Importing via the CLI
In your quest to convert all of the older infrastructure for the Pulumipus Boba Tea Shop to Pulumi, you realized that you have some resources that are deployed using the old system. Rather than spinning those resources back up when you deploy your Pulumi program, you just want to import the state of those resources into Pulumi. While it may seem like a contrived example, it’s actually a very common situation. Other teams or prior work used tools like Ansible, a CDK, or Terraform or chose to build and manage infrastructure by hand through CLIs from the cloud providers or through the web portals and UIs from various providers. Migrating to a platform like Pulumi that manages state requires either (1) replacing those resources or (2) finding a way to tell the platform about the resource’s current state and tying that resource to code udpates in the future. Generally, unless a platform replaces resources regularly, it’s less disruptive and more useful to leave those resources standing when moving to Pulumi.
For Pulumi, there are three paths to take when importing resources. Pulumi allows you to import resources from any currently existing system with either (1) the import CLI command or (2) an import option in the code. Alternately, we can bulk import resources from anywhere with a special JSON file and the import CLI command. The CLI command also offers a resource definition (code snippet) that we can add to our Pulumi program to manage the resource moving forward. Because of this bonus information, we’ll explore the CLI command first.
Setting up
The pulumi import command is built into the CLI, so there’s nothing new to install there. However, there are some setup steps we need to do. First, we need to create a Pulumi project and stack for the resource to live in.
$ mkdir learn-pulumi-import
$ cd learn-pulumi-import
$ pulumi new <language> -y
For the provider that currently hosts that resource, we need to follow the installation and configuration information for the provider. So, for Docker, we’re following these directions.
If you’re using the standard tooling:
$ echo "pulumi-docker" >> requirements.txt
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
If you’re using Poetry, Pipenv, or another third-party tool, you need the pulumi-docker package.
If you’re using npm:
$ npm install @pulumi/docker
If you’re using yarn:
$ yarn add @pulumi/docker
$ go get github.com/pulumi/pulumi-docker/sdk/v3
$ dotnet add package Pulumi.Docker
If you’re using Maven as your build system, update the pom.xml file to include the dependency:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.pulumi</groupId>
<artifactId>docker</artifactId>
<version>3.2.0</version>
</dependency>
Then run the following command:
$ mvn validate
$ mvn clean install
If you’re using Gradle, update the build.gradle file to include the depenedency:
// ...
var pulumiDockerSdkVersion = System.getenv("PULUMI_DOCKER_PROVIDER_SDK_VERSION") ?: "3.2.0"
dependencies {
// ...
implementation "com.pulumi:docker:$pulumiDockerSdkVersion"
}
Then run the following command:
$ gradle build --refresh-dependencies
Since you’re using YAML, there’s no specific setup. We’ll add the provider as part of our updates to the Pulumi.yaml file.
Using the import command
Now that we have our provider set up, we can import some resources! We’re going to import a Container resource. The first thing we have to do is figure out the type, name, and ID of the resource we want to import. Resources that are importable all have a section in the API docs that demonstrates these values. Note that, in general, the resources in a generally available provider can be imported. If it’s a provider in public preview (as noted in the API docs), those resources cannot be imported yet as the maintainers are focusing on general features before moving to imports.
In the case of the Docker provider’s Container resource, here’s the sample:
$ pulumi import docker:index/container:Container foo 9a550c0f0163d39d77222d3efd58701b625d47676c25c686c95b5b92d1cba6fd
Here’s how that example maps to what we need:
- type: docker:index/container:Container
- name: foo
- id: 9a550c0f0163d39d77222d3efd58701b625d47676c25c686c95b5b92d1cba6fd
We can work with this! The type will be the same regardless of which container we import as that type defines the resource type that Pulumi searches for. To break it down, it’s of a form of <provider>:<namespace>:<resource>, so we’re using the docker provider, searching in the index/container namespace, and wanting the Container resource.
