In this hands-on workshop, we'll explore how to deploy resources to azure using terraform. First we'll peek into the basics of terraform (HCL language, CLI, providers, provisioners, modules, plans, state files etc). Then in our hand-on exercise, we'll author terraform scripts to deploy virtual networks, virtual machines and app services to azure. Finally we'll walk through some azure tooling & integrations for terraform (azure cloud shell, hosted images in azure devops, azure marketplace images, VSCode extensions etc). Author: Mithun Shanbhag

1. twitter: @MithunShanbhag
blog: mithunshanbhag.github.io

2. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Why Terraform?
1. Deployment Alternatives forAzure
1. AzurePortal
2. AzureRM Templates
3. AzurePowerShell
4. AzureCLI
5. AzureManagement SDK/REST
6. Pulumi
2. TerraformAdvantages
1. Facilitates multi-cloud deployments
2. Integration with multiple cloud providers (e.g. azure, aws,gcp)
3. Integration with multiple config managers (e.g. ansible, chef, puppet)
4. Execution plans (dryrun)
5. Open Source
3. TerraformDisadvantages
1. HCL Language quirks
2. Slightly lagging support for latest & greatest cloud resources

3. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Installation
1. Installation
1. Windows | Linux | MacOS
2. Addterraform.exe location toPATH
2. Verify byrunning terraform version
1. Latest available version is 12.7
3. AzureCLI
4. AzureTerraform VSCodeextension

4. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Terminology
1. Providersrepresent acloud provider (e.g. azurerm,aws) oralocal provider (e.g. tls).
1. Aprovider offers multiple resources & datasources.
2. Resources can be invoked tocreate/update infrastructure locally oron the cloud.
3. Data Sources are“read-only”resources.
4. Scripts/configuration areTerraform (.tf) script files in HCL language.
5. Modules arereusable libraries that allow creation of complex resources.
6. Provisioners areused toexecute scripts on a local orremote machine.
7. State is representation ofthe infrastructure created/updated byterraform.
1. By default state is stored in a local file (terraform.tfstate) but can alsobe stored in a remote backend.

5. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Providers
1. Terraformproviders forAzure
1. AzureRM provider
2. AzureAD provider
3. AzureStack provider
2. Authenticate with
1. AzureCLI
2. AzureService Principal
3. AzureManaged Service Identity
3. Other useful providers
1. TLS (create keys, certs, secrets)
2. Null (run provisioners)
3. Local (create local files)
4. Template (create strings from templates)

6. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Resources& Data Sources
1. Resource meta-arguments
1. depends_on
2. count
3. for_each
4. lifecycle

7. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
Modules
1. Modules arelibraries/packages that allow you tocreate multiple resources
together.
2. Module can be loaded from
1. Local paths
2. Terraformregistry
3. Source code repositories
4. Storage blobs/buckets
3. Typical module structure
1. Input variables
2. Output values
3. Resources

8. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
DEMO

9. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
CLI
.tf file(s)
.tfstate file(s)
Execution plan.terraform folder
Terraform init
Initialize directory containing
terraform scripts.
Terraform apply
Applies execution plan to azure
resources.
Azure Resource
Terraform plan
Generate an execution plan.
Terraform refresh
Update local state file from azure
resources.
Terraform validate
Validates the Terraform scripts.
Terraform destroy
Destroys terraform-managed
azure resources.

10. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
HCL Language
1. Data types
1. Primitives: string, number, bool
2. Collections: list, map,set
3. Structural: object, tuple
2. Variables
1. Input
2. Local
3. Output

11. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
HCL Language
3. Built-in Functions
1. Numeric: E.g.abs(), ceil(), floor(),log, max(),min()
2. String: E.g. format(), join(), upper(), lower(), split(), substr()
3. Collection: E.g.contains(), concat(), length(), reverse(), sort()
4. Encoding: E.g.base64decode(), base64encode(), urlencode()
5. Filesystem: E.g. abspath(), dirname(), file(), fileexists(), templatefile()
6. Date/Time: E.g.formatdate(), timestamp()
7. Hash/Crypto: E.g. base64sha256(), md5(), rsadecrypt(), uuid()
8. IP/Network: E.g. cidrhost(), cidrnetmask(), cidrsubnet()
9. TypeConversion: E.g.tolist(), toset(), tostring()

12. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
HCL Language
4. Expressions
1. Stringinterpolation
2. Template strings
3. For expressions
4. Splat expressions

13. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
DEMO

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Provisioners
1. Configureremote resources over SSH/WinRM connections
2. Commonly used provisioners:
1. file: copy files/directories from local Terraformserver tothe remote
resource
2. local_exec: runcommands on local Terraformserver
3. remote_exec: run commands on remote resource)
3. Generally used with “null_resource” provider(with “trigger”argument)

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Integration With Azure
1. Terraformproviders forAzure
1. AzureRM provider
2. AzureAD provider
3. AzureStack provider
2. AzureRM Modules
3. AzureCloudShell Integration
4. AzureMarketplace Image
5. AzureDevOps: Microsoft Hosted Ubuntu Agent
6. AzureRM Backend
7. AzureTerraform VSCodeextension

16. twitter: @MithunShanbhagblog: mithunshanbhag.github.io
FurtherReading
1. Terraformwebsite
2. Terraformon Azure documentation
3. Terraformproviders forAzure:
1. AzureRM provider (github source, github samples)
2. AzureAD provider (github source, github samples)
3. AzureStack provider (githubsource)
4. AzureRM modules
5. AzureTerraform VSCodeextension
6. Terraformtutorial