🖥️ From Zero to Hero: Terraform for Azure - Part 1

Introduction

Terraform is a powerful Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that enables you to define, provision, and manage Azure resources using declarative configuration files. This blog series, Zero to Hero: Terraform for Azure, will take you through Terraform from the basics to advanced topics, using hands-on examples tailored for Azure.

In this first post, we’ll focus on setting up your development environment and deploying your first resource on Azure using Terraform.

Prerequisites

Before we start, you need:

• An Azure account (a free account works fine)
• Basic knowledge of Azure (nice to have, but not required)

We’ll cover multiple setup options:

1. Local installation (best for long-term development)
2. Using Docker (best for isolated environments)

1. Setting Up the Development Environment

Option 1: Local Installation

For local development, you need to install:

1. Terraform

   • Download Terraform for your OS.

   • Verify installation:

     terraform version
     

2. Azure CLI

   • Install Azure CLI for authentication and resource management:

     • Windows:

       winget install --id Microsoft.AzureCLI -e
       

     • macOS:

       brew install azure-cli
       

     • Linux (Debian-based):

       curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
       

   • Verify installation:

     az version
     

3. Visual Studio Code

   • Install VS Code.
   • Install the Terraform extension from the Marketplace.

Option 2: Using Docker

If you prefer an isolated environment, you can use Terraform inside a Docker container.

1. Install Docker.

2. Run Terraform inside a container:

   docker run --rm -it hashicorp/terraform:latest version
   

3. To work with local files, mount a volume:

   docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/app -w /app hashicorp/terraform:latest init
   

2. Authenticating with Azure

To deploy resources, Terraform needs to authenticate with Azure.

Login using Azure CLI

1. Open a terminal and log in:

   az login
   

2. If using multiple subscriptions, set the desired one:

   az account set --subscription "<subscription-id>"
   

Using a Service Principal (For Automation)

For automation in CI/CD pipelines:

az ad sp create-for-rbac --name terraform-sp --role Contributor --scopes /subscriptions/<subscription-id> --sdk-auth

Copy the JSON output for use in Terraform.

3. Writing Your First Terraform Configuration

Let’s create a simple Terraform script to deploy an Azure Storage Account.

Step 1: Initialize a Terraform Project

1. Create a new directory:

   mkdir terraform-azure && cd terraform-azure
   

2. Create a new Terraform file:

   touch main.tf
   

Step 2: Define the Terraform Configuration

Open main.tf in VS Code and add the following:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~> 3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" {
  name     = "terraform-rg"
  location = "West Europe"
}

Step 3: Initialize Terraform

Run:

terraform init

Step 4: Preview Changes

terraform plan

Step 5: Apply the Configuration

terraform apply -auto-approve

Once completed, your resource group will be created in Azure.

4. Cleaning Up and Next Steps

To remove the deployed resources:

terraform destroy -auto-approve

Next Steps

In the next post, we’ll explore Terraform state management and remote backends.

Stay tuned for more hands-on Terraform learning! 🚀