How to store Terraform State in Azure Storage Account

This blog post, based on a YouTube video tutorial, explores how to store Terraform state in a remote Azure storage account.

Why Store Terraform State Remotely?

• Local storage creates issues when working in a team.
• Two team members modifying the same state file can lead to conflicts.
• Local storage deletion can cause problems.

Benefits of Remote Storage:

• Centralized location accessible by all team members.
• Improved collaboration and state management.

How to Store Terraform State in Azure Storage

1. Prerequisites:

• Azure subscription
• Azure storage account
• Terraform installed

1. Configure Backend with Terraform:

• Create a backend.tf file.
• Specify the storage account details:
• Resource group name
• Storage account name
• Container name
• Key (optional)

1. Set Access Key as Environment Variable:

• Use Azure CLI to retrieve the storage account access key.
• Set the key as an environment variable for Terraform to access the storage account.

1. Initialize Terraform:
2. Manage Your Resources:

• Use terraform plan and terraform apply to plan and apply infrastructure changes.
• The state file is created and stored in the Azure storage container.

Verifying Remote Storage:

• Access the Azure storage account container.
• The container should contain a terraform.tfstate file representing the Terraform state.
• Remote storage ensures state locking and consistency.
• Consider using Azure Key Vault for secure storage and access control of the storage account key.

Call to Action:

• Subscribe to Nilesh Gule’s channel (https://youtube.com/@nilesh-gule) for more Terraform tutorials.
• Leave comments suggesting future video topics.

Additional Resources

• Terraform: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform
• Terraform official provider for Azure: https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/azurerm/latest
• Terraform documentation for Azure Resource Group Module: https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/azurerm/latest/docs/resources/resource_group
• YouTube video on how to install Terraform using Homebrew: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oURFbTZLMl0
• YouTube video on how to provision Azure Resource Group using Terraform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsibSX00ylM
• YouTube video on how to cross reference resources in Terraform: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs7Bm0cqMsA
• YouTube video on how to manage variables in Terraform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oArutYYvQ_Y
• Github repository with the source code: https://github.com/NileshGule
• Terraform videos playlist: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lSeauTc6VKEW9XNFLAHaYIC7U01rWJ2Q

Originally published at https://www.handsonarchitect.com on September 20, 2024.