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.