How to Import an Azure Route into Terraform

Import Azure Route 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 Route 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_route.to_firewall
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/routeTables/prod-rt/routes/to-firewall"
}

Example azurerm_route configuration

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

resource "azurerm_route" "to_firewall" {
  name                   = "to-firewall"
  resource_group_name    = "prod-rg"
  route_table_name       = "prod-rt"
  address_prefix         = "0.0.0.0/0"
  next_hop_type          = "VirtualAppliance"
  next_hop_in_ip_address = "10.0.2.4"
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Route

• A route is a child of the route table (.../routeTables/<table>/routes/<name>) and imports separately from azurerm_route_table.
• next_hop_in_ip_address is only valid (and required) when next_hop_type is VirtualAppliance; setting it otherwise is an error.
• Routes can be defined inline on the route table or as separate azurerm_route resources, but not both, or they will fight.
• System routes that Azure creates automatically are not manageable and should not be imported.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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