---
title: "Key Terms"
canonical: "https://docs.infoblox.com/space/DeploymentGuideTerraformNIOSProvider/807043493/Key%20Terms"
format: markdown
---
- **Provider:** Plugins for Terraform that interact with other tools such as cloud providers, SaaS applications, and other APIS.
- **Terraform Configuration:** A document written in the Terraform language, which tells Terraform how to manage a collection of infrastructure.
- **Resource Block:** Defines one or more infrastructure objects in a Terraform configuration. Each provider contains a collection of resources for managing its associated infrastructure.
- **Data Source:** Used in a Terraform configuration to pull in data from another source to be used by Terraform. Providers can include data sources to access information from their associated infrastructure.
- **Terraform Registry:** A repository of providers for Terraform. The registry is directly integrated with Terraform, allowing you to specify providers in your configuration files.