Importing a Vultr VPS into Terraform

Terraform is a powerful infrastructure-as-code tool that allows you to define and manage your cloud resources. While Terraform provides built-in support for various cloud providers, importing existing resources into Terraform can sometimes be a challenge. This article will guide you through the process of importing a Vultr instance into Terraform, addressing the issue of missing instance IDs in Vultr’s web interface.

Understanding the Challenge

When working with Vultr, you may encounter a hurdle while attempting to import existing instances into Terraform. Unlike some other providers, Vultr’s web interface does not provide the necessary instance IDs and settings required for direct import.

Importing a Vultr Instance into Terraform

To overcome the missing instance ID challenge and successfully import a Vultr instance into Terraform, follow these steps:

1. Obtain Vultr API Key:

   • Log in to your Vultr account and navigate to the API section.
   • Generate an API key if you haven’t already done so.

2. Set Up Terraform Configuration:

   • Set up a new or existing Terraform configuration for managing your infrastructure.
   • Define the provider block for Vultr, specifying your API key in a secure manner:

     provider "vultr" {
       api_key = ""
     }
     

3. Locating the Instance ID:

   • To find the instance ID, you’ll need to make use of the Vultr API.
   • Utilize the Vultr API documentation and relevant programming language or API testing tools (e.g., cURL) to retrieve the instance ID programmatically.
   • Retrieve the necessary instance details, including ID, IP address, region, and other relevant attributes.

   curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances" \
     -X GET \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"
   

4. Import Vultr Instance:

   • Open the command-line interface (CLI) or terminal and navigate to your Terraform project directory.
   • Run the import command, providing the Terraform resource address and Vultr instance details:

     terraform import vultr_instance.example <INSTANCE_ID>
     

     Replace <INSTANCE_ID> with the actual ID of the Vultr instance you want to import.

5. Verify and Apply Terraform State:

   • After importing the Vultr instance, you need to verify that the import was successful and ensure that Terraform has recorded the state.
   • Run terraform plan to review the planned changes and ensure they align with your expectations.
   • Finally, execute terraform apply to apply the changes and update the Terraform state.

Importing Programatically

Alternatively, you can use a script to import the selected instances. The script below will list your Vultr instances and import a selected instance into your Terraform state.

https://github.com/Daniel-McDonough/Vultr-Helper-Scripts

usage: vultr-instance.py [-h] [-i] [-v]

Vultr Instance Helper.

options:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -i, --imports  Import an instance
  -v, --verbose  Print instance details

Reads API key from VULTR_API_KEY envar.

Conclusion

Importing a Vultr instance into Terraform can be a bit tricky due to the missing instance IDs in Vultr’s web interface. However, by leveraging the Vultr API and following the steps outlined in this article, you can successfully import your Vultr instances into Terraform and manage your infrastructure as code.

Remember to refer to the Vultr API documentation and keep your Vultr API key secure.