, use native HCL functions like jsonencode and jsondecode, or external tools like jq for complex tasks.Step 8: Update DocumentationFinally, update your team and project documentation to reflect the use of OpenTofu. This makes sure that everyone within your team is familiar with the new commands and workflows, making the transition smooth.Version CompatibilityOpenTofu is based on Terraform version 1.5.6. Configurations from this version or earlier can be migrated easily. If you’re using Terraform 1.6 or newer, refer to the OpenTofu migration guide for specific differences.By following these steps, you can easily migrate from Terraform to OpenTofu with minimal effort while keeping your existing workflows untouched. OpenTofu gives you the freedom and flexibility of an open-source tool while maintaining the reliability you expect to manage your cloud infrastructure.What are the Best Practices when using IaC?Whether you are using Terraform or OpenTofu, a few simple practices can make a big difference in keeping your infrastructure more reliable and efficient.
- Validate your configurations: Run terraform validate or tofu validate before applying changes to catch errors in your configuration files early. This step helps prevent any disruptions during deployments.
- Use a remote backend for state management: Use a remote backend to store your state file. Backends like AWS S3, Azure Storage, or GCS help avoid conflicts in team environments by supporting locking to prevent simultaneous changes. They also provide versioning, which allows you to track and restore previous versions of your state file if needed.
- Setup CI/CD pipelines: Set up a CI/CD pipeline to automate tasks like validation, planning, and applying configurations. This helps in making sure that all the changes are reviewed and tested thoroughly before deployment, keeping your workflows consistent and reliable.
- Audit and Remove Unused Resources: Review your environment regularly and delete resources that are no longer in use. Cleaning up unused resources like instances, buckets, or networking rules reduces costs and keeps your setup more organized.
Following these practices will help you maintain a clean, secure, and well-functioning infrastructure, regardless of the tool you choose.Managing Infrastructure as Code is a must for ensuring consistency across environments, version control, auditability, and disaster recovery in software development today. However, it comes with an additional cost and hassle of learning and maintaining terraform. That’s where Kapstan comes in.
Introduction to Kapstan
Kapstan simplifies infrastructure management by using OpenTofu under the hood for provisioning and managing customer infrastructure. It takes care of the complexities, so you don’t have to write or run scripts yourself. Kapstan lets you deploy a new kubernetes cluster, databases, caches, queues, or any other modern infrastructure in a few simple clicks.As an example, launching a Postgres database with Kapstan requires you to mention just its name and size. Behind the scenes, Kapstan runs it’s opinionated OpenTofu scripts, applies the size input given by you, and launches the database. It’s fast and reliable, and you always know what’s going on.
If you prefer not to use Kapstan’s opinionated templates for launching resources, Kapstan also supports bringing your own Terraform. DevOps teams can define custom templates for their infrastructure, expose only the parameters they want developers to configure, and make these templates available directly on Kapstan.This approach streamlines collaboration by reducing back-and-forth requests between DevOps and development teams, offering flexibility while minimizing dependency. It enables DevOps teams to maintain consistent infrastructure across various teams and environments without micromanaging every infrastructure deployment.Kapstan doesn’t stop at just provisioning resources. It solves some common challenges faced by most DevOps engineers by adding features that make managing your infrastructure much smoother. Here’s how Kapstan stands out:
Kapstan also includes tools to help you track and manage your infrastructure after deployment. For example, Kapstan checks automatically if your resources follow industry standards like SOC 2 or ISO 27001. This means you don’t need additional tools to ensure compliance, and you also save a lot of time by avoiding manual checks. Kapstan helps you monitor your infrastructure as well. You can see what’s happening during deployments in real time and get alerts if anything goes wrong within your deployment. It also keeps a record of all changes so you can track what’s been done and troubleshoot if needed. Teams using Kapstan can collaborate better by keeping track of changes, reviewing updates, and approving deployments. Since Kapstan simplifies backend setups, it avoids common problems like mismatched providers or managing multiple state files.By building on the strengths of Terraform and OpenTofu and adding these features, Kapstan gives you more control and makes your infrastructure easier to manage. It’s secure, compliant, and simple to monitor without requiring extra effort from your team.This is the next step in infrastructure management: efficient, transparent, and built on tools you already trust. Check out the Kapstan documentation to see how it works.
Conclusion
By now, you must know everything about Terraform and OpenTofu, the reason many teams pick OpenTofu, and how easily it can be migrated. With either tool, following best practices will maintain your infrastructure as stable, secure, and easy to manage.
FAQs
Q. Is OpenTofu ready for production?
A. Yes, OpenTofu is production-ready and works just like Terraform. It’s designed for stability and reliability in real-world environments.
Q. Why are people moving away from Terraform?
A. The licensing change in 2023 made many users uncomfortable with restrictions. OpenTofu gives them the same functionality without the lock-in.
Q. Can I use Terraform providers with OpenTofu?
A. Absolutely. OpenTofu supports the same providers, so you don’t need to change anything in your existing setup.
Q. When should I not use Terraform?If you value full control and open licensing,
AOpenTofu might be a better fit. Otherwise, Terraform works well for most cases.
Q. What Terraform versions can I migrate to OpenTofu
A.?OpenTofu is based on Terraform version 1.5.6. If your configurations use this version or an earlier one, you can migrate them easily.
