how-to-create-azure-resources-with-typescript-and-terraformcdk

How To Create Azure Resources With TypeScript and TerraformCDK

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In the realm of cloud infrastructure management, Terraform has long been a go-to tool for its declarative approach to provisioning resources across various platforms. With the advent of TerraformCDK (Cloud Development Kit), managing Azure resources has reached a new pinnacle of simplicity and flexibility.

What is TerraformCDK?

TerraformCDK is an abstraction layer built on top of Terraform that enables developers to define infrastructure using familiar programming languages like TypeScript, Python, or Java. This departure from traditional HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) allows for greater flexibility in expressing infrastructure as code (IaC).

Please go through What is Terraform first in case you are beginner. TerraformCDK is bit of advance concept.

Design and Workflow

At its core, TerraformCDK leverages constructs—abstract representations of cloud components—to define Azure resources. These constructs are akin to building blocks, encapsulating the properties and relationships of each resource. Let’s delve into the design and workflow using Azure as our cloud provider.

The design of TerraformCDK is centered around the principle of leveraging existing knowledge. Developers who are accustomed to programming languages like TypeScript or Python can now use these languages to define their cloud infrastructure. This approach reduces the learning curve and accelerates the development process.

Prerequisites

In order to use CDKTF, you need:

The Terraform CLI (1.2+).
Node.js and npm v16+.

a new variant of the programming language like. Select a tab underneath to follow this instructional exercise with the variant of your favored language that we have tried.
TypeScript v4.4 and Node.js v16.13

Getting Started

  1. Install TypeScript: Use npm to install TypeScript: npm install -g typescript
  2. Install Node.js: ensure you have Node.js installed, Link is given in prerequisites.
  3. Install terraform CLI: Install terraform open source CLI

Installation and Setup

Getting started with TerraformCDK is straightforward. Begin by installing the necessary dependencies and initializing your project. For instance, in TypeScript:

npm install --global cdktf-cli@latest

Verify the installation

Check that you have CDKTF introduced by running the cdktf help command with showing the accessible subcommands.

Project Setup

  1. Create a new folder for your project: mkdir my-cdk-azure
  2. Navigate to project folder: cd my-cdk-azure
  3. Initialize your CDK project: cdktf init –template=typescript –local
  4. Once the project is created, open that in visual studio code and observe below structure.

Configure Providers

Before going ahead with code, we need to specify the terraform provider we are going to use. as we are deploying resources to Azure Cloud hence we need to add azurerm provider to the cdktf.json file.

{
  "language": "TypeScript",
  "app": "npm run --silent compile && node main.js",
  "terraformProviders": ["azurerm@~> 2.46.0"],
  "context": {
    "excludeStackIdFromLogicalIds": "true",
    "allowSepCharsInLogicalIds": "true"
  }
}

Defining Resources

Once set up, you can define Azure resources using TypeScript. Here’s an example of creating an Azure Resource Group and an Azure Storage Account:

main.ts
import { Construct } from 'constructs';
import { AzureProvider, ResourceGroup, StorageAccount } from 'cdktf';

class MyAzureStack extends Construct {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string) {
    super(scope, id);

    new AzureProvider(this, 'azure', {
      features: {},
    });

    new ResourceGroup(this, 'rg', {
      name: 'my-rg',
      location: 'West Europe',
    });

    new StorageAccount(this, 'sa', {
      name: 'mystorageaccount',
      resourceGroupName: 'my-rg',
      location: 'West Europe',
      accountReplicationType: 'LRS',
      accountTier: 'Standard',
    });
  }
}

const app = new App();
new MyAzureStack(app, 'my-azure-stack');
app.synth();

Compilation and Deployment

After defining your infrastructure using constructs, compile the TypeScript code to generate Terraform configuration files:

cdktf get
cdktf synth

This process generates .tf files that Terraform understands. Finally, deploy your infrastructure using the Terraform CLI:

terraform apply
or use below cdktf command to deploy
cdktf deploy

Why TerraformCDK?

Flexibility: Write infrastructure code using programming languages you’re familiar with, leveraging IDE features like IntelliSense and code navigation.

Abstraction: Abstract complex resource configurations into reusable constructs, enhancing readability and maintainability.

Integration: Seamlessly integrate with Azure services using the azurerm provider, which supports a wide range of Azure resources.

Conclusion

TerraformCDK represents a paradigm shift in how we manage cloud infrastructure, particularly within the Azure ecosystem. By combining the strengths of Terraform and modern programming languages, developers can achieve greater productivity and efficiency in deploying and managing Azure resources.

Embrace TerraformCDK today and unlock the power of Infrastructure as Code with Azure, simplifying your journey to scalable and resilient cloud solutions.

As we continue to innovate in the cloud space, tools like TerraformCDK pave the way for a future where infrastructure management is as agile as software development itself. Dive into the world of TerraformCDK and experience the evolution of cloud infrastructure provisioning firsthand

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