How to Import an Azure Storage File Share into Terraform

Import Azure Storage File Share with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Storage resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Storage File Share 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_storage_share.data
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/prodassets/fileServices/default/shares/data"
}

Example azurerm_storage_share configuration

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

resource "azurerm_storage_share" "data" {
  name               = "data"
  storage_account_id = azurerm_storage_account.assets.id
  quota              = 100
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Storage File Share

• Provider 4.x uses storage_account_id and imports by the ARM resource ID (.../fileServices/default/shares/<name>); older versions used storage_account_name and the https://<account>.file.core.windows.net/<share> data-plane URL.
• quota is the maximum size in GB and is required; for premium file shares it must be at least 100.
• Directories and files inside the share are separate azurerm_storage_share_directory / azurerm_storage_share_file resources.
• Reading or importing the share requires data-plane access to the storage account, not just control-plane RBAC.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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