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Quickstart: Use Terraform to create an Azure Automation account

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In this quickstart, you create an Azure Automation account and use Terraform to assign a "Reader" role to the account. An Automation account is a cloud-based service that provides a secure environment for running runbooks, which are scripts that automate processes. The account can automate frequent, time-consuming, and error-prone tasks that are managed in the cloud. This Automation account is created within an Azure resource group, which is a container that holds related resources for an Azure solution. Additionally, a "Reader" role is assigned to the Automation account, granting the subscription permission to view all resources in an Automation account but not make any changes.

Terraform enables the definition, preview, and deployment of cloud infrastructure. Using Terraform, you create configuration files using HCL syntax. The HCL syntax allows you to specify the cloud provider - such as Azure - and the elements that make up your cloud infrastructure. After you create your configuration files, you create an execution plan that allows you to preview your infrastructure changes before they're deployed. Once you verify the changes, you apply the execution plan to deploy the infrastructure.

In this article, you learn how to:

  • Create an Azure resource group with a unique name.
  • Generate a random string for unique naming of the Azure resources.
  • Create an Automation account, and enable public network access.
  • Retrieve the current Azure subscription.
  • Retrieve the role definition for "Reader".
  • Assign the "Reader" role to the Automation account.
  • Output the names of the created resource group and Automation account.

Prerequisites

Implement the Terraform code

Note

The sample code for this article is located in the Azure Terraform GitHub repo. You can view the log file containing the test results from current and previous versions of Terraform.

See more articles and sample code showing how to use Terraform to manage Azure resources.

  1. Create a directory in which to test and run the sample Terraform code, and make it the current directory.

  2. Create a file named main.tf, and insert the following code:

    resource "random_pet" "rg_name" {
  prefix = var.resource_group_name_prefix
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "rg" {
  location = var.resource_group_location
  name     = random_pet.rg_name.id
}

resource "random_string" "azurerm_automation_account_name" {
  length  = 13
  lower   = true
  numeric = false
  special = false
  upper   = false
}

resource "azurerm_automation_account" "example" {
  name                = coalesce(var.automation_account_name, "autoacc-${random_string.azurerm_automation_account_name.result}")
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.rg.location
  sku_name            = "Basic"
  identity {
    type         = "SystemAssigned"
  }

  public_network_access_enabled = true
}

data "azurerm_subscription" "current" {}

data "azurerm_role_definition" "contributor" {
  name = "Contributor"
}

resource "azurerm_role_assignment" "example" {
  scope              = data.azurerm_subscription.current.id
  role_definition_name = "Contributor"
  principal_id       = azurerm_automation_account.example.identity[0].principal_id
}

  3. Create a file named outputs.tf, and insert the following code:

    output "resource_group_name" {
  value = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
}

output "automation_account_name" {
  value = azurerm_automation_account.example.name
}

  4. Create a file named providers.tf, and insert the following code:

    terraform {
  required_version = ">=1.0"

  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~>3.0"
    }
    random = {
      source  = "hashicorp/random"
      version = "~>3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

  5. Create a file named variables.tf, and insert the following code:

    variable "resource_group_name_prefix" {
  type        = string
  default     = "rg"
  description = "Prefix of the resource group name that's combined with a random ID so name is unique in your Azure subscription."
}

variable "resource_group_location" {
  type        = string
  default     = "eastus"
  description = "Location of the resource group."
}

variable "automation_account_name" {
  type        = string
  description = "The name of the Automation Account resource. The value will be randomly generated if blank."
  default     = ""
}

Initialize Terraform

Run terraform init to initialize the Terraform deployment. This command downloads the Azure provider required to manage your Azure resources.

terraform init -upgrade

Key points:

  • The -upgrade parameter upgrades the necessary provider plugins to the newest version that complies with the configuration's version constraints.

Create a Terraform execution plan

Run terraform plan to create an execution plan.

terraform plan -out main.tfplan

Key points:

  • The terraform plan command creates an execution plan, but doesn't execute it. Instead, it determines what actions are necessary to create the configuration specified in your configuration files. This pattern allows you to verify whether the execution plan matches your expectations before making any changes to actual resources.
  • The optional -out parameter allows you to specify an output file for the plan. Using the -out parameter ensures that the plan you reviewed is exactly what is applied.

Apply a Terraform execution plan

Run terraform apply to apply the execution plan to your cloud infrastructure.

terraform apply main.tfplan

Key points:

  • The example terraform apply command assumes you previously ran terraform plan -out main.tfplan.
  • If you specified a different filename for the -out parameter, use that same filename in the call to terraform apply.
  • If you didn't use the -out parameter, call terraform apply without any parameters.

Verify the results

  1. Get the Azure resource group name.

    resource_group_name=$(terraform output -raw resource_group_name)

  2. Get the Automation account name.

    automation_account_name=$(terraform output -raw automation_account_name)

  3. Run az automation account show to view the Automation account.

    az automation account show --name $automation_account_name --resource-group $resource_group_name

Clean up resources

When you no longer need the resources created via Terraform, do the following steps:

  1. Run terraform plan and specify the destroy flag.

    terraform plan -destroy -out main.destroy.tfplan

    Key points:

    • The terraform plan command creates an execution plan, but doesn't execute it. Instead, it determines what actions are necessary to create the configuration specified in your configuration files. This pattern allows you to verify whether the execution plan matches your expectations before making any changes to actual resources.
    • The optional -out parameter allows you to specify an output file for the plan. Using the -out parameter ensures that the plan you reviewed is exactly what is applied.

  2. Run terraform apply to apply the execution plan.

    terraform apply main.destroy.tfplan

Troubleshoot Terraform on Azure

Troubleshoot common problems when using Terraform on Azure.

Next steps

In this Quickstart, you created an Automation account. Explore articles about Automation accounts to learn more.

To use managed identities with your Automation account, continue to:

Tutorial: Create Automation PowerShell runbook using managed identity