Great news for developers and cloud administrators: HashiCorp is launching Terraform 1.8, offering a host of new automation options.
Version 1.8 isn’t just a mild update of the renowned automation software for multi-cloud infrastructure, and while it might be going too far to describe it as a game changer, it’s definitely a major leap forward.
Develop new functions yourself
HashiCorp has added some impressive new functionality. Now you can develop your own new functions within your provider, in addition to being able to write that provider yourself, (which was already possible and will remain so, just to be clear). However, you no longer have to content yourself with the general functions that HashiCorp provides as standard within Terraform, i.e. the classics that every developer is familiar with, such as splitting a stream or adding two numbers.
In the past, if you needed to add some exotic operation or obscure calculation, you had to put it together using Terraform’s existing functions. Adding new functions yourself wasn’t an option . . . until now.
Greater simplicity
This limitation was what drew some companies to alternatives such as Ansible. They reasoned that although they might not be able to do everything they wanted to with those tools, at least they could do more than with Terraform alone, because it would leave them without at least one function that they depended on.
Now that issue is a thing of the past because you can add your own functions to the provider or simply write your own provider and then add functions to it. The simplicity that HashiCorp delivers with Terraform 1.8 means developers and cloud administrators can switch much faster. The previous workaround only made the development and management process cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive.
Lowering the entry barrier
Version 1.7 limited you to a particular set of functions, and a lot of unnecessary complexity could creep into the Terraform code as a result. With version 1.8, HashiCorp has removed that complexity. This not only makes it easier to adopt Terraform, it also allows you to do more, employing the software for all kinds of tests and checks. Consider, for example, validating input variables, which is a fairly complex task.
Just as important, Terraform 1.8 makes BRYXX’s work a breeze, as we use it to support our customers. The fact that our customers also reap the benefits is a great bonus. We can now guarantee faster onboarding, and because the lead time for writing Terraform code is significantly reduced, we can also deliver certain projects much faster. All this translates into a faster time-to-market for our customers. And after all, that’s often what it’s all about, isn’t it?