Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Azure Resources with Terraform and GitHub

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating Azure resources using Terraform and GitHub, using GitHub Actions for automation.

Links:

Install | Terraform | HashiCorp Developer

hashicorp/azurerm | Terraform Registry

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🚀 Step-by-Step Guide: Azure + Terraform + GitHub

🧰 Prerequisites

• Azure Subscription

• GitHub Account

• Terraform installed locally (for testing/debugging)

• Azure CLI installed (for initial setup)

• Visual Studio Code (VSC): Installed on your local machine

Here's my Terraform code tidied up for better readability, consistent formatting, and indentation:

hclCopyEditterraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "4.21.1"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
  subscription_id = "your subscriptionID"
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "test" {
  name     = "acctestrg"
  location = "West US 2"
}

resource "azurerm_virtual_network" "test" {
  name                = "acctvn"
  address_space       = ["10.0.0.0/16"]
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
}

resource "azurerm_subnet" "test" {
  name                 = "acctsub"
  resource_group_name  = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
  virtual_network_name = azurerm_virtual_network.test.name
  address_prefixes     = ["10.0.2.0/24"]
}

resource "azurerm_public_ip" "test" {
  name                = "publicIPForLB"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
  allocation_method   = "Static"
}

resource "azurerm_lb" "test" {
  name                = "loadBalancer"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.test.name

  frontend_ip_configuration {
    name                 = "publicIPAddress"
    public_ip_address_id = azurerm_public_ip.test.id
  }
}

resource "azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool" "test" {
  name            = "BackEndAddressPool"
  loadbalancer_id = azurerm_lb.test.id
}

resource "azurerm_network_interface" "test" {
  count               = 2
  name                = "acctni${count.index}"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.test.name

  ip_configuration {
    name                          = "testConfiguration"
    subnet_id                     = azurerm_subnet.test.id
    private_ip_address_allocation = "Dynamic"
  }
}

resource "azurerm_managed_disk" "test" {
  count               = 2
  name                = "datadisk_existing_${count.index}"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
  storage_account_type = "Standard_LRS"
  create_option       = "Empty"
  disk_size_gb        = 1023
}

resource "azurerm_availability_set" "avset" {
  name                         = "avset"
  location                     = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  resource_group_name          = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
  platform_fault_domain_count  = 2
  platform_update_domain_count = 2
  managed                      = true
}

resource "azurerm_virtual_machine" "test" {
  count                 = 2
  name                  = "acctvm${count.index}"
  location              = azurerm_resource_group.test.location
  availability_set_id   = azurerm_availability_set.avset.id
  resource_group_name   = azurerm_resource_group.test.name
  network_interface_ids = [element(azurerm_network_interface.test.*.id, count.index)]
  vm_size               = "Standard_DS1_v2"

  # Uncomment to delete disks on VM deletion
  # delete_os_disk_on_termination   = true
  # delete_data_disks_on_termination = true

  storage_image_reference {
    publisher = "Canonical"
    offer     = "UbuntuServer"
    sku       = "16.04-LTS"
    version   = "latest"
  }

  storage_os_disk {
    name              = "myosdisk${count.index}"
    caching           = "ReadWrite"
    create_option     = "FromImage"
    managed_disk_type = "Standard_LRS"
  }

  storage_data_disk {
    name              = "datadisk_new_${count.index}"
    managed_disk_type = "Standard_LRS"
    create_option     = "Empty"
    lun               = 0
    disk_size_gb      = 1023
  }

  storage_data_disk {
    name            = element(azurerm_managed_disk.test.*.name, count.index)
    managed_disk_id = element(azurerm_managed_disk.test.*.id, count.index)
    create_option   = "Attach"
    lun             = 1
    disk_size_gb    = element(azurerm_managed_disk.test.*.disk_size_gb, count.index)
  }

  os_profile {
    computer_name  = "hostname"
    admin_username = "testadmin"
    admin_password = "Password1234!"
  }

  os_profile_linux_config {
    disable_password_authentication = false
  }

  tags = {
    environment = "staging"
  }
}

---

1. Open powersell as Administrator. Intall terraform

   

2. If not installed then run these code following steps:

   The error you're seeing indicates that the choco command (from Chocolatey, a Windows package manager) is either not installed or not added to your system's PATH.