To get the name and id, we’re going to ask Docker for that information:
$ docker ps -a --no-trunc
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
0dcb71164c20edb491477f16028f34546bc7852351c442bab4998a015b41cfba sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23 "docker-entrypoint.sh npm start" 10 minutes ago Up 10 minutes 0.0.0.0:3001->3001/tcp frontend-dev
a4087dbaaaa3ef75ca69fa0b871f3c9a94e5fc963ff13f62246b97bc75e20fc0 sha256:bbf5d2ba61771bdbb5208366d85e7fec004082826069f26376ebd1f8b850d2a2 "docker-entrypoint.sh npm start" 10 minutes ago Up 10 minutes 0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp backend-dev
d9c6afa03e5b0862c2368e3578cfb820df4caf8f9e4341df789fdd2c0e53081a sha256:8c7e1d287856ec812667ffb046d78b2250b35c1c2119e9e3fddb09633bcd4982 "docker-entrypoint.sh mongod" 11 minutes ago Up 11 minutes (healthy) 0.0.0.0:27017->27017/tcp mongo-dev
So, for the first container in the list, name is frontend-dev and id is 0dcb71164c20edb491477f16028f34546bc7852351c442bab4998a015b41cfba. Let’s try importing that resource! Run the following command:
$ pulumi import docker:index/container:Container frontend-dev 0dcb71164c20edb491477f16028f34546bc7852351c442bab4998a015b41cfba
Remember to capitalize the resource type! If you don’t, you’ll get an error similar to the following one:
$ pulumi import docker:index/container:container frontend-dev 0dcb71164c20
Previewing import (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/<org>/learn-pulumi-import/dev/previews/a4839f10-f1b3-44f3-b8dd-1c2a0c38e8d2
Type Name Plan Info
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-dev create 1 error
= └─ docker:index:container frontend-dev import 1 error
Diagnostics:
docker:index:container (frontend-dev):
error: Preview failed: unrecognized resource type (Read): docker:index/container:container
pulumi:pulumi:Stack (learn-pulumi-import-dev):
error: preview failed
Also, for Docker, the ID is the full ID, not the shortened one, hence the --no-trunc flag.
The output should appear something like this:
pulumi import docker:index/container:Container frontend-dev 0dcb71164c20edb491477f16028f34546bc7852351c442bab4998a015b41cfba
Previewing import (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/<org>/learn-pulumi-import/dev/previews/2ebd05d0-b37c-4e24-baa8-cf1e2f45bf3a
Type Name Plan
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-dev create
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev import
Resources:
+ 1 to create
= 1 to import
2 changes
Do you want to perform this import? [Use arrows to move, enter to select, type to filter]
> yes
no
details
Let’s check the details:
Do you want to perform this import? details
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack: (create)
[urn=urn:pulumi:dev::learn-pulumi-import::pulumi:pulumi:Stack::learn-pulumi-import-dev]
= docker:index/container:Container: (import) 🔒
[id=0dcb71164c20edb491477f16028f34546bc7852351c442bab4998a015b41cfba]
[urn=urn:pulumi:dev::learn-pulumi-import::docker:index/container:Container::frontend-dev]
[provider=urn:pulumi:dev::learn-pulumi-import::pulumi:providers:docker::default_3_2_0::04da6b54-80e4-46f7-96ec-b56ff0331ba9]
command : [
[0]: "npm"
[1]: "start"
]
entrypoints: [
[0]: "docker-entrypoint.sh"
]
hostname : "0dcb71164c20"
image : "sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23"
ipcMode : "private"
logDriver : "json-file"
name : "frontend-dev"
networkMode: "default"
ports : [
[0]: {
external : 3001
internal : 3001
}
]
shmSize : 64
workingDir : "/usr/src/app"
Notice the equal sign (=) instead of our usual plus sign (+) in the resource table and in the details? That’s Pulumi’s way of telling us that it’s adding something to the state without modifying it. In short, it’s the import sign.
