🚀 Terraform Kubernetes — Starter Kit for Docker Desktop

This starter kit is designed for local Kubernetes experimentation using Terraform. It provides a preconfigured setup with certificate management, ingress routing, and load balancing, making it easy to test, learn, and prototype cloud-native deployments.

👨‍💻 Who is it for?

• DevOps Engineers & SREs who want a sandbox for testing infrastructure automation.
• Developers exploring Kubernetes deployments without cloud costs.
• Teams learning Terraform and Kubernetes best practices in a safe, local environment.

📂 Project Structure

Environments

• envs/local - Local Environment. You can use Docker Desktop for local usage.

Modules

Each service is managed as a separate module for better reusability and organization.

📁 modules/metallb

• Deploys MetalLB via Helm.
• Configures IP address pools dynamically using kubectl_manifest.

📁 modules/cert-manager

• Installs Cert-Manager using Helm.

📁 modules/ingress-nginx

• Deploys Ingress-Nginx as a controller for managing ingress traffic.

📁 modules/cluster-issuer-selfsigned

• Creates a ClusterIssuer and a self-signed CA certificate.

📁 modules/cluster-issuer-production

• Creates a ClusterIssuer that uses letsencrypt .

📁 modules/echo-server

• Deploys Echo Server using Kubernetes manifests.
• Configures an Ingress resource with self-signed TLS issued by Cert-Manager.

Requirements

For local usage, for example, in Docker Desktop you might want to use selfsigned certificates. To do that process easy just install the tool mkcert.

# https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert?tab=readme-ov-file#installation
brew install mkcert
mkcert -install

🛠️ Setup and Deployment

The best way is fork the repo. But it's up to you.

1. Set selfsigned CA certificate and key For local usage you have set some TF_VAR

   export TF_VAR_cluster_issuer_selfsigned_ca_cert="$(base64 < "$(mkcert -CAROOT)/rootCA.pem")"
   export TF_VAR_cluster_issuer_selfsigned_ca_key="$(base64 < "$(mkcert -CAROOT)/rootCA-key.pem")"

2. Customizing Variables:

   You can override default locals by creating a envs/local/locals.tf file:

   locals {
     kube_config_path                     = "~/.kube/config"
     kube_context                         = "docker-desktop"
     ingress_class_name                   = "nginx"
     cluster_issuer_selfsigned            = "selfsigned"
     cluster_issuer_production            = "production"
     cluster_issuer_production_acme_email = "[email protected]"
     root_domain                          = "127.0.0.1.nip.io"
     metallb_ip_range                     = ["127.0.0.1-127.0.0.1"]
   }

3. Initialize Terraform:

   make tf-init

4. Plan the deployment:

   make tf-plan

5. Apply the changes:

   make tf-apply
   # or you can use -auto-approve option
   make tf-apply-approve

6. Verify resources in Kubernetes:

   kubectl get pods -A
   kubectl get svc -A
   kubectl get ingress -A

7. Verify resources in Kubernetes:

   curl https://echo.127.0.0.1.nip.io

Destroying the Infrastructure

To remove all deployed resources:

make tf-destroy
# or you can use -auto-approve option
make tf-destroy-approve

Recreate Infrastructure

To delete all deployed resources and create again:

make tf-recreate

Full Reset Infrastructure

Delete EVERYTHING, including state and create again:

make tf-reset

Terraform Graph

To visualize graph install dot app:

brew install graphviz
make tf-graph

Terraform Git Hooks

You can install pre-commit hooks from .hooks folder for autoformatting files:

make setup-hooks

Terraform Tests

You can run basic validation for your Terraform configuration:

make tf-test

📌 Key Features

✅ Modular architecture with separate Terraform modules.
✅ Uses Helm for package management.
✅ Configures self-signed certificates with Cert-Manager.
✅ Supports MetalLB for LoadBalancer services in local Kubernetes environments.
✅ Ingress-Nginx handles application routing.
✅ Secure and automated TLS handling via ClusterIssuer.

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📢 Contributions & Issues If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvements, feel free to contribute or raise an issue! 🚀