How to Import an Azure Kubernetes Node Pool into Terraform

Import Azure Kubernetes Node Pool with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Kubernetes Service resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Kubernetes Node Pool 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_kubernetes_cluster_node_pool.workers
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/prod-aks/agentPools/workers"
}

Example azurerm_kubernetes_cluster_node_pool configuration

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

resource "azurerm_kubernetes_cluster_node_pool" "workers" {
  name                  = "workers"
  kubernetes_cluster_id = azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.prod.id
  vm_size               = "Standard_D2s_v3"
  node_count            = 3
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Kubernetes Node Pool

• Only additional (user) node pools are this resource; the cluster's default_node_pool is managed inline on azurerm_kubernetes_cluster and cannot be imported separately.
• The ARM segment is 'agentPools' even though the Terraform type says node_pool.
• vm_size and several settings are immutable; changing them forces the pool to be replaced.
• node_count drifts when the cluster autoscaler is enabled; use lifecycle ignore_changes on node_count in that case.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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