aztfexport

Pros of terraform-provider-azurerm

• More comprehensive coverage of Azure resources
• Mature and widely adopted in the Terraform ecosystem
• Extensive documentation and community support

Cons of terraform-provider-azurerm

• Requires manual writing of Terraform configurations
• Learning curve for Terraform language and provider syntax
• May not always reflect the latest Azure resource updates immediately

Code Comparison

terraform-provider-azurerm:

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" {
  name     = "example-resources"
  location = "West Europe"
}

aztfexport:

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "exported" {
  name     = "example-resources"
  location = "West Europe"
}

The code comparison shows that both tools generate similar Terraform configurations. However, aztfexport automatically generates these configurations from existing Azure resources, while terraform-provider-azurerm requires manual writing.

terraform-provider-azurerm is the official Azure provider for Terraform, offering a wide range of resource types and data sources. It's well-maintained and regularly updated, but requires users to write Terraform configurations manually.

aztfexport, on the other hand, is a tool designed to export existing Azure resources into Terraform configurations. It's particularly useful for migrating existing infrastructure to Terraform or generating initial configurations, but may not cover all possible Azure resources or complex scenarios.

Pros of azure-powershell

• Extensive coverage of Azure services and features
• Well-established and mature project with a large community
• Supports both Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core

Cons of azure-powershell

• Steeper learning curve for those unfamiliar with PowerShell
• Can be more verbose for simple tasks compared to Terraform
• May require more manual scripting for complex deployments

Code Comparison

azure-powershell:

New-AzResourceGroup -Name "MyResourceGroup" -Location "EastUS"
New-AzStorageAccount -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" -Name "mystorageaccount" -Location "EastUS" -SkuName "Standard_LRS"

aztfexport:

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" {
  name     = "MyResourceGroup"
  location = "EastUS"
}

resource "azurerm_storage_account" "example" {
  name                = "mystorageaccount"
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.example.name
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.example.location
  account_tier        = "Standard"
  account_replication_type = "LRS"
}

Summary

azure-powershell offers a comprehensive set of cmdlets for managing Azure resources, with broad service coverage and strong community support. It's particularly useful for administrators familiar with PowerShell. aztfexport, on the other hand, focuses on exporting existing Azure resources to Terraform configurations, which can be beneficial for teams transitioning to Infrastructure as Code practices or those preferring Terraform's declarative approach.

Pros of azure-cli

• Comprehensive CLI tool for managing all Azure services
• Extensive documentation and community support
• Regularly updated with new Azure features and improvements

Cons of azure-cli

• Larger footprint and more complex installation process
• Steeper learning curve for users new to Azure
• May include unnecessary functionality for specific use cases

Code Comparison

azure-cli:

from azure.cli.core import get_default_cli

az_cli = get_default_cli()
az_cli.invoke(['vm', 'create', '--name', 'myVM', '--resource-group', 'myRG'])

aztfexport:

func main() {
    client := aztfexport.NewClient()
    err := client.ExportResourceGroup("myRG", "main.tf")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }