ec2_instance – Create & manage EC2 instances

New in version 2.5.

Synopsis

  • Create and manage AWS EC2 instance

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • boto

  • boto3

  • botocore

  • python >= 2.6

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
availability_zone
-
Specify an availability zone to use the default subnet it. Useful if not specifying the vpc_subnet_id parameter.
If no subnet, ENI, or availability zone is provided, the default subnet in the default VPC will be used in the first AZ (alphabetically sorted).
aws_access_key
string
AWS access key. If not set then the value of the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_ACCESS_KEY or EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variable is used.

aliases: ec2_access_key, access_key
aws_secret_key
string
AWS secret key. If not set then the value of the AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_KEY, or EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variable is used.

aliases: ec2_secret_key, secret_key
cpu_credit_specification
-
    Choices:
  • unlimited
  • standard
For T2 series instances, choose whether to allow increased charges to buy CPU credits if the default pool is depleted.
Choose unlimited to enable buying additional CPU credits.
cpu_options
-
added in 2.7
Reduce the number of vCPU exposed to the instance.
Those parameters can only be set at instance launch. The two suboptions threads_per_core and core_count are mandatory.
Requires botocore >= 1.10.16
core_count
- / required
Set the number of core to enable.
threads_per_core
- / required
    Choices:
  • 1
  • 2
Select the number of threads per core to enable. Disable or Enable Intel HT.
debug_botocore_endpoint_logs
boolean
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Use a botocore.endpoint logger to parse the unique (rather than total) "resource:action" API calls made during a task, outputing the set to the resource_actions key in the task results. Use the aws_resource_action callback to output to total list made during a playbook. The ANSIBLE_DEBUG_BOTOCORE_LOGS environment variable may also be used.
detailed_monitoring
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to allow detailed cloudwatch metrics to be collected, enabling more detailed alerting.
ebs_optimized
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether instance is should use optimized EBS volumes, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSOptimized.html.
ec2_url
string
Url to use to connect to EC2 or your Eucalyptus cloud (by default the module will use EC2 endpoints). Ignored for modules where region is required. Must be specified for all other modules if region is not used. If not set then the value of the EC2_URL environment variable, if any, is used.
filters
-
Default:
{"subnet-id": "\u003cprovided-or-default subnet\u003e", "tag:Name": "\u003cprovided-Name-attribute\u003e"}
A dict of filters to apply when deciding whether existing instances match and should be altered. Each dict item consists of a filter key and a filter value. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeInstances.html. for possible filters. Filter names and values are case sensitive. By default, instances are filtered for counting by their "Name" tag, base AMI, state (running, by default), and subnet ID. Any queryable filter can be used. Good candidates are specific tags, SSH keys, or security groups.
image
-
An image to use for the instance. The ec2_ami_facts module may be used to retrieve images. One of image or image_id are required when instance is not already present.
Complex object containing image.id, image.ramdisk, and image.kernel.
image.id is the AMI ID.
image.ramdisk overrides the AMI's default ramdisk ID.
image.kernel is a string AKI to override the AMI kernel.
image_id
-
ami ID to use for the instance. One of image or image_id are required when instance is not already present.
This is an alias for image.id.
instance_ids
-
If you specify one or more instance IDs, only instances that have the specified IDs are returned.
instance_initiated_shutdown_behavior
-
    Choices:
  • stop
  • terminate
Whether to stop or terminate an instance upon shutdown.
instance_role
-
The ARN or name of an EC2-enabled instance role to be used. If a name is not provided in arn format then the ListInstanceProfiles permission must also be granted. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/API_ListInstanceProfiles.html If no full ARN is provided, the role with a matching name will be used from the active AWS account.
instance_type
-
Default:
"t2.micro"
Instance type to use for the instance, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-types.html Only required when instance is not already present.
key_name
-
Name of the SSH access key to assign to the instance - must exist in the region the instance is created.
launch_template
-
The EC2 launch template to base instance configuration on.
launch_template.id the ID or the launch template (optional if name is specified).
launch_template.name the pretty name of the launch template (optional if id is specified).
launch_template.version the specific version of the launch template to use. If unspecified, the template default is chosen.
name
-
The Name tag for the instance.
network
-
Either a dictionary containing the key 'interfaces' corresponding to a list of network interface IDs or containing specifications for a single network interface.
If specifications for a single network are given, accepted keys are assign_public_ip (bool), private_ip_address (str), ipv6_addresses (list), source_dest_check (bool), description (str), delete_on_termination (bool), device_index (int), groups (list of security group IDs), private_ip_addresses (list), subnet_id (str).
network.interfaces should be a list of ENI IDs (strings) or a list of objects containing the key id.
Use the ec2_eni to create ENIs with special settings.
placement_group
-
added in 2.8
The placement group that needs to be assigned to the instance
profile
string
Uses a boto profile. Only works with boto >= 2.24.0.
purge_tags
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Delete any tags not specified in the task that are on the instance. This means you have to specify all the desired tags on each task affecting an instance.
region
string
The AWS region to use. If not specified then the value of the AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION environment variable, if any, is used. See http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region

