How To Import An Existing Azure Resource Into Terraform Cloud

Azure Cloud Terraform

Importing existing Azure resources into Terraform Cloud should be straight-forward, using the terraform CLI to import them is not, but using the new import {} code blocks is.

Authored by Corey Regan

Published on March 1, 2023

3 min read

This article was written before Terraform introduced import {} blocks in v1.5.0, and was centered around using the terraform import CLI command. This article has been updated to include examples of the simpler import {} code blocks. You can skip most of this post by simply adding import {} blocks to your code. You can leave them in once imported, or comment them out, or delete them.

There are times when you have written code to deploy a resource to Azure but that resource was already created. In this instance, Terraform Cloud is unable to create the resource and tells you to instead import it into the Terraform state. The process is similar to manually editing Terraform Cloud state file, with the exception that you do not need to upload anything back to Terraform Cloud once the resource is imported.

In short, the procedure using the terraform CLI involves:

Reconfiguring the Terraform Cloud Workspace's main terraform {} code block on your local machine to use the backend "remote" {} backend instead of the cloud {} backend
Initializing the Terraform code on your local machine
Importing the resource into Terraform Cloud
Restoring your original backend and re-initializing it, locally

Note: This assumes you already have the Terraform CLI installed on your local machine. If you don't, follow these instructions to set it up.

Procedure Using Terraform import Blocks

As of Terraform 1.5.0, you can now code an import {} block instead of running a terraform import command.

terraform

import {
  id = "/subscriptions/my_subscription_id/resourceGroups/my_resource_group_name/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/my_cluster_name"
  to = azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.my_cluster_name
}

Procedure Using Terraform's CLI

Ensure you have a copy of the Terraform code downloaded to your machine

In your main terraform block (I like to use providers.tf), temporarily comment out the cloud {} code block

terraform:providers.tf

terraform {
#  cloud {
#    hostname = "app.terraform.io"
#    organization = "my_organization"
#    workspaces {
#      tags = ["my_app"]
#    }
#  }
}

Still in providers.tf, configure a backend "remote" {} code block inside the main terraform {} code block

terraform:providers.tf

terraform {
#  cloud {
#    hostname = "app.terraform.io"
#    organization = "my_organization"
#    workspaces {
#      tags = ["my_app"]
#    }
#  }
 
  backend "remote" {
    hostname = "app.terraform.io"
    organization = "my_organization"
    workspaces {
      name = "my_workspace_name"
    }
  }
}

Execute on your machine: terraform init -reconfigure

Import the resource using terraform import resource.resource_name_here /resource/id/here

terraform:Example importing an Azure AKS Kubernetes cluster

terraform import azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.my_cluster_name /subscriptions/my_subscription_id/resourceGroups/my_resource_group_name/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/my_cluster_name

terraform:Expressed as an import {} code block

import {
  id = "/subscriptions/my_subscription_id/resourceGroups/my_resource_group_name/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/my_cluster_name"
  to = azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.my_cluster_name
}

If the resource lives inside a module, you must include the module in the resource path. For example, if the workspace calls on module my_module to spin up a k8s cluster, you would execute:

terraform import module.my_module.azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.my_cluster_name /subscriptions/my_subscription_id/resourceGroups/my_resource_group_name/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/my_cluster_name

terraform:Expressed as an import {} code block

import {
  id = "/subscriptions/my_subscription_id/resourceGroups/my_resource_group_name/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/my_cluster_name"
  to = azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.my_cluster_name
}

Remove the temporary backend "remote" {} code block from providers.tf and uncomment the original cloud {} code block:

terraform

terraform {
  cloud {
    hostname = "app.terraform.io"
    organization = "my_organization"
    workspaces {
      tags = ["my_app"]
    }
  }
}

Execute on your machine: terraform init -reconfigure