Quickstart: Create a public load balancer to load balance VMs using Terraform

This quickstart shows you how to deploy a standard load balancer to load balance virtual machines 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.

Prerequisites

• Create an Azure account with an active subscription. You can create a trial subscription.

• Install and configure Terraform

Implement the Terraform code

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

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

   terraform {
      required_version = ">=0.12"
   
      required_providers {
        azapi = {
          source  = "azure/azapi"
          version = "~>1.5"
        }
        azurerm = {
          source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
          version = "~>2.0"
        }
        random = {
          source  = "hashicorp/random"
          version = "~>3.0"
        }
     }
   }
   
   provider "azurerm" {
     features {}
   }
   

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

   resource "random_string" "my_resource_group" {
     length  = 8
     upper   = false
    special = false
   }
   
   # Create Resource Group
   resource "azurerm_resource_group" "my_resource_group" {
    name     = "test-group-${random_string.my_resource_group.result}"
    location = var.resource_group_location
   }
   
   # Create Virtual Network
   resource "azurerm_virtual_network" "my_virtual_network" {
     name                = var.virtual_network_name
     address_space       = ["10.0.0.0/16"]
     location            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
   }
   
   # Create a subnet in the Virtual Network
   resource "azurerm_subnet" "my_subnet" {
     name                 = var.subnet_name
     resource_group_name  = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     virtual_network_name = azurerm_virtual_network.my_virtual_network.name
     address_prefixes     = ["10.0.1.0/24"]
   }
   
   # Create Network Security Group and rules
   resource "azurerm_network_security_group" "my_nsg" {
     name                = var.network_security_group_name
     location            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
   
     security_rule {
       name                       = "web"
       priority                   = 1008
       direction                  = "Inbound"
       access                     = "Allow"
       protocol                   = "Tcp"
       source_port_range          = "*"
       destination_port_range     = "80"
       source_address_prefix      = "*"
       destination_address_prefix = "10.0.1.0/24"
     }
   }
   
   # Associate the Network Security Group to the subnet
   resource "azurerm_subnet_network_security_group_association" "my_nsg_association" {
     subnet_id                 = azurerm_subnet.my_subnet.id
     network_security_group_id = azurerm_network_security_group.my_nsg.id
   }
   
   # Create Public IP
   resource "azurerm_public_ip" "my_public_ip" {
     name                = var.public_ip_name
     location            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     allocation_method   = "Static"
     sku                 = "Standard"
   }
   
   # Create Network Interface
   resource "azurerm_network_interface" "my_nic" {
     count               = 2
     name                = "${var.network_interface_name}${count.index}"
     location            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
   
     ip_configuration {
       name                          = "ipconfig${count.index}"
       subnet_id                     = azurerm_subnet.my_subnet.id
       private_ip_address_allocation = "Dynamic"
       primary = true
     }
   }
   
   # Associate Network Interface to the Backend Pool of the Load Balancer
   resource "azurerm_network_interface_backend_address_pool_association" "my_nic_lb_pool" {
     count                   = 2
     network_interface_id    = azurerm_network_interface.my_nic[count.index].id
     ip_configuration_name   = "ipconfig${count.index}"
     backend_address_pool_id = azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool.my_lb_pool.id
   }
   
   # Create Virtual Machine
   resource "azurerm_linux_virtual_machine" "my_vm" {
     count                 = 2
     name                  = "${var.virtual_machine_name}${count.index}"
     location              = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name   = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     network_interface_ids = [azurerm_network_interface.my_nic[count.index].id]
     size                  = var.virtual_machine_size
   
     os_disk {
       name                 = "${var.disk_name}${count.index}"
       caching              = "ReadWrite"
       storage_account_type = var.redundancy_type
     }
   
     source_image_reference {
       publisher = "Canonical"
       offer     = "0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy"
       sku       = "22_04-lts-gen2"
       version   = "latest"
     }
   
     admin_username                  = var.username
     admin_password                  = var.password
     disable_password_authentication = false
   
