How to Import an Azure Service Bus Namespace into Terraform

Import Azure Service Bus Namespace with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Service Bus resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Service Bus Namespace 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_servicebus_namespace.main
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.ServiceBus/namespaces/prod-sbns"
}

Example azurerm_servicebus_namespace configuration

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

resource "azurerm_servicebus_namespace" "main" {
  name                = "prod-sbns"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  location            = "eastus"
  sku                 = "Standard"
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Service Bus Namespace

• The namespace name must be globally unique; it forms the *.servicebus.windows.net hostname.
• Queues, topics, and subscriptions inside the namespace are separate azurerm_servicebus_* resources.
• capacity (messaging units) only applies to the Premium SKU; partitioning and certain features differ by SKU.
• Default and custom authorization rules are separate azurerm_servicebus_namespace_authorization_rule resources; the connection strings are sensitive.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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