Create a Front Door (classic) using Terraform

This quickstart describes how to use Terraform to create a Front Door (classic) profile to set up high availability for a web endpoint.

The steps in this article were tested with the following Terraform and Terraform provider versions:

• Terraform v1.3.2
• AzureRM Provider v.3.27.0

Prerequisites

• Azure subscription: If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

• Install and configure Terraform

Implement the Terraform code

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

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

   # Configure the Azure provider
   terraform {
     required_providers {
       azurerm = {
         source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
         version = "~> 3.27.0"
       }
   
       random = {
         source = "hashicorp/random"
         version = "~> 3.4.3"
       }
     }
   
     required_version = ">= 1.1.0"
   }
   
   provider "azurerm" {
     features {}
   }
   

3. Create a file named resource-group.tf and insert the following code:

   resource "azurerm_resource_group" "my_resource_group" {
     name     = var.resource_group_name
     location = var.location
   }
   
   resource "random_id" "front_door_name" {
     byte_length = 8
   }
   

4. Create a file named front-door.tf and insert the following code:

   locals {
     front_door_name                         = "afd-${lower(random_id.front_door_name.hex)}"
     front_door_frontend_endpoint_name       = "frontEndEndpoint"
     front_door_load_balancing_settings_name = "loadBalancingSettings"
     front_door_health_probe_settings_name   = "healthProbeSettings"
     front_door_routing_rule_name            = "routingRule"
     front_door_backend_pool_name            = "backendPool"
   }
   
   resource "azurerm_frontdoor" "my_front_door" {
     name                = local.front_door_name
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
   
     frontend_endpoint {
       name                     = local.front_door_frontend_endpoint_name
       host_name                = "${local.front_door_name}.azurefd.net"
       session_affinity_enabled = false
     }
   
     backend_pool_load_balancing {
       name                        = local.front_door_load_balancing_settings_name
       sample_size                 = 4
       successful_samples_required = 2
     }
   
     backend_pool_health_probe {
       name                = local.front_door_health_probe_settings_name
       path                = "/"
       protocol            = "Http"
       interval_in_seconds = 120
     }
   
     backend_pool {
       name = local.front_door_backend_pool_name
       backend {
         host_header = var.backend_address
         address     = var.backend_address
         http_port   = 80
         https_port  = 443
         weight      = 50
         priority    = 1
       }
   
       load_balancing_name = local.front_door_load_balancing_settings_name
       health_probe_name   = local.front_door_health_probe_settings_name
     }
   
     routing_rule {
       name               = local.front_door_routing_rule_name
       accepted_protocols = ["Http", "Https"]
       patterns_to_match  = ["/*"]
       frontend_endpoints = [local.front_door_frontend_endpoint_name]
       forwarding_configuration {
         forwarding_protocol = "MatchRequest"
         backend_pool_name   = local.front_door_backend_pool_name
       }
     }
   }
   

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

   variable "location" {
     type    = string
     default = "westus2"
   }
   
   variable "resource_group_name" {
     type    = string
     default = "FrontDoor"
   }
   
   variable "backend_address" {
     type = string
   }
   

6. Create a file named terraform.tfvars and insert the following code, being sure to update the value to your own backend hostname:

   backend_address = "<your backend hostname>"
   

Initialize Terraform

Run terraform init to initialize the Terraform deployment. This command downloads the Azure modules required to manage your Azure resources.

terraform init

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.
• To read more about persisting execution plans and security, see the security warning section.

Apply a Terraform execution plan

Run terraform apply to apply the execution plan to your cloud infrastructure.

terraform apply main.tfplan

Key points:

• The terraform apply command above 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

Use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to list the deployed resources in the resource group.

Portal

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

2. Select Resource groups from the left pane.

3. Select the FrontDoor resource group.

4. Select the Front Door you created and you'll be able to see the endpoint hostname. Copy the hostname and paste it on to the address bar of a browser. Press enter and your request will automatically get routed to the web app.

   

Azure CLI

Run the following command:

az resource list --resource-group FrontDoor

PowerShell

Run the following command:

Get-AzResource -ResourceGroupName FrontDoor

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.
   • To read more about persisting execution plans and security, see the security warning section.

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

In this quickstart, you deployed a simple Front Door (classic) profile using Terraform. Learn more about Azure Front Door.