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Quickstart: Create an Azure confidential ledger using Terraform

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In this quickstart, you create an Azure resource group and a confidential ledger using Terraform. Azure confidential ledger is a fully managed service that provides a tamper-proof register for storing sensitive data. It's built on Azure confidential computing, which uses hardware-based trusted execution environments to protect data from threats even when it's in use. This ledger is designed to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of the data it stores, making it ideal for use cases that require high levels of data protection. The resources created in this script include the Azure confidential ledger and an Azure resource group.

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.

  • Generate a random pet name for the resource group.
  • Create an Azure resource group with the generated name.
  • Retrieve the current Azure client configuration.
  • Generate a random string for the Azure confidential ledger name.
  • Create an Azure confidential ledger with the generated name and assign it to the resource group.
  • Assign an Azure AD based service principal to the confidential ledger.
  • Tag the confidential ledger as an example.
  • Output the resource group name, confidential ledger name, confidential ledger type, and confidential ledger role name.
  • Specify the required version of Terraform and the required providers.
  • Define the Azure provider with no additional features.
  • Define variables for the resource group name prefix, resource group location, confidential ledger name, confidential ledger type, and confidential ledger role name.

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
}

data "azurerm_client_config" "current" {
}

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

resource "azurerm_confidential_ledger" "example" {
  name                = coalesce(var.confidential_ledger_name, "ledger-${random_string.azurerm_confidential_ledger_name.result}")
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.rg.location
  ledger_type         = var.confidential_ledger_type

  azuread_based_service_principal {
    principal_id     = data.azurerm_client_config.current.object_id
    tenant_id        = data.azurerm_client_config.current.tenant_id
    ledger_role_name = var.confidential_ledger_role_name
  }

  tags = {
    IsExample = "True"
  }
}

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

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

output "confidential_ledger_name" {
  value = azurerm_confidential_ledger.example.name
}

output "confidential_ledger_type" {
  value = azurerm_confidential_ledger.example.ledger_type
}

output "confidential_ledger_role_name" {
  value = azurerm_confidential_ledger.example.azuread_based_service_principal[0].ledger_role_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 "confidential_ledger_name" {
  type        = string
  description = "The name of the confidential ledger resource. The value will be randomly generated if blank."
  default     = ""
}

variable "confidential_ledger_type" {
  type        = string
  default     = "Public"
  validation {
    condition     = contains(["Public", "Private"], var.confidential_ledger_type)
    error_message = "The confidential ledger type value must be one of the following: Public, Private."
  }
  description = "Type of the confidential ledger."
}

variable "confidential_ledger_role_name" {
  type        = string
  default     = "Administrator"
  description = "Role name for the confidential ledger."
}

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

Azure CLI

Run az confidential-ledger show to view the Azure confidential ledger.

az confidentialledger show --ledger-name <ledger_name> --resource-group <resource_group_name>

You must replace <ledger_name> with the name of your Azure confidential ledger and <resource_group_name> with the name of your resource group.

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

See more articles about Azure confidential ledger.