How to Import an Azure SQL Server Security Alert Policy into Terraform

Import Azure SQL Server Security Alert Policy with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure SQL Database resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure SQL Server Security Alert Policy 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_mssql_server_security_alert_policy.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Sql/servers/prod-sql/securityAlertPolicies/Default"
}

Example azurerm_mssql_server_security_alert_policy configuration

Here is a realistic Azure SQL Server Security Alert Policy block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "azurerm_mssql_server_security_alert_policy" "main" {
  server_name         = azurerm_mssql_server.main.name
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  state               = "Enabled"
  email_addresses     = ["security@contoso.com"]
  retention_days      = 30
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure SQL Server Security Alert Policy

• The singleton suffix here is capitalized 'Default' (.../securityAlertPolicies/Default), unlike the lowercase 'default' used by the auditing policies; match the casing exactly.
• This resource (Microsoft Defender for SQL / Advanced Threat Protection) uses server_name plus resource_group_name, not a server_id, so reference the server's name attribute.
• state must be 'Enabled' or 'Disabled'; Terraback maps the source threat_detection_policy.state straight through.
• storage_account_access_key, when a storage endpoint is configured for threat reports, is sensitive and emitted as var.storage_account_key.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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