How Do I Automate DNS Record Creation for My DigitalOcean Droplets Using Terraform?

Hey there! 👋

Setting up DNS records with Terraform on DigitalOcean is super straightforward and can save you a lot of time.

If you just want a basic setup, you can manage your domain and add an A record to point to your Droplet’s IP without needing any extra configurations.

Here’s an example:

# Create the domain in DigitalOcean
resource "digitalocean_domain" "example" {
  name = "example.com"  # Replace with your domain name
}

# Add an A record for www.example.com
resource "digitalocean_record" "www" {
  domain = digitalocean_domain.example.id
  type   = "A"
  name   = "www"                            # This makes www.example.com
  value  = "192.168.0.11"                   # Replace with your Droplet's IP
}

This will create a domain (example.com) and set up an A record for www.example.com to point to your Droplet’s IP address. Once it’s applied, your DNS will be good to go!

If you want the A record to automatically use your Droplet’s IP address, you can reference the Droplet’s IP in the value field.

Just replace the IP with your Droplet’s ipv4_address like this:

resource "digitalocean_droplet" "my_droplet" {
  name   = "example-droplet"
  region = "nyc3"
  size   = "s-1vcpu-1gb"
  image  = "ubuntu-22-04-x64"
}

resource "digitalocean_record" "www" {
  domain = digitalocean_domain.example.id
  type   = "A"
  name   = "www"
  value  = digitalocean_droplet.my_droplet.ipv4_address  # Auto-updates with Droplet IP
}

Here are a couple of resources to help you out:

• DigitalOcean Domain Resource
• DigitalOcean Record Resource

Let me know if this helps!

If you’re new to Terraform, I would also suggest this Terraform ebook here.

- Bobby