1.1 What Is Terraform and Why Use It?

In this introductory video, you’ll get a solid understanding of what Terraform is, how it works, and why it’s one of the most powerful tools for managing cloud infrastructure. We’ll explore its origins, how it evolved, and the difference between Terraform and the open-source alternative, OpenTofu. You’ll learn why Terraform’s declarative approach makes infrastructure setup simple and consistent, how it works across multiple cloud providers like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud, and how it ensures automation and reliability through state management and the plan/apply workflow. By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand the core concepts of Infrastructure as Code and be ready to start building real-world cloud environments step by step in the upcoming hands-on labs.