The Lifecycle of a Terraform Resource: Lifecycle Meta-Argument

This article discusses the various stages a Terraform resource goes through during its lifetime and how to customize its behavior using the lifecycle meta-argument. A Terraform resource block defines a piece of infrastructure with given settings, which is created or modified upon executing "terraform apply." The default behavior includes creating, modifying, or destroying resources based on configuration changes. However, the lifecycle meta-argument can be used to control these operations, such as ignoring certain changes, preventing destruction, and replacing resources when specific conditions are met. Understanding the resource lifecycle and using the lifecycle meta-argument effectively can help avoid unwanted downtime and manage Terraform better.