And when we actually say yes to the import, here’s the output:
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/nimbinatus/learn-pulumi-import-csharp/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-csharp-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
using Pulumi;
using Docker = Pulumi.Docker;
class MyStack : Stack
{
public MyStack()
{
var frontend_dev = new Docker.Container("frontend-dev", new Docker.ContainerArgs
{
Command =
{
"npm",
"start",
},
Entrypoints =
{
"docker-entrypoint.sh",
},
Hostname = "0dcb71164c20",
Image = "sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23",
IpcMode = "private",
LogDriver = "json-file",
Name = "frontend-dev",
NetworkMode = "default",
Ports =
{
new Docker.Inputs.ContainerPortArgs
{
External = 3001,
Internal = 3001,
},
},
ShmSize = 64,
WorkingDir = "/usr/src/app",
}, new CustomResourceOptions
{
Protect = true,
});
}
}
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/nimbinatus/learn-pulumi-import-go/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-go-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
package main
import (
"github.com/pulumi/pulumi-docker/sdk/v3/go/docker"
"github.com/pulumi/pulumi/sdk/v3/go/pulumi"
)
func main() {
pulumi.Run(func(ctx *pulumi.Context) error {
_, err := docker.NewContainer(ctx, "frontend-dev", &docker.ContainerArgs{
Command: pulumi.StringArray{
pulumi.String("npm"),
pulumi.String("start"),
},
Entrypoints: pulumi.StringArray{
pulumi.String("docker-entrypoint.sh"),
},
Hostname: pulumi.String("0dcb71164c20"),
Image: pulumi.String("sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23"),
IpcMode: pulumi.String("private"),
LogDriver: pulumi.String("json-file"),
Name: pulumi.String("frontend-dev"),
NetworkMode: pulumi.String("default"),
Ports: ContainerPortArray{
&ContainerPortArgs{
External: pulumi.Int(3001),
Internal: pulumi.Int(3001),
},
},
ShmSize: pulumi.Int(64),
WorkingDir: pulumi.String("/usr/src/app"),
}, pulumi.Protect(true))
if err != nil {
return err
}
return nil
})
}
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/nimbinatus/learn-pulumi-import-java/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-java-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
package generated_program;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.*;
import com.pulumi.*;
import com.pulumi.resources.CustomResourceOptions;
public class App {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Pulumi.run(App::stack);
}
public static void stack(Context ctx) {
var frontend_dev = new Container("frontend-dev", ContainerArgs.builder()
.command(
"npm",
"start")
.entrypoints("docker-entrypoint.sh")
.hostname("0dcb71164c20")
.image("sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23")
.ipcMode("private")
.logDriver("json-file")
.name("frontend-dev")
.networkMode("default")
.ports(ContainerPortArgs.builder()
.external(3001)
.internal(3001)
.build())
.shmSize(64)
.workingDir("/usr/src/app")
.build(), CustomResourceOptions.builder()
.protect(true)
.build());
}
}
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/nimbinatus/learn-pulumi-import-python/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-python-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
import pulumi
import pulumi_docker as docker
frontend_dev = docker.Container("frontend-dev",
command=[
"npm",
"start",
],
entrypoints=["docker-entrypoint.sh"],
hostname="0dcb71164c20",
image="sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23",
ipc_mode="private",
log_driver="json-file",
name="frontend-dev",
network_mode="default",
ports=[docker.ContainerPortArgs(
external=3001,
internal=3001,
)],
shm_size=64,
working_dir="/usr/src/app",
opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(protect=True))
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/<org>/learn-pulumi-import/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as docker from "@pulumi/docker";
const frontend_dev = new docker.Container("frontend-dev", {
command: [
"npm",
"start",
],
entrypoints: ["docker-entrypoint.sh"],
hostname: "0dcb71164c20",
image: "sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23",
ipcMode: "private",
logDriver: "json-file",
name: "frontend-dev",
networkMode: "default",
ports: [{
external: 3001,
internal: 3001,
}],
shmSize: 64,
workingDir: "/usr/src/app",
}, {
protect: true,
});
Do you want to perform this import? yes
Importing (dev)
View Live: https://app.pulumi.com/nimbinatus/learn-pulumi-import-yaml/dev/updates/1
Type Name Status
+ pulumi:pulumi:Stack learn-pulumi-import-yaml-dev created
= └─ docker:index:Container frontend-dev imported
Resources:
+ 1 created
= 1 imported
2 changes
Duration: 2s
Please copy the following code into your Pulumi application. Not doing so
will cause Pulumi to report that an update will happen on the next update command.
Please note that the imported resources are marked as protected. To destroy them
you will need to remove the `protect` option and run `pulumi update` *before*
the destroy will take effect.
resources:
frontend-dev:
type: docker:Container
properties:
command:
- npm
- start
entrypoints:
- docker-entrypoint.sh
hostname: 0dcb71164c20
image: sha256:f62880b6243361e97fc9dd5ee4def8a1bc4fd0e44b1b93660157b24b628dbe23
ipcMode: private
logDriver: json-file
name: frontend-dev
networkMode: default
ports:
- external: 3001
internal: 3001
shmSize: 64
workingDir: /usr/src/app
options:
protect: true
Notice you’ll get a code snippet (or resource definition) to add to your index.jsindex.ts__main__.pymain.goProgram.csProgram.fsProgram.vbApp.javaPulumi.yaml
protect option (documented in the TypeScript SDK and in the Python SDK). Because we’re importing this resource into state without it being in the code, the resource is protected from accidental deletion on a pulumi destroy to avoid tearing down a resource before the code for it has been completed. To delete the resource, you have to set that flag to false through the code.Generally, the code snippets are reasonably helpful. In this case, however, the code snippet provided will need to be modified as the container information is all stored in the image rather than the container. Usually, the main changes to these code snippets are to use resource references and update any variables we plan to provide, along with merging it into existing Pulumi programs.
