How to Import an Google Compute VPN Tunnel into Terraform

Import Google Compute VPN Tunnel with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Cloud VPN resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Google Compute VPN Tunnel to managed Terraform.

terraback scan all gcp --project my-gcp-project

terraback gcp 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 = google_compute_vpn_tunnel.onprem
  id = "projects/my-project/regions/us-central1/vpnTunnels/onprem-tunnel"
}

Example google_compute_vpn_tunnel configuration

Here is a realistic Google Compute VPN Tunnel block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "google_compute_vpn_tunnel" "onprem" {
  name               = "onprem-tunnel"
  region             = "us-central1"
  vpn_gateway        = google_compute_ha_vpn_gateway.gw.id
  peer_external_gateway = google_compute_external_vpn_gateway.peer.id
  shared_secret      = var.vpn_shared_secret
  ike_version        = 2
}

Gotchas when importing a Google Compute VPN Tunnel

• VPN tunnels are regional; the import path uses a regions/<region> segment.
• shared_secret is sensitive and never returned on import; supply it from a variable or Terraform will detect a change.
• HA VPN tunnels set vpn_gateway plus vpn_gateway_interface; classic VPN tunnels set target_vpn_gateway instead, so match the live topology.
• The associated Cloud Router, VPN gateway, and forwarding rules are separate resources that complete the connection.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the google_compute_vpn_tunnel block by hand, then run terraform import google_compute_vpn_tunnel.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 Google Cloud resources