How to Import an Azure Route Table into Terraform

Import Azure Route Table 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 Table 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_table.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/routeTables/prod-rt"
}

Example azurerm_route_table configuration

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

resource "azurerm_route_table" "main" {
  name                = "prod-rt"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  location            = "eastus"

  route {
    name                   = "to-firewall"
    address_prefix         = "0.0.0.0/0"
    next_hop_type          = "VirtualAppliance"
    next_hop_in_ip_address = "10.0.0.4"
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Route Table

• Routes can be inline route blocks OR separate azurerm_route resources, but not both.
• next_hop_in_ip_address is only valid (and required) when next_hop_type is VirtualAppliance.
• Subnet associations are separate azurerm_subnet_route_table_association resources.
• Provider 4.x renamed disable_bgp_route_propagation to bgp_route_propagation_enabled (inverted boolean).

Doing it manually with terraform import

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