How to Import an Azure API Management into Terraform

Import Azure API Management with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure API Management resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure API Management to managed Terraform.

terraback scan all azure --subscription-id YOUR_ID

terraback azure import --method bulk

The Terraform import block

Terraback emits a Terraform 1.5+ import block like the one below. Because the block lives in your configuration, the import is reviewable in a pull request and repeatable across environments.

import {
  to = azurerm_api_management.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/prod-apim"
}

Example azurerm_api_management configuration

Here is a realistic Azure API Management block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "azurerm_api_management" "main" {
  name                = "prod-apim"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  location            = "eastus"
  publisher_name      = "Contoso"
  publisher_email     = "apiteam@contoso.com"
  sku_name            = "Developer_1"
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure API Management

• The ARM type segment is the singular 'service', not 'services': .../Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/<name>.
• APIs, products, policies, named values, and backends are each separate azurerm_api_management_* resources and are not imported with the service.
• Creating or destroying an API Management instance can take 30-45 minutes; importing avoids that, but plan changes that force replacement are costly.
• sku_name combines tier and capacity (for example Developer_1, Premium_2); it is not returned in the same shape the API uses internally.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the azurerm_api_management block by hand, then run terraform import azurerm_api_management.example <import-id> for every resource, one at a time. That works for a handful of resources, but it does not scale: you author all the HCL yourself and repeat the command for each item. Terraback generates the HCL and the import blocks for your whole account in one pass.

Import other Azure resources