Quick Setup: Terraform Remote State File in Azure with PowerShell

⚠️ Disclaimer: This script is for quick testing or learning purposes only. Do not use it in production environments. There are more secure authentication methods available for accessing Azure Storage Accounts.

This PowerShell script automates the deployment of:

• A Resource Group
• A Storage Account
• A Blob Container

PowerShell Script

Connect-AzAccount -DeviceCode
# Define variables
$subscriptionId = "xxxxx"
$resourceGroupName = "test-terraformbackend"
$location = "swedencentral"
$storageAccountName = "xxxxx" # must be globally unique and lowercase
$containerName = "tfstate"
$statefile = "statefile.tfstate"

# Set the context to the correct subscription
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId

# Create the resource group (if it doesn't exist)
if (-not (Get-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
    Write-Host "Creating resource group '$resourceGroupName'..."
    New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location
}

# Create the storage account
Write-Host "Creating storage account '$storageAccountName'..."
$storageAccount = New-AzStorageAccount -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -Name $storageAccountName `
    -Location $location `
    -SkuName Standard_LRS `
    -Kind StorageV2

# Get the storage account context
$ctx = $storageAccount.Context

# Create the blob container
Write-Host "Creating blob container '$containerName'..."
New-AzStorageContainer -Name $containerName -Context $ctx

# Retrieve the storage account key
$keys = Get-AzStorageAccountKey -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name $storageAccountName
$accessKey = $keys[0].Value

# Output in the requested format
Write-Host "`n# === Terraform-style Output ==="
Write-Host "access_key           = `"$accessKey`""
Write-Host "storage_account_name = `"$storageAccountName`""
Write-Host "container_name       = `"$containerName`""
Write-Host "container_name       = `"$statefile`""

Update your Terraform backend "azurerm" block with the values output by the PowerShell script:

Terraform Configuration

terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = ">=4.33.0"
    }
  }
  backend "azurerm" {
    access_key           = "xxxx"
    storage_account_name = "xxxx"
    container_name       = "tfstate"
    key                  = "statefile.tfstate"
  }
}
provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}