   }
   
   # Enable virtual machine extension and install Nginx
   resource "azurerm_virtual_machine_extension" "my_vm_extension" {
     count                = 2
     name                 = "Nginx"
     virtual_machine_id   = azurerm_linux_virtual_machine.my_vm[count.index].id
     publisher            = "Microsoft.Azure.Extensions"
     type                 = "CustomScript"
     type_handler_version = "2.0"
   
     settings = <<SETTINGS
    {
     "commandToExecute": "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nginx -y && echo \"Hello World from $(hostname)\" > /var/www/html/index.html && sudo systemctl restart nginx"
    }
   SETTINGS
   
   }
   
   # Create Public Load Balancer
   resource "azurerm_lb" "my_lb" {
     name                = var.load_balancer_name
     location            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.location
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     sku                 = "Standard"
   
     frontend_ip_configuration {
       name                 = var.public_ip_name
       public_ip_address_id = azurerm_public_ip.my_public_ip.id
     }
   }
   
   resource "azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool" "my_lb_pool" {
     loadbalancer_id      = azurerm_lb.my_lb.id
     name                 = "test-pool"
   }
   
   resource "azurerm_lb_probe" "my_lb_probe" {
     resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     loadbalancer_id     = azurerm_lb.my_lb.id
     name                = "test-probe"
     port                = 80
   }
   
   resource "azurerm_lb_rule" "my_lb_rule" {
     resource_group_name            = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     loadbalancer_id                = azurerm_lb.my_lb.id
     name                           = "test-rule"
     protocol                       = "Tcp"
     frontend_port                  = 80
     backend_port                   = 80
     disable_outbound_snat          = true
     frontend_ip_configuration_name = var.public_ip_name
     probe_id                       = azurerm_lb_probe.my_lb_probe.id
     backend_address_pool_ids       = [azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool.my_lb_pool.id]
   }
   
   resource "azurerm_lb_outbound_rule" "my_lboutbound_rule" {
     resource_group_name     = azurerm_resource_group.my_resource_group.name
     name                    = "test-outbound"
     loadbalancer_id         = azurerm_lb.my_lb.id
     protocol                = "Tcp"
     backend_address_pool_id = azurerm_lb_backend_address_pool.my_lb_pool.id
   
     frontend_ip_configuration {
       name = var.public_ip_name
     }
   }
   

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

   variable "resource_group_location" {
     type        = string
     default     = "chinaeast"
     description = "Location of the resource group."
   }
   
   variable "username" {
     type        = string
     default     = "microsoft"
     description = "The username for the local account that will be created on the new VM."
   }
   
   variable "password" {
     type        = string
     default     = "Microsoft@123"
     description = "The password for the local account that will be created on the new VM."
   }
   
   variable "virtual_network_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-vnet"
     description = "Name of the Virtual Network."
   }
   
   variable "subnet_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-subnet"
     description = "Name of the subnet."
   }
   
   variable public_ip_name {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-public-ip"
     description = "Name of the Public IP."
   }
   
   variable network_security_group_name {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-nsg"
     description = "Name of the Network Security Group."
   }
   
   variable "network_interface_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-nic"
     description = "Name of the Network Interface."  
   }
   
   variable "virtual_machine_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-vm"
     description = "Name of the Virtual Machine."
   }
   
   variable "virtual_machine_size" {
     type        = string
     default     = "Standard_B2s"
     description = "Size or SKU of the Virtual Machine."
   }
   
   variable "disk_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-disk"
     description = "Name of the OS disk of the Virtual Machine."
   }
   
   variable "redundancy_type" {
     type        = string
     default     = "Standard_LRS"
     description = "Storage redundancy type of the OS disk."
   }
   
   variable "load_balancer_name" {
     type        = string
     default     = "test-lb"
     description = "Name of the Load Balancer."
   }
   

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

   output "public_ip_address" {
     value = "http://${azurerm_public_ip.my_public_ip.ip_address}"
   }
   

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

1. Display the Azure resource group name.

   terraform output -raw resource_group_name
   

2. Optionally, display the VM (virtual machine) password.

   terraform output -raw vm_password
   

3. Display the public IP address.

   terraform output -raw public_ip_address
   

4. Paste the public IP address into the address bar of your web browser. The custom VM page of the Nginx web server is displayed in the browser.

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.

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