aliases: aws_region, ec2_region
security_group
-
A security group ID or name. Mutually exclusive with security_groups.
security_groups
-
A list of security group IDs or names (strings). Mutually exclusive with security_group.
security_token
string
AWS STS security token. If not set then the value of the AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN or EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variable is used.

aliases: access_token
state
-
    Choices:
  • present ←
  • terminated
  • running
  • started
  • stopped
  • restarted
  • rebooted
  • absent
Goal state for the instances.
tags
-
A hash/dictionary of tags to add to the new instance or to add/remove from an existing one.
tenancy
-
    Choices:
  • dedicated
  • default
What type of tenancy to allow an instance to use. Default is shared tenancy. Dedicated tenancy will incur additional charges.
termination_protection
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to enable termination protection. This module will not terminate an instance with termination protection active, it must be turned off first.
tower_callback
-
Preconfigured user-data to enable an instance to perform a Tower callback (Linux only).
Mutually exclusive with user_data.
For Windows instances, to enable remote access via Ansible set tower_callback.windows to true, and optionally set an admin password.
If using 'windows' and 'set_password', callback to Tower will not be performed but the instance will be ready to receive winrm connections from Ansible.
host_config_key
-
Host configuration secret key generated by the Tower job template.
job_template_id
-
Either the integer ID of the Tower Job Template, or the name (name supported only for Tower 3.2+).
tower_address
-
IP address or DNS name of Tower server. Must be accessible via this address from the VPC that this instance will be launched in.
user_data
-
Opaque blob of data which is made available to the ec2 instance
validate_certs
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
When set to "no", SSL certificates will not be validated for boto versions >= 2.6.0.
volumes
-
A list of block device mappings, by default this will always use the AMI root device so the volumes option is primarily for adding more storage.
A mapping contains the (optional) keys device_name, virtual_name, ebs.volume_type, ebs.volume_size, ebs.kms_key_id, ebs.iops, and ebs.delete_on_termination.
vpc_subnet_id
-
The subnet ID in which to launch the instance (VPC) If none is provided, ec2_instance will chose the default zone of the default VPC.

aliases: subnet_id
wait
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Whether or not to wait for the desired state (use wait_timeout to customize this).
wait_timeout
-
Default:
600
How long to wait (in seconds) for the instance to finish booting/terminating.

Notes

Note

  • If parameters are not set within the module, the following environment variables can be used in decreasing order of precedence AWS_URL or EC2_URL, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or AWS_ACCESS_KEY or EC2_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY or AWS_SECRET_KEY or EC2_SECRET_KEY, AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN or EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN, AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION

  • Ansible uses the boto configuration file (typically ~/.boto) if no credentials are provided. See https://boto.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boto_config_tut.html

  • AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION can be typically be used to specify the AWS region, when required, but this can also be configured in the boto config file

Examples

# Note: These examples do not set authentication details, see the AWS Guide for details.

# Terminate every running instance in a region. Use with EXTREME caution.
- ec2_instance:
    state: absent
    filters:
      instance-state-name: running

# restart a particular instance by its ID
- ec2_instance:
    state: restarted
    instance_ids:
      - i-12345678

# start an instance with a public IP address
- ec2_instance:
    name: "public-compute-instance"
    key_name: "prod-ssh-key"
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-5ca1ab1e
    instance_type: c5.large
    security_group: default
    network:
      assign_public_ip: true
    image_id: ami-123456
    tags:
      Environment: Testing

