How to Import an Azure Private DNS A Record into Terraform

Import Azure Private DNS A Record with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Private DNS resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Private DNS A 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_private_dns_a_record.db
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/privateDnsZones/internal.example.com/A/db"
}

Example azurerm_private_dns_a_record configuration

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

resource "azurerm_private_dns_a_record" "db" {
  name                = "db"
  zone_name           = "internal.example.com"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  ttl                 = 3600
  records             = ["10.0.1.10"]
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Private DNS A Record

• The ID uses the privateDnsZones path with an /A/ segment, distinct from the public dnszones path used by azurerm_dns_a_record.
• records is a list, so a single A record still wraps its IP in brackets.
• The private DNS zone imports separately as azurerm_private_dns_zone, and links to virtual networks are azurerm_private_dns_zone_virtual_network_link.
• Records auto-created by private endpoints or VNet auto-registration should be left to those features, not managed here.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the azurerm_private_dns_a_record block by hand, then run terraform import azurerm_private_dns_a_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