Install IIS on Azure VM using Terraform

Creating a blank VM on Azure is easy, especially from the portal. Installing software and enabling features on each new VM can be time consuming, not to mention error-prone. Similar to yesterday, I will show how to install IIS on a Windows VM using Terraform.

In order to install IIS on a new Windows VM, we’ll use a simple powershell script. The command is:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools

This Powershell command installs IIS, all it’s sub features, and IIS Management tools.

We can execute this script from an Azure VM as it’s being provisioned using the virtual machine custom script extension. As the VM is being provisioned, this script will be run and the state of the VM won’t show as “running” until the custom script finishes.

To invoke this custom script with Terraform, it’s quite simple.

resource "azurerm_virtual_machine_extension" "vm_extension_install_iis" {
  name                       = "vm_extension_install_iis"
  virtual_machine_id         = azurerm_windows_virtual_machine.vm.id
  publisher                  = "Microsoft.Compute"
  type                       = "CustomScriptExtension"
  type_handler_version       = "1.8"
  auto_upgrade_minor_version = true

  settings = <<SETTINGS
    {
        "commandToExecute": "powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools"
    }
SETTINGS
}

The only weird syntax is the settings object. It’s raw json, so you can provide the same parameters as specified on the custom script extension documentation.

You can also provide protectedSettings. This is for more sensitive items like the storage account key. Why? You could choose to store an custom script file on a storage account. This would be especially useful if you want to do more than just enable IIS.

resource "azurerm_virtual_machine_extension" "vm_extension_install_iis" {
  name                       = "vm_extension_install_iis"
  virtual_machine_id         = azurerm_windows_virtual_machine.vm.id
  publisher                  = "Microsoft.Compute"
  type                       = "CustomScriptExtension"
  type_handler_version       = "1.8"
  auto_upgrade_minor_version = true

  settings = <<SETTINGS
    {
        "commandToExecute": "powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools"
    }
SETTINGS

protected_settings = <<PROTECTED_SETTINGS
    {
        "commandToExecute": "myExecutionCommand",
        "storageAccountName": "myStorageAccountName",
        "storageAccountKey": "myStorageAccountKey",
        "managedIdentity" : {}
    }
PROTECTED_SETTINGS
}

That’s it!

If you’re get errors with the custom script extension, there’s a set of troubleshooting tips published by Microsoft.