Terraform in Azure

MS Learn module: Create infrastructure with Terraform in Azure · Learning objectives: use HashiCorp Terraform with the AzureRM provider to provision and manage Azure resources, orchestrate plan/apply, and store state remotely.

Overview

Covers the cross-cloud IaC option in the path. Unlike Azure-only Bicep/ARM templates, terraform manages Azure (and other clouds) via providers, uses HCL, and tracks what it owns in a state file — which must be stored remotely and locked for team use.

Units / lessons covered

• HCL syntax: resource, data, variable, output, module
• AzureRM provider; azurerm_resource_group, azurerm_storage_account, etc.
• terraform init → plan → apply → destroy lifecycle
• Backend state on an Azure Storage account (blob) with locking; azurerm_backend
• Running Terraform in a provisioning-pipeline (Azure Pipelines/GitHub Actions) and drift detection via plan

Concepts introduced (link to term notes)

• terraform
• desired-state
• configuration-drift
• provisioning-pipeline
• infrastructure-as-code

Key terms / commands

• terraform init · plan · apply · destroy · .tf / .tfvars · azurerm provider · backend "azurerm" · terraform.tfstate · state locking

Hands-on / what to try

Write a main.tf creating a resource group + storage account, terraform init/plan/apply, then terraform state list and terraform plan again to see it converge. Manually delete/resize a resource in the Portal and re-run plan to observe drift.

Exam focus

• State file ownership and remote backend + locking is the classic Terraform-on-Azure exam point (Storage account as backend).
• plan = preview + drift detector; apply = reconcile to desired-state.
• Contrast: Bicep/ARM have no state file (Azure is the source of truth); Terraform keeps explicit state.

Related

Path MOC · intro-infrastructure-as-code · use-bicep-arm · configuration-and-drift