---
title: Initializing the Terraform Provider
slug: ps/help/en_us/vtm/terraformrg/initializing-the-terraform-provider
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-08-02T09:18:25.183Z
---

To use the Traffic Manager Terraform provider, initialize it within your Terraform template. The provider requires four arguments:

| Field Name        | Type    | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ----------------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| base\_url         | string  | The base URL of the Traffic Manager REST API. Use either a direct Traffic Manager URL, or through a Services Director (Services Director) proxy.                                                                                                   |
| username          | string  | The admin username of either the Traffic Manager or the Services Director proxy you are connecting to.                                                                                                                                             |
| password          | string  | The admin password of either the Traffic Manager or the Services Director proxy you are connecting to.                                                                                                                                             |
| verify\_ssl\_cert | boolean | If set to true, the provider checks that the Traffic Manager/Services Director provides a trusted SSL certificate when connecting to the REST API. If set to false, untrusted (for example, self-signed) certificates are accepted. Default: true. |

The following code provides examples of how to initialize the provider:

```bash
# Direct to the Traffic Manager
provider "vtm" {
   base_url = "https://192.0.2.10:9070/api"
   username = "admin"
   password = "mYvtm53cret!"
   verify_ssl_cert = true
}

# Through a Services Director proxy
provider "vtm" {
   base_url = "https://192.0.2.100:8100/api/tmcm/<VERSION>/instance/<INSTANCE_ID>"
   username = "admin"
   password = "mYsd53cret!"
   verify_ssl_cert = true
}

```