[User Guide] Quick Start Phase 2 Local

2.2.3 Local File System

You can choose to bootstrap with bicep or terraform skip to the relevant section below to do that.

Although you can just run Deploy-Accelerator and fill out the prompted inputs, we recommend creating an inputs file. This will make it easier to run the accelerator more than once in order to refine your preferred configuration. In the following docs, we'll show that approach, but if you want to be prompted for inputs, just go ahead and run Deploy-Accelerator now.

2.2.3.1 Local File System with Bicep

1. Create a new folder on you local drive called accelerator.

2. Inside the accelerator create two folders called config and output. You'll store you input file inside config and the output folder will be the place that the accelerator stores files while it works.

3. Inside the config folder create a new file called inputs.yaml. You can use json if you prefer, but our examples here are yaml.

   # Windows
   New-Item -ItemType "file" c:\accelerator\config\inputs.yaml -Force
   New-Item -ItemType "directory" c:\accelerator\output
   
   # Linux/Mac
   New-Item -ItemType "file" /accelerator/config/inputs.yaml -Force
   New-Item -ItemType "directory" /accelerator/output

   📂accelerator
   ┣ 📂config
   ┃ ┗ 📜inputs.yaml
   ┗ 📂output
   

4. Open your inputs.yaml file in Visual Studio Code (or your preferred editor) and copy the content from inputs-local-bicep-complete.yaml into that file.

5. Check through the file and update each input as required. It is mandatory to update items with placeholders surrounded by angle brackets <>:

   NOTE: The following inputs can also be supplied via environment variables. This may be useful for sensitive values you don't wish to persist to a file. The Env Var Prefix denotes the prefix the environment variable should have. The environment variable is formatting is <PREFIX>_<variable_name>, e.g. env:ALZ_iac_type = "bicep" or env:TF_VAR_target_directory = "./accelerator/target".

   Input	Env Var Prefix	Placeholder	Description
   iac_type	ALZ	bicep	This is the choice of bicep or terraform. Keep this as bicep for this example.
   bootstrap_module_name	ALZ	alz_local	This is the choice of Version Control System. Keep this as alz_local for this example.
   starter_module_name	ALZ	complete	This is the choice of Starter Modules, which is the baseline configuration you want for your Azure landing zone. Keep this as complete for this example.
   bootstrap_location	TF_VAR	<region>	Replace <region> with the Azure region where you would like to deploy the bootstrap resources in Azure. This field expects the name of the region, such as uksouth. You can find a full list of names by running az account list-locations -o table.
   starter_locations	TF_VAR	[<region-1>,<region-2>]	Replace <region-1> and <region-2> with the Azure regions where you would like to deploy the starter module resources in Azure. This field expects the name of the regions in and array, such as ["uksouth", "ukwest"]. You can find a full list of names by running az account list-locations -o table.
   root_parent_management_group_id	TF_VAR	""	This is the id of the management group that will be the parent of the management group structure created by the accelerator. If you are using the Tenant Root Group management group, you leave this as an empty string "" or supply the tenant id.
   subscription_id_management	TF_VAR	<management-subscription-id>	Replace <management-subscription-id> with the id of the management subscription you created in the previous phase.
   subscription_id_identity	TF_VAR	<identity-subscription-id>	Replace <identity-subscription-id> with the id of the identity subscription you created in the previous phase.
   subscription_id_connectivity	TF_VAR	<connectivity-subscription-id>	Replace <connectivity-subscription-id> with the id of the connectivity subscription you created in the previous phase.
   target_directory	TF_VAR	""	This is the directory where the ALZ module code will be created. This defaults a directory called local-output in the root of the accelerator output directory if not supplied.
   create_bootstrap_resources_in_azure	TF_VAR	true	This determines whether the bootstrap will create the bootstrap resources in Azure. This defaults to true.
   bootstrap_subscription_id	TF_VAR	""	Enter the id of the subscription in which you would like to deploy the bootstrap resources in Azure. If left blank, the subscription you are connected to via az login will be used. In most cases this is the management subscription, but you can specifiy a separate subscription if you prefer.
   service_name	TF_VAR	alz	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-<service_name>-mgmt-uksouth-001. We recommend using alz for this.
   environment_name	TF_VAR	mgmt	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-alz-<environment_name>-uksouth-001. We recommend using mgmt for this.
   postfix_number	TF_VAR	1	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-alz-mgmt-uksouth-<postfix_number>. We recommend using 1 for this.
   grant_permissions_to_current_user	TF_VAR	true	This determines whether the bootstrap will grant the current user permissions to the management group structure created by the accelerator. This defaults to true so that the starter module can be immediately deployed from the local file system. Set this to false if you itend to wire up CI/CD with your own provider.

6. Now head over to your chosen starter module documentation to get the specific inputs for that module. Come back here when you are done.

   • Bicep Complete Starter Module

7. In your PowerShell Core (pwsh) terminal run the module:

   # Windows (adjust the paths to match your setup)
   Deploy-Accelerator -inputs "c:\accelerator\config\inputs.yaml" -output "c:\accelerator\output"
   
   # Linux/Mac (adjust the paths to match your setup)
   Deploy-Accelerator -inputs "/accelerator/config/inputs.yaml" -output "/accelerator/output"

8. You will see a Terraform init and apply happen.

9. There will be a pause after the plan phase you allow you to validate what is going to be deployed.

10. If you are happy with the plan, then type yes and hit enter.

11. The Terraform will apply and your environment will be bootstrapped.

12. You will find the output in the /accelerator/output/local-output folder if you didn't specifiy a different location for target_directory.

2.2.3.2 Local File System with Terraform

1. Create a new folder on you local drive called accelerator.

2. Inside the accelerator create two folders called config and output. You'll store you input file inside config and the output folder will be the place that the accelerator stores files while it works.

