What feature prevents multiple admins from changing the Terraform state at the same time?

What feature prevents multiple admins from changing the Terraform state at the same time?

• A. Version Control
• B. Backend Types
• C. State Locking
• D. Provider Constraints

Answer: (C)

State locking is the mechanism that prevents multiple admins from changing the Terraform state at the same time. When a plan or apply runs against a remote backend, Terraform attempts to acquire a lock on the state. If another operation holds the lock, the new operation waits or fails, ensuring only a single process can modify the state at once. This avoids race conditions and state corruption. The lock is released automatically when the operation finishes; on crashes, you may need to unlock manually with care. Some backends implement locking via an external store (like DynamoDB for S3 backends) or via Terraform Cloud/Enterprise workspaces. Version control deals with configuration management, not runtime state locking; backend type determines where state is stored (and may influence locking), while provider constraints control provider versions and has no direct role in locking.

State locking is the mechanism that prevents multiple admins from changing the Terraform state at the same time. When a plan or apply runs against a remote backend, Terraform attempts to acquire a lock on the state. If another operation holds the lock, the new operation waits or fails, ensuring only a single process can modify the state at once. This avoids race conditions and state corruption. The lock is released automatically when the operation finishes; on crashes, you may need to unlock manually with care. Some backends implement locking via an external store (like DynamoDB for S3 backends) or via Terraform Cloud/Enterprise workspaces. Version control deals with configuration management, not runtime state locking; backend type determines where state is stored (and may influence locking), while provider constraints control provider versions and has no direct role in locking.