Azure Terraform Backend Template

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template that creates an Azure Storage account to store Terraform state files:

• Creates a storage account with the specified name.
• Configures the storage account according to security recommendations.
• Creates a blob container with the specified name.
• Grants access to the storage account for specified user, group and service principals.
• Creates a read-only lock to prevent changes to the storage account.

Prerequisites

• Sign up for an Azure account.
• Install Azure CLI version 2.20 or later.
• Install Terraform.

Usage

Create Azure Storage account

1. Login to Azure:

   az login

2. Set active subscription:

   az account set --name <SUBSCRIPTION_NAME>

3. Create resource group:

   az group create --name <RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME> --location <LOCATION>

   Requires Azure role Contributor at subscription.

4. Create a deployment at resource group from the template URI:

   az deployment group create --name terraform-backend --resource-group <RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME> --template-uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/equinor/azure-terraform-backend-template/refs/heads/main/azuredeploy.json --parameters storageAccountName=<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>

   Requires Azure role Owner at resource group.

Configure Terraform backend

1. Create a Terraform configuration file main.tf and add the following backend configuration:

   terraform {
     backend "azurerm" {
       resource_group_name  = "<RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME>"
       storage_account_name = "<STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>"
       container_name       = "tfstate"
       key                  = "terraform.tfstate"
       use_azuread_auth     = true
     }
   }

2. Initialize Terraform backend:

   terraform init

Parameters

Name	Description	Type	Default
storageAccountName	The name of the storage account to create.	string
containerName	The name of the blob container to create.	string	tfstate
ipRules	An array of IP addresses or ranges that should be granted access to the storage account. If empty, all IP addresses and ranges will be granted access to the storage account.	array	[]
principalIds	An array of object IDs for user, group or service principals that should be granted access to the storage account.	array	[]

Outputs

Name	Description	Type
storageAccountName	The name of the storage account that was created.	string
containerName	The name of the blob container that was created.	string

References

• Store Terraform state in Azure Storage
• Terraform backend configuration for Azure Storage

Contributing

See contributing guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.