TERRAFORM INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (WITH ANSWERS)

🚨 API THROTTLING & SCALE 1. What is API throttling in Terraform? Answer: API throttling happens when Terraform makes too many API calls (during plan or apply ) and the cloud provider (AWS) limits or blocks requests. 2. Why does Terraform cause API throttling? Answer: Because Terraform performs a state refresh , calling APIs for every resource to check current state. 3. How do you reduce API calls in Terraform? Answer: Split projects (modular structure) Use -target Use -refresh=false (carefully) 4. When should you NOT use -refresh=false ? Answer: When state drift is possible After manual console changes In non-production environments 5. What is the best practice for large Terraform projects? Answer: Split into smaller modules like: VPC IAM EC2 This reduces API load and improves performance. 🎯 TARGETING & EXECUTION 6. What does -target do in Terraform? Answer: It applies changes only to a specific resource instead of the whole infrastructure. 7. When is -target useful? Answer: Debugging