# start an instance and Add EBS
- ec2_instance:
    name: "public-withebs-instance"
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-5ca1ab1e
    instance_type: t2.micro
    key_name: "prod-ssh-key"
    security_group: default
    volumes:
      - device_name: /dev/sda1
        ebs:
          volume_size: 16
          delete_on_termination: true

# start an instance with a cpu_options
- ec2_instance:
    name: "public-cpuoption-instance"
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-5ca1ab1e
    tags:
      Environment: Testing
    instance_type: c4.large
    volumes:
    - device_name: /dev/sda1
      ebs:
        delete_on_termination: true
    cpu_options:
        core_count: 1
        threads_per_core: 1

# start an instance and have it begin a Tower callback on boot
- ec2_instance:
    name: "tower-callback-test"
    key_name: "prod-ssh-key"
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-5ca1ab1e
    security_group: default
    tower_callback:
      # IP or hostname of tower server
      tower_address: 1.2.3.4
      job_template_id: 876
      host_config_key: '[secret config key goes here]'
    network:
      assign_public_ip: true
    image_id: ami-123456
    cpu_credit_specification: unlimited
    tags:
      SomeThing: "A value"

# start an instance with ENI (An existing ENI ID is required)
- ec2_instance:
    name: "public-eni-instance"
    key_name: "prod-ssh-key"
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-5ca1ab1e
    network:
      interfaces:
        - id: "eni-12345"
    tags:
      Env: "eni_on"
    volumes:
    - device_name: /dev/sda1
      ebs:
        delete_on_termination: true
    instance_type: t2.micro
    image_id: ami-123456

# add second ENI interface
- ec2_instance:
    name: "public-eni-instance"
    network:
      interfaces:
        - id: "eni-12345"
        - id: "eni-67890"
    image_id: ami-123456
    tags:
      Env: "eni_on"
    instance_type: t2.micro

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
instances
complex
when wait == true
a list of ec2 instances

  ami_launch_index
integer
always
The AMI launch index, which can be used to find this instance in the launch group.

  architecture
string
always
The architecture of the image

Sample:
x86_64
  block_device_mappings
complex
always
Any block device mapping entries for the instance.

    device_name
string
always
The device name exposed to the instance (for example, /dev/sdh or xvdh).

Sample:
/dev/sdh
    ebs
complex
always
Parameters used to automatically set up EBS volumes when the instance is launched.

      attach_time
string
always
The time stamp when the attachment initiated.

Sample:
2017-03-23T22:51:24+00:00
      delete_on_termination
boolean
always
Indicates whether the volume is deleted on instance termination.

Sample:
True
      status
string
always
The attachment state.

Sample:
attached
      volume_id
string
always
The ID of the EBS volume

Sample:
vol-12345678
  client_token
string
always
The idempotency token you provided when you launched the instance, if applicable.

Sample:
mytoken
  ebs_optimized
boolean
always
Indicates whether the instance is optimized for EBS I/O.

  hypervisor
string
always
The hypervisor type of the instance.

Sample:
xen
  iam_instance_profile
complex
always
The IAM instance profile associated with the instance, if applicable.

    arn
string
always
The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the instance profile.

Sample:
arn:aws:iam::000012345678:instance-profile/myprofile
    id
string
always
The ID of the instance profile

Sample:
JFJ397FDG400FG9FD1N
  image_id
string
always
The ID of the AMI used to launch the instance.

Sample:
ami-0011223344
  instance_id
string
always
The ID of the instance.

Sample:
i-012345678
  instance_type
string
always
The instance type size of the running instance.

Sample:
t2.micro
  key_name
string
always
The name of the key pair, if this instance was launched with an associated key pair.

Sample:
my-key
  launch_time
string
always
The time the instance was launched.

Sample:
2017-03-23T22:51:24+00:00
  monitoring
complex
always
The monitoring for the instance.

    state
string
always
Indicates whether detailed monitoring is enabled. Otherwise, basic monitoring is enabled.

Sample:
disabled
  network.source_dest_check
boolean
always
Indicates whether source/destination checking is enabled.

Sample:
True
  network_interfaces
complex
always
One or more network interfaces for the instance.

    association
complex
always
The association information for an Elastic IPv4 associated with the network interface.

      ip_owner_id
string
always
The ID of the owner of the Elastic IP address.

Sample:
amazon
      public_dns_name
string
always
The public DNS name.

      public_ip
string
always
The public IP address or Elastic IP address bound to the network interface.

