{"id":1027,"date":"2019-09-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/blog\/building-cloud-native-applications-with-azure-and-hashicorp"},"modified":"2025-06-25T12:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:33:07","slug":"building-cloud-native-applications-with-azure-and-hashicorp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/blog\/building-cloud-native-applications-with-azure-and-hashicorp\/","title":{"rendered":"Building cloud-native applications with Azure and HashiCorp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With each passing year, more and more developers are building cloud-native applications. As developers build more complex applications they are looking to innovators like Microsoft Azure and HashiCorp to reduce the complexity of building and operating these applications. HashiCorp and Azure have worked together on a myriad of innovations. Examples of this innovation include tools that connect cloud-native applications to legacy infrastructure and tools that secure and automate the continuous deployment of customer applications and infrastructure. Azure is deeply committed to being the best platform for open source software developers like HashiCorp to deliver their tools to their customers in an easy-to use, integrated way. Azure innovation like the managed applications platform that power HashiCorp\u2019s Consul Service on Azure are great examples of this commitment to collaboration and a vibrant open source startup ecosystem. We\u2019re also committed to the development of open standards that help these ecosystems move forward and we\u2019re thrilled to have been able to collaborate with HashiCorp on both the CNAB (Cloud Native Application Bundle) and SMI (Service Mesh Interface) specifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year at HashiConf 2018, I had the opportunity to share how we had started to integrate Terraform and Packer into the Azure platform. I\u2019m incredibly excited to get the opportunity to return this year to share how these integrations are progressing and to share a new collaboration on cloud native networking. With this new work we now have collaborations that help customers connect and operate their applications on Azure using HashiCorp technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect \u2014 HashiCorp Consul Service on Azure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After containers and Kubernetes, one of the most important innovations in microservices has been the development of the concept of a service mesh. Earlier this year we partnered with HashiCorp and others to announce<\/a> the release of Service Mesh Interface<\/a>, a collaborative, implementation agnostic API for the configuration and deployment of service mesh technology. We collaborated with HashiCorp to produce a control rules implementation of the traffic access control (TAC) using Consul Connect. Today we\u2019re excited that Azure customers can take advantage of HashiCorp Consul Services on Azure<\/a> powered by the Azure Managed Applications platform. HashiCorp Consul provides a solution to simplify and secure service networking and with this new managed offering, our joint customers can focus on the value of Consul while confident that the experts at HashiCorp are taking care of the management of the service. Reducing complexity for customers and enabling them to focus on cloud native innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provision \u2014 HashiCorp Terraform on Azure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

HashiCorp Terraform is a great tool for doing declarative deployment to Azure. We’re seeing great momentum with adoption of HashiCorp Terraform on Azure as the number of customers has doubled since the beginning of the year – customers are using Terraform to automate Azure infrastructure deployment and operation in a variety of scenarios. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The momentum is fantastic on the contribution front as well with nearly 180 unique contributors to the Terraform provider for Azure Resource Manager<\/a>. The involvement from the community with our increased 3-week cadence of releases (currently at version 1.32) ensures more coverage of Azure services by Terraform. Additionally, after customer and community feedback regarding the need for additional Terraform modules for Azure, we’ve been working hard at adding high quality modules and now have doubled the number of Azure modules in the terraform registry<\/a>, bringing it to over 120 modules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe all these additional integrations enable customers to manage infrastructure as code more easily and simplify managing their cloud environments. Learn more about Terraform on Azure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft and HashiCorp are working together to provide integrated support for Terraform on Azure. Customers using Terraform on Microsoft’s Azure cloud are mutual customers, and both companies are united to provide troubleshooting and support services. This joint entitlement process provides collaborative support across companies and platforms while delivering a seamless customer experience. Customers using Terraform Provider for Azure can file support tickets to Microsoft support. Customers using Terraform on Azure support can file support tickets to Microsoft or HashiCorp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deploy \u2014 Collaborating on Cloud Native Application Bundles specification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the critical problems solved by containers is the hermetic packaging of a binary into a package that is easy to share and deploy around the world. But a cloud-native application is more than a binary, and this is what led to the co-development, with HashiCorp and others, of the Coud Native Application Bundle (CNAB) specification. CNABs  allow you to package images alongside configuration tools like Terraform and other artifacts to allow a user to seamlessly deploy an application from a single package. I\u2019ve been excited to see the community work together to build the specification to a 1.0 release<\/a> that shows CNAB is ready for all of the world\u2019s deployment needs. Congratulations to the team on the work and the fantastic partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to learn more about the ways in which Azure and HashiCorp collaborate to make cloud-native development easier, please check out the links below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n