How to Import an Azure DNS NS Record into Terraform

Import Azure DNS NS Record with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure DNS resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure DNS NS Record 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_dns_ns_record.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/dnsZones/contoso.com/NS/subdelegation"
}

Example azurerm_dns_ns_record configuration

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

resource "azurerm_dns_ns_record" "main" {
  name                = "subdelegation"
  zone_name           = "contoso.com"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  ttl                 = 300
  records             = ["ns1-01.azure-dns.com.", "ns2-01.azure-dns.net."]
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure DNS NS Record

• The record-type segment in the import ID is the uppercase NS, not the word 'records': .../dnsZones/<zone>/NS/<name>.
• This is for a public Azure DNS zone (Microsoft.Network/dnsZones); private zones use a different resource type and ARM provider.
• records is a set of nameserver hostnames; Azure stores them with a trailing dot, so keep the dot to avoid a perpetual diff.
• The zone apex NS record (name '@') is created and managed by Azure and cannot be deleted; only use this resource for child delegations.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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