Sample:
1.2.3.4
    attachment
complex
always
The network interface attachment.

      attach_time
string
always
The time stamp when the attachment initiated.

Sample:
2017-03-23T22:51:24+00:00
      attachment_id
string
always
The ID of the network interface attachment.

Sample:
eni-attach-3aff3f
      delete_on_termination
boolean
always
Indicates whether the network interface is deleted when the instance is terminated.

Sample:
True
      device_index
integer
always
The index of the device on the instance for the network interface attachment.

      status
string
always
The attachment state.

Sample:
attached
    description
string
always
The description.

Sample:
My interface
    groups
list of complex
always
One or more security groups.

      group_id
string
always
The ID of the security group.

Sample:
sg-abcdef12
      group_name
string
always
The name of the security group.

Sample:
mygroup
    ipv6_addresses
complex
always
One or more IPv6 addresses associated with the network interface.

      ipv6_address
string
always
The IPv6 address.

Sample:
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
    mac_address
string
always
The MAC address.

Sample:
00:11:22:33:44:55
    network_interface_id
string
always
The ID of the network interface.

Sample:
eni-01234567
    owner_id
string
always
The AWS account ID of the owner of the network interface.

Sample:
01234567890
    private_ip_address
string
always
The IPv4 address of the network interface within the subnet.

Sample:
10.0.0.1
    private_ip_addresses
list of complex
always
The private IPv4 addresses associated with the network interface.

      association
complex
always
The association information for an Elastic IP address (IPv4) associated with the network interface.

        ip_owner_id
string
always
The ID of the owner of the Elastic IP address.

Sample:
amazon
        public_dns_name
string
always
The public DNS name.

        public_ip
string
always
The public IP address or Elastic IP address bound to the network interface.

Sample:
1.2.3.4
      primary
boolean
always
Indicates whether this IPv4 address is the primary private IP address of the network interface.

Sample:
True
      private_ip_address
string
always
The private IPv4 address of the network interface.

Sample:
10.0.0.1
    source_dest_check
boolean
always
Indicates whether source/destination checking is enabled.

Sample:
True
    status
string
always
The status of the network interface.

Sample:
in-use
    subnet_id
string
always
The ID of the subnet for the network interface.

Sample:
subnet-0123456
    vpc_id
string
always
The ID of the VPC for the network interface.

Sample:
vpc-0123456
  placement
complex
always
The location where the instance launched, if applicable.

    availability_zone
string
always
The Availability Zone of the instance.

Sample:
ap-southeast-2a
    group_name
string
always
The name of the placement group the instance is in (for cluster compute instances).

    tenancy
string
always
The tenancy of the instance (if the instance is running in a VPC).

Sample:
default
  private_dns_name
string
always
The private DNS name.

Sample:
ip-10-0-0-1.ap-southeast-2.compute.internal
  private_ip_address
string
always
The IPv4 address of the network interface within the subnet.

Sample:
10.0.0.1
  product_codes
list of complex
always
One or more product codes.

    product_code_id
string
always
The product code.

Sample:
aw0evgkw8ef3n2498gndfgasdfsd5cce
    product_code_type
string
always
The type of product code.

Sample:
marketplace
  public_dns_name
string
always
The public DNS name assigned to the instance.

  public_ip_address
string
always
The public IPv4 address assigned to the instance

Sample:
52.0.0.1
  root_device_name
string
always
The device name of the root device

Sample:
/dev/sda1
  root_device_type
string
always
The type of root device used by the AMI.

Sample:
ebs
  security_groups
list of complex
always
One or more security groups for the instance.

    group_id
string
always
The ID of the security group.

Sample:
sg-0123456
    group_name
string
always
The name of the security group.

Sample:
my-security-group
  state
complex
always
The current state of the instance.

    code
integer
always
The low byte represents the state.

Sample:
16
    name
string
always
The name of the state.

Sample:
running
  state_transition_reason
string
always
The reason for the most recent state transition.

  subnet_id
string
always
The ID of the subnet in which the instance is running.

Sample:
subnet-00abcdef
  tags
dictionary
always
Any tags assigned to the instance.

  virtualization_type
string
always
The type of virtualization of the AMI.

Sample:
hvm
  vpc_id
dictionary
always
The ID of the VPC the instance is in.

Sample:
vpc-0011223344


Status

Authors

  • Ryan Scott Brown (@ryansb)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.