Quickstart: Create a storage task using Terraform

A storage task can perform operations on blobs in an Azure Storage account. As you create a task, you can define the conditions that must be met by each object (container or blob), and the operations to perform on the object. You can also identify one or more Azure Storage account targets. See What are Azure Storage Actions?

In this how-to article, you learn how to create a storage task using Terraform.

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:

Generate a random name for the resource group.
Create a new Azure resource group with the generated name.
Generate a random string to be used as the storage task name.
Calculate a future date by offsetting the current date by a certain number of days.
Create a new Azure API resource of type "Microsoft.StorageActions/storageTasks".
Specify the required providers for Terraform, including their sources and versions.
Configure the Azure provider with specific features.
Define several variables, including the location of the resource group, the prefix for the resource group name, the number of offset days, and the description of the storage task.

Prerequisites

Create an Azure account with an active subscription. You can create an account for free.
Install and configure Terraform

Implement the Terraform code

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

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

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

terraform {
  required_providers {
    azapi = {
      source  = "Azure/azapi"
      version = "~>2.0"
    }
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~>4.0"
    }
    random = {
      source  = "hashicorp/random"
      version = "~>3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {
    resource_group {
      prevent_deletion_if_contains_resources = false
    }
  }
}

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

data "azurerm_client_config" "current" {}

# Generate random resource group name
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
}

# Generate random value for the storage task name
resource "random_string" "storage_task_name" {
  length  = 8
  lower   = true
  numeric = false
  special = false
  upper   = false
}

resource "time_offset" "locked_until_date" {
  offset_days = var.offset_days
}

resource "azapi_resource" "my_terraform_task" {
  type      = "Microsoft.StorageActions/storageTasks@2023-01-01"
  name      = random_string.storage_task_name.result
  parent_id = azurerm_resource_group.rg.id
  location  = azurerm_resource_group.rg.location
  identity {
    type = "SystemAssigned"
  }
  body = {
    properties = {
      action = {
        if = {
          condition = "[[endsWith(Name, '.docx')]]"
          operations = [
            {
              name      = "SetBlobImmutabilityPolicy"
              onFailure = "break"
              onSuccess = "continue"
              parameters = {
                untilDate : time_offset.locked_until_date.rfc3339
                mode : "locked"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
      description = var.storage_task_description
      enabled     = true
    }
  }
}

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

variable "resource_group_location" {
  type        = string
  description = "Location of the resource group."
  default     = "westus"
}
variable "resource_group_name_prefix" {
  type        = string
  description = "Prefix of the resource group name that's combined with a random ID so name is unique in your Azure subscription."
  default     = "rg"
}
variable "offset_days" {
  type        = number
  description = "The number of days to lock the file."
  default     = 1
}
variable "storage_task_description" {
  type        = string
  description = "Description of the storage task"
  default     = "My terraform storage task"
}

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

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

output "storage_task_name" {
  value = azapi_resource.my_terraform_task.name
}

Important

If you're using the 4.x azurerm provider, you must explicitly specify the Azure subscription ID to authenticate to Azure before running the Terraform commands.

One way to specify the Azure subscription ID without putting it in the providers block is to specify the subscription ID in an environment variable named ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID.

For more information, see the Azure provider reference documentation.

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 PowerShell

Get the Azure resource group name.

$resource_group_name=$(terraform output -raw resource_group_name)

Get the storage task name.

$storage_task_name=$(terraform output -raw storage_task_name)

Run Get-AzStorageActionTask to get the storage task properties.

Get-AzStorageActionTask -Name $storage_task_name -ResourceGroupName $resource_group_name

Clean up resources

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

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.
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

Create and manage a storage task assignment

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Last updated on 2025-05-07

Quickstart: Create a storage task using Terraform

Prerequisites

Implement the Terraform code

Initialize Terraform

Create a Terraform execution plan

Apply a Terraform execution plan

Verify the results

Clean up resources

Troubleshoot Terraform on Azure

Next steps

Feedback

Additional resources