   ✅ Step 1: Install Chocolatey

   1. Open PowerShell as Administrator.

   2. Run the following command to install Chocolatey:

    powershellCopyEditSet-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; `
    [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; `
    iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

This will download and install Chocolatey.

---

✅ Step 2: Verify Chocolatey Installation

After installation completes:

1. Close and reopen PowerShell.

2. Run:

    powershellCopyEditchoco --version

If it returns a version number, Chocolatey is installed correctly.

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✅ Step 3: Install Terraform

Now you can install Terraform with:

    powershellCopyEditchoco install terraform

---

Would you like an alternative method to install Terraform without using Chocolatey?

1. Install Terraform On Windows

A. Go to the official Terraform Website as seen in the Image - "Select" "Windows" Operating System to install Terraform

B. "Select" "Windows" Operating Systems and "Click On" "386 version"

Launc VScode and create Terraform Extension

Test to see that Terraform is fully Installed

Create a New file named main.tf and Insert terraform default code from hashicorp/azurerm | Terraform Registry

Goto Portal.azure and copy Subscription and paste on VScode

Go to Terminal, Open new Terminal and run the code: terraform init

Copy and paste te remainin code from terrafrom displayed above from line 15

On termininal run: terraform plan -out main.tf

Step 1: 🔐 Create an Azure Service Principal

This is used by Terraform in GitHub Actions to authenticate to Azure.

bashCopyEditaz ad sp create-for-rbac --name "terraform-sp" --role="Contributor" \
  --scopes="/subscriptions/<SUBSCRIPTION_ID>" \
  --sdk-auth

Replace <SUBSCRIPTION_ID> with your Azure subscription ID.

Copy the JSON output. You’ll save this in GitHub later as a secret.

---

Step 2: 📁 Prepare Your Terraform Configuration

Here’s an example main.tf to deploy a basic Azure Resource Group:

hclCopyEditprovider "azurerm" {
  features = {}
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" {
  name     = "example-resources"
  location = "East US"
}

Other common files:

• variables.tf: define variables.

• terraform.tfvars: set values for variables.

• outputs.tf: define output values.

---

Step 3: 💾 Push Terraform Code to GitHub

Structure:

bashCopyEdit/my-terraform-repo
  ├── main.tf
  ├── variables.tf
  ├── terraform.tfvars
  └── outputs.tf

Commit and push this to a GitHub repo.

---

Step 4: 🔐 Add GitHub Secrets

In your GitHub repo:

• Go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions

• Add a secret:

  • Name: AZURE_CREDENTIALS

  • Value: Paste the full JSON output from Step 1

---

Step 5: ⚙️ Create a GitHub Actions Workflow

Create .github/workflows/deploy.yml:

yamlCopyEditname: Terraform Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  terraform:
    name: 'Terraform Plan and Apply'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v3

    - name: Set up Terraform
      uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v3

    - name: Terraform Init
      run: terraform init

    - name: Terraform Plan
      run: terraform plan

    - name: Terraform Apply
      run: terraform apply -auto-approve

    - name: Azure Login
      uses: azure/login@v1
      with:
        creds: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CREDENTIALS }}

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Step 6: ✅ Commit & Push Workflow

Push the workflow file to GitHub. It will automatically run on every push to the main branch.

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Step 7: 🎉 Monitor Workflow & Validate in Azure

• Go to Actions tab in GitHub to monitor the deployment.

• Go to the Azure portal and confirm the resource group (or other resources) was created.

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Would you like an example that includes more advanced Terraform modules (like creating an AKS cluster or Azure App Service)?