Overview

Date: 2026-05-11

Time: 15:18

I'll create a summary entry for this Azure examples documentation.

Overview

This page covers how to use FTL2 to provision and manage Azure cloud infrastructure by leveraging the azure.azcollection Ansible collection. It demonstrates setup, credential configuration, and a web stack example that provisions a complete Linux VM environment with networking and web server configuration.

Key Concepts

• FTL2 uses Azure Ansible modules in-process rather than as subprocesses — this is a core architectural difference from Ansible
• Azure credentials are configured via environment variables using a service principal (AZURECLIENTID, AZURESECRET, AZURESUBSCRIPTIONID, AZURETENANT)
• The Azure collection is installed via ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection — FTL2 reuses Ansible collections but calls them differently
• FTL2 provides Python-native async syntax for Azure modules: await ftl.azure.azcollection.azurermvirtualmachine(...)
• Secret bindings ensure credentials are injected automatically and never visible in scripts
• State tracking uses .ftl2-state-azure.json to track provisioned resources for idempotency
• FTL2 can provision and configure in the same script — create a VM then SSH into it using ftl.add_host()
• Check mode (--check flag) enables dry runs before actual provisioning
• Teardown is supported via --teardown flag to destroy provisioned resources

Commands and Syntax

# Install the Azure collection
ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection

# Set Azure service principal credentials
export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export AZURE_SECRET="your-client-secret"
export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID="your-subscription-id"
export AZURE_TENANT="your-tenant-id"

# Set SSH public key for VM access
export AZURE_VM_SSH_PUBKEY="ssh-rsa AAAA..."

# Run examples (all use `uv run python`)
uv run python example_azure_web_stack.py --check     # Dry run
uv run python example_azure_web_stack.py              # Provision
uv run python example_azure_web_stack.py --teardown   # Destroy

Module call syntax (Python-native):

await ftl.azure.azcollection.azure_rm_virtualmachine(...)

Error handling:

• ftl.failed — boolean check for failures
• ftl.errors — programmatic access to error details

Relationships

• Ansible collections: FTL2 reuses Ansible collections (FQCN pattern: azure.azcollection) but invokes them in-process rather than via subprocess
• Secret bindings / Vault integration: Azure credentials can be managed through FTL2's secret binding system rather than raw environment variables
• State & idempotency: The .ftl2-state-azure.json file connects to FTL2's broader state tracking and crash recovery system
• Check mode: The --check flag is consistent with FTL2's general dry-run capability across all providers
• ftl.add_host(): Connects provisioning to inventory management — dynamically adding newly created VMs as hosts for subsequent configuration tasks
• Module usage patterns: The async await ftl.<namespace>.<collection>.<module>(...) pattern applies to all Ansible collections, not just Azure

Exam-Relevant Points

• FTL2 calls Ansible modules in-process, not as subprocesses — this is a key differentiator
• Azure state file is named .ftl2-state-azure.json
• The FQCN pattern for Azure modules follows azure.azcollection.<module_name>
• ftl.add_host() enables provision-then-configure workflows in a single script
• Three run modes for examples: normal (provision), --check (dry run), --teardown (destroy)
• Credentials use service principal authentication via four environment variables
• Error checking uses ftl.failed and ftl.errors — not exceptions by default
• Scripts are run with uv run python — FTL2 uses uv as its Python runner