51 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
51 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
---
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page_title: Import
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description: >-
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Terraform can import and manage existing infrastructure. This can help you
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transition your infrastructure to Terraform.
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---
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# Import
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> **Hands-on:** Try the [Import Terraform Configuration](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/state-import?in=terraform/state&utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) tutorial on HashiCorp Learn.
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Terraform is able to import existing infrastructure. This allows you take
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resources you've created by some other means and bring it under Terraform
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management.
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This is a great way to slowly transition infrastructure to Terraform, or
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to be able to be confident that you can use Terraform in the future if it
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potentially doesn't support every feature you need today.
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~> Warning: Terraform expects that each remote object it is managing will be
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bound to only one resource address, which is normally guaranteed by Terraform
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itself having created all objects. If you import existing objects into Terraform,
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be careful to import each remote object to only one Terraform resource address.
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If you import the same object multiple times, Terraform may exhibit unwanted
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behavior. For more information on this assumption, see
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[the State section](/language/state).
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## Currently State Only
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The current implementation of Terraform import can only import resources
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into the [state](/language/state). It does not generate configuration. A future
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version of Terraform will also generate configuration.
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Because of this, prior to running `terraform import` it is necessary to write
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manually a `resource` configuration block for the resource, to which the
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imported object will be mapped.
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While this may seem tedious, it still gives Terraform users an avenue for
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importing existing resources.
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## Remote Backends
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When using Terraform import on the command line with a [remote
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backend](/language/settings/backends/remote), such as Terraform Cloud, the import
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command runs locally, unlike commands such as apply, which run inside your
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Terraform Cloud environment. Because of this, the import command will not have
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access to information from the remote backend, such as workspace variables.
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In order to use Terraform import with a remote state backend, you may need to
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set local variables equivalent to the remote workspace variables.
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