How to Import an Azure Load Balancer Rule into Terraform

Import Azure Load Balancer Rule with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Load Balancer resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Load Balancer Rule 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_lb_rule.https
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers/prod-lb/loadBalancingRules/https"
}

Example azurerm_lb_rule configuration

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

resource "azurerm_lb_rule" "https" {
  name                           = "https"
  loadbalancer_id                = azurerm_lb.prod.id
  protocol                       = "Tcp"
  frontend_port                  = 443
  backend_port                   = 443
  frontend_ip_configuration_name = "public"
  backend_address_pool_ids       = [azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool.web.id]
  probe_id                       = azurerm_lb_probe.https.id
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Load Balancer Rule

• Note the ID segment is loadBalancingRules (not lbRules); the rule imports separately from azurerm_lb.
• The rule references a frontend_ip_configuration_name that must exist on the load balancer, plus a backend pool and optional probe that are their own resources.
• frontend_ip_configuration_name is a name, not an ID, and must match the configuration defined on the azurerm_lb.
• Mixing inline rules on the load balancer with separate azurerm_lb_rule resources causes perpetual drift; choose one model.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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