[SOLVED] Destroy resource using the terraform file

Destroy resource using the terraform file

I am working on a task where where the requirement is to create an RDS instance, run initial sql script on it to create databases and users.
To achieve this, I am planning two step approach

Create RDS instance

    resource "aws_db_instance" "my_db" {
    #details
    }

Launch an EC2 instance and execute SQL script which connects to the above RDS instance

    resource "aws_instance" "my_db_sql_script_runner_instance" {
    #details
    provisioner "remote-exec" {
    #run sql script
    }
    }

Now I want to delete this EC2 instance automatically once the SQL script is executed (as it's a one time task).
The code runs on CI/CD. Therefore running terraform destroy -resource <resource> is not possible. And I am not really open (and allowed) to change the existing CI/CD pipeline.

I was looking for something like resource "destroy_resource" "ec2_instance_resource" in the same terraform file. Is there any way we can acheive this?

Solution

This sort of imperative action is not something Terraform is designed to handle. Terraform is designed for long-lived infrastructure which can be changed to match what's described in the configuration over time.

Terraform is therefore not the appropriate tool for this use-case. Imperative actions like these would be better handled using imperative techniques, such as using the AWS CLI in a script or using the AWS SDK in a program you write in a programming language of your choice (assuming it has an AWS SDK available).