3. Inside the config folder create a new file called inputs.yaml. You can use json if you prefer, but our examples here are yaml.

   # Windows
   New-Item -ItemType "file" c:\accelerator\config\inputs.yaml -Force
   New-Item -ItemType "directory" c:\accelerator\output
   
   # Linux/Mac
   New-Item -ItemType "file" /accelerator/config/inputs.yaml -Force
   New-Item -ItemType "directory" /accelerator/output

   📂accelerator
   ┣ 📂config
   ┃ ┗ 📜inputs.yaml
   ┗ 📂output
   

4. Open your inputs.yaml file in Visual Studio Code (or your preferred editor) and copy the content from the relevant input file for your chosen starter module:

   1. Complete Multi Region - inputs-local-terraform-complete-multi-region.yaml
   2. Basic - inputs-local-terraform-basic.yaml
   3. Hub Networking - inputs-local-terraform-hubnetworking.yaml
   4. Complete - inputs-local-terraform-complete.yaml

5. Check through the file and update each input as required. It is mandatory to update items with placeholders surrounded by angle brackets <>:

   NOTE: The following inputs can also be supplied via environment variables. This may be useful for sensitive values you don't wish to persist to a file. The Env Var Prefix denotes the prefix the environment variable should have. The environment variable is formatting is <PREFIX>_<variable_name>, e.g. env:ALZ_iac_type = "terraform" or env:TF_VAR_target_directory = "./accelerator/target".

   Input	Env Var Prefix	Placeholder	Description
   iac_type	ALZ	terraform	This is the choice of bicep or terraform. Keep this as terraform for this example.
   bootstrap_module_name	ALZ	alz_local	This is the choice of Version Control System. Keep this as alz_local for this example.
   starter_module_name	ALZ	complete_multi_region	This is the choice of Starter Modules, which is the baseline configuration you want for your Azure landing zone. Choose complete_multi_region, complete, hubnetworking or basic for this example.
   bootstrap_location	TF_VAR	<region>	Replace <region> with the Azure region where you would like to deploy the bootstrap resources in Azure. This field expects the name of the region, such as uksouth. You can find a full list of names by running az account list-locations -o table.
   starter_locations	TF_VAR	[<region-1>,<region-2>]	Replace <region-1> and <region-2> with the Azure regions where you would like to deploy the starter module resources in Azure. This field expects the name of the regions in and array, such as ["uksouth", "ukwest"]. You can find a full list of names by running az account list-locations -o table.
   root_parent_management_group_id	TF_VAR	""	This is the id of the management group that will be the parent of the management group structure created by the accelerator. If you are using the Tenant Root Group management group, you leave this as an empty string "" or supply the tenant id.
   subscription_id_management	TF_VAR	<management-subscription-id>	Replace <management-subscription-id> with the id of the management subscription you created in the previous phase.
   subscription_id_identity	TF_VAR	<identity-subscription-id>	Replace <identity-subscription-id> with the id of the identity subscription you created in the previous phase.
   subscription_id_connectivity	TF_VAR	<connectivity-subscription-id>	Replace <connectivity-subscription-id> with the id of the connectivity subscription you created in the previous phase.
   target_directory	TF_VAR	""	This is the directory where the ALZ module code will be created. This defaults a directory called local-output in the root of the accelerator output directory if not supplied.
   create_bootstrap_resources_in_azure	TF_VAR	true	This determines whether the bootstrap will create the bootstrap resources in Azure. This defaults to true.
   bootstrap_subscription_id	TF_VAR	""	Enter the id of the subscription in which you would like to deploy the bootstrap resources in Azure. If left blank, the subscription you are connected to via az login will be used. In most cases this is the management subscription, but you can specifiy a separate subscription if you prefer.
   service_name	TF_VAR	alz	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-<service_name>-mgmt-uksouth-001. We recommend using alz for this.
   environment_name	TF_VAR	mgmt	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-alz-<environment_name>-uksouth-001. We recommend using mgmt for this.
   postfix_number	TF_VAR	1	This is used to build up the names of your Azure and Azure DevOps resources, for example rg-alz-mgmt-uksouth-<postfix_number>. We recommend using 1 for this.
   grant_permissions_to_current_user	TF_VAR	true	This determines whether the bootstrap will grant the current user permissions to the management group structure and stroage account created by the accelerator. This defaults to true so that the starter module can be immediately deployed from the local file system. Set this to false if you itend to wire up CI/CD with your own provider.

6. Now head over to your chosen starter module documentation to get the specific inputs for that module. Come back here when you are done.

   • Terraform Complete Multi Region Starter Module: Management groups, policies, Multi Region hub networking with fully custom configuration.
   • Terraform Basic Starter Module: Management groups and policies.
   • Terraform Hub Networking Starter Module: Management groups, policies and hub networking.
   • Terraform Complete Starter Module: Management groups, policies, hub networking with fully custom configuration.

7. In your PowerShell Core (pwsh) terminal run the module:

   # Windows (adjust the paths to match your setup)
   Deploy-Accelerator -inputs "c:\accelerator\config\inputs.yaml" -output "c:\accelerator\output"

   # Linux/Mac (adjust the paths to match your setup)
   Deploy-Accelerator -inputs "/accelerator/config/inputs.yaml" -output "/accelerator/output"

8. You will see a Terraform init and apply happen.

9. There will be a pause after the plan phase you allow you to validate what is going to be deployed.

10. If you are happy with the plan, then type yes and hit enter.

11. The Terraform will apply and your environment will be bootstrapped.

12. You will find the output in the /accelerator/output/local-output folder if you didn't specifiy a different location for target_directory.

Next Steps

Now head to Phase 3.