How to Import an Azure NAT Gateway into Terraform

Import Azure NAT Gateway with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Networking resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure NAT Gateway 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_nat_gateway.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/natGateways/prod-natgw"
}

Example azurerm_nat_gateway configuration

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

resource "azurerm_nat_gateway" "main" {
  name                = "prod-natgw"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  location            = "eastus"
  sku_name            = "Standard"
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure NAT Gateway

• Public IP and prefix associations are separate azurerm_nat_gateway_public_ip_association / azurerm_nat_gateway_public_ip_prefix_association resources.
• The subnet association is a separate azurerm_subnet_nat_gateway_association resource.
• sku_name only supports Standard; the value is effectively fixed.
• A NAT gateway is zonal; the zones argument is immutable after creation.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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