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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/mcamacho97/terraform-mean-stack-aws/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Before running terraform init or terraform apply, you need to populate two configuration files: backend.hcl, which tells Terraform where to store its remote state, and terraform.tfvars, which supplies values for every input variable the project declares. Neither file is committed to source control — both are listed in .gitignore to keep credentials and environment-specific settings out of your repository history.

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backend.hcl

The backend.hcl file provides the S3 backend configuration that is passed to terraform init via the -backend-config flag. Keeping it separate from backend.tf means you can maintain different state locations for different environments without modifying tracked Terraform files. Create backend.hcl in the project root with the following content, substituting your own bucket name and preferred state key path: 
bucket  = "my-terraform-state-bucket"
key     = "terraform-mean/terraform.tfstate"
region  = "us-east-1"
encrypt = true
FieldPurpose
bucketName of the S3 bucket you created in the prerequisites step
keyObject path within the bucket for the state file
regionAWS region where the bucket resides
encryptEnables server-side encryption of the state file at rest

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terraform.tfvars

The terraform.tfvars file supplies concrete values for all input variables declared in variables.tf. Start from the provided example: 
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars
Then open terraform.tfvars in your editor and fill in every value. The example file ships with sensible defaults for networking and instance sizing — the only value you must change before deploying is allowed_ssh_ip.
Never set allowed_ssh_ip to 0.0.0.0/0. Doing so opens SSH port 22 to the entire internet. Always restrict access to your specific public IP address in /32 notation. Run curl ifconfig.me to find your current public IP.

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Variable Reference

All twelve input variables are required — there are no defaults defined in variables.tf, so every field must be present in your terraform.tfvars.

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Project Identity

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project_name
string
required
Project name used as a prefix for all AWS resource names and tags (e.g. terraform-mean). This value flows into locals.tf to build names like terraform-mean-vpc, terraform-mean-alb, etc.
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environment
string
required
Deployment environment label applied as a tag to every resource. Accepted values: lab, dev, qa, prod.

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AWS Region

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aws_region
string
required
AWS region in which all infrastructure will be provisioned (e.g. us-east-1). Must match the region of your S3 state bucket if you want to keep everything co-located.

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Networking

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vpc_cidr
string
required
CIDR block for the VPC (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16). All subnet CIDRs must fall within this range.
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public_subnet_1_cidr
string
required
CIDR block for Public Subnet A, which hosts Node.js Server 1 and the first ALB node (e.g. 10.0.1.0/24).
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public_subnet_2_cidr
string
required
CIDR block for Public Subnet B, which hosts Node.js Server 2 and the second ALB node (e.g. 10.0.2.0/24).
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private_subnet_cidr
string
required
CIDR block for the Private Subnet, which hosts the MongoDB instance and routes outbound traffic through the NAT Gateway (e.g. 10.0.3.0/24).
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availability_zone_1
string
required
Availability Zone for Public Subnet A (e.g. us-east-1a). Must be a valid AZ within aws_region.
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availability_zone_2
string
required
Availability Zone for Public Subnet B (e.g. us-east-1b). Should differ from availability_zone_1 to achieve multi-AZ high availability.

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Compute

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instance_type
string
required
EC2 instance type for all three servers — both Node.js instances and the MongoDB instance (e.g. t2.micro for AWS Free Tier eligibility).
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node_instance_count
number
required
Number of Node.js application servers to provision. Default in the example is 2, which matches the two public subnets and provides basic load-balanced redundancy.

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Access Control

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allowed_ssh_ip
string
required
The single public IP address (in CIDR /32 notation) that is permitted to connect to EC2 instances over SSH port 22 (e.g. 203.0.113.42/32). Run curl ifconfig.me to find your public IP.

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Complete Example File

The following is the complete terraform.tfvars.example file shipped with the project. Copy it to terraform.tfvars and replace YOUR_IP/32 with your actual public IP before deploying: 
project_name        = "terraform-mean"
environment         = "lab"
aws_region          = "us-east-1"

vpc_cidr            = "10.0.0.0/16"
public_subnet_1_cidr  = "10.0.1.0/24"
public_subnet_2_cidr  = "10.0.2.0/24"
private_subnet_cidr   = "10.0.3.0/24"

availability_zone_1 = "us-east-1a"
availability_zone_2 = "us-east-1b"

instance_type       = "t2.micro"
node_instance_count = 2

allowed_ssh_ip = "TU_IP_PUBLICA/32" # curl ifconfig.me para obtener tu ip publica

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Common Resource Tags

The locals.tf file defines a common_tags map that is applied to every AWS resource via the provider’s default_tags block in provider.tf. You do not need to add tags manually to individual resources. 
common_tags = {
  Project     = var.project_name   # e.g. "terraform-mean"
  Environment = var.environment    # e.g. "lab"
  ManagedBy   = "Terraform"
}
These tags make it straightforward to filter and audit costs in AWS Cost Explorer or find all resources belonging to the project in the AWS console.
With both configuration files in place, you are ready to initialize, plan, and apply. Head to the deploy step next.Deploy the Infrastructure →

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