// ...
using Docker = Pulumi.Docker;
class MyStack : Stack
{
public MyStack()
{
// ...
var frontend_dev = new Docker.Container("frontend-dev", new Docker.ContainerArgs
{
Envs =
{
$"LISTEN_PORT={FrontendPort}",
$"HTTP_PROXY=backend-dev:{BackendPort}",
$"PROXY_PROTOCOL={Protocol}"
}
Image = frontendImage.Latest,
Name = "frontend-dev",
NetworksAdvanced =
{
new Docker.Inputs.ContainerNetworksAdvancedArgs
{
Name = networkName
}
}
Ports =
{
new Docker.Inputs.ContainerPortArgs
{
External = FrontendPort,
Internal = FrontendPort,
},
},
}, new CustomResourceOptions
{
Protect = true,
});
}
}
// ...
import (
"github.com/pulumi/pulumi-docker/sdk/v3/go/docker"
// ...
)
func main() {
pulumi.Run(func(ctx *pulumi.Context) error {
// ...
_, err := docker.NewContainer(ctx, "frontend-dev", &docker.ContainerArgs{
Envs: [
pulumi.String(fmt.Sprintf("LISTEN_PORT=%d",frontendPort)),
pulumi.String(fmt.Sprintf("HTTP_PROXY=backend-%s:%d",stackName,backendPort)),
pulumi.String(fmt.Sprintf("PROXY_PROTOCOL=%s",protocol))
]
Image: frontendImage.Latest,
Name: pulumi.String("frontend-dev"),
NetworksAdvanced: &ContainerNetworksAdvancedArgs{
Name: Network.name
},
Ports: ContainerPortArray{
&ContainerPortArgs{
External: frontendPort,
Internal: frontendPort,
},
},
}, pulumi.Protect(true))
if err != nil {
return err
}
return nil
})
}
// ...
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.*;
// ...
import com.pulumi.resources.CustomResourceOptions;
public class App {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Pulumi.run(App::stack);
}
public static void stack(Context ctx) {
var frontend_dev = new Container("frontend-dev",
ContainerArgs.builder()
.envs(List.of(
String.format("LISTEN_PORT=%d",frontendPort),
String.format("HTTP_PROXY=backend-%s:%d",stackName,backendPort),
String.format("PROXY_PROTOCOL=%s",protocol)
))
.image(frontendImage.repoDigest())
.name("frontend-dev")
.networksAdvanced(ContainerNetworksAdvancedArgs.builder()
.name(network.name())
.build())
.ports(ContainerPortArgs.builder()
.internal(frontendPort)
.external(frontendPort)
.build())
.build(), CustomResourceOptions.builder()
.protect(true)
.build());
}
}
# ...
import pulumi_docker as docker
frontend_dev = docker.Container(
"frontend-dev",
envs=[
f"LISTEN_PORT={frontend_port}",
f"HTTP_PROXY=backend-dev:{backend_port}",
f"PROXY_PROTOCOL={protocol}"
],
image=frontend.repo_digest,
name="frontend-dev",
networks_advanced=[docker.ContainerNetworksAdvancedArgs(
name=network.name
)]
ports=[docker.ContainerPortArgs(
internal=frontend_port,
external=frontend_port
)],
opts=pulumi.ResourceOptions(protect=True))
//...
import * as docker from "@pulumi/docker";
//...
const frontend_dev = new docker.Container("frontend-dev", {
image: frontend.repoDigest,
name: `frontend-dev`,
ports: [
{
internal: frontendPort,
external: frontendPort,
},
],
envs: [
`LISTEN_PORT=${frontendPort}`,
`HTTP_PROXY=backend-dev:${backendPort}`,
`PROXY_PROTOCOL=${protocol}`
],
networksAdvanced: [
{
name: network.name,
},
],
}, {
protect: true,
});
resources:
# ...
frontend-dev:
type: docker:index:Container
properties:
envs:
[
"LISTEN_PORT=${frontendPort}",
"HTTP_PROXY=backend-${pulumi.stack}:${backendPort}",
"PROXY_PROTOCOL=http://"
]
image: ${frontend-image.repoDigest}
name: frontend-dev
networksAdvanced:
- name: ${network.name}
aliases: ["frontend-dev"]
ports:
- external: ${frontendPort}
internal: ${frontendPort}
options:
protect: true
Now, that’s just adding one resource at a time. What’s it like to add resources all at once in a bulk import? Onward!
Thank you for your feedback!
If you have a question about how to use Pulumi, reach out in Community Slack.
Open an issue on GitHub to report a problem or suggest an improvement.