How to Import an Azure Data Factory into Terraform

Import Azure Data Factory with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Data Factory resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Data Factory 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_data_factory.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.DataFactory/factories/prod-adf"
}

Example azurerm_data_factory configuration

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

resource "azurerm_data_factory" "main" {
  name                = "prod-adf"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  location            = "eastus"

  identity {
    type = "SystemAssigned"
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Data Factory

• Pipelines, datasets, linked services, triggers, and integration runtimes are each separate azurerm_data_factory_* resources, not imported with the factory.
• Git/VSTS source-control configuration (github_configuration / vsts_configuration) is not always returned by the API; verify after import.
• The factory name must be globally unique, 3-63 characters, and is part of the managed endpoint hostnames.
• Customer-managed key encryption requires a user-assigned identity and Key Vault access configured before enabling.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the azurerm_data_factory block by hand, then run terraform import azurerm_data_factory.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