ec2 – create, terminate, start or stop an instance in ec2

Synopsis

• Creates or terminates ec2 instances.

Requirements

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

• python >= 2.6

• boto

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
assign_public_ip boolean	Choices: no yes	When provisioning within vpc, assign a public IP address. Boto library must be 2.13.0+.
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
count integer	Default: 1	Number of instances to launch.
count_tag -		Used with 'exact_count' to determine how many nodes based on a specific tag criteria should be running. This can be expressed in multiple ways and is shown in the EXAMPLES section. For instance, one can request 25 servers that are tagged with "class=webserver". The specified tag must already exist or be passed in as the 'instance_tags' option.
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.
ebs_optimized boolean	Choices: no ← yes	whether instance is using 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.
exact_count integer		An integer value which indicates how many instances that match the 'count_tag' parameter should be running. Instances are either created or terminated based on this value.
group list		Security group (or list of groups) to use with the instance. aliases: groups
group_id list		Security group id (or list of ids) to use with the instance.
id string		Identifier for this instance or set of instances, so that the module will be idempotent with respect to EC2 instances. This identifier is valid for at least 24 hours after the termination of the instance, and should not be reused for another call later on. For details, see the description of client token at https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/Run_Instance_Idempotency.html.
image string / required		ami ID to use for the instance.
instance_ids list		list of instance ids, currently used for states: absent, running, stopped aliases: instance_id
instance_initiated_shutdown_behavior string added in 2.2	Choices: stop ← terminate	Set whether AWS will Stop or Terminate an instance on shutdown. This parameter is ignored when using instance-store. images (which require termination on shutdown).
instance_profile_name string		Name of the IAM instance profile (i.e. what the EC2 console refers to as an "IAM Role") to use. Boto library must be 2.5.0+.
instance_tags dictionary		A hash/dictionary of tags to add to the new instance or for starting/stopping instance by tag; '{"key":"value"}' and '{"key":"value","key":"value"}'.
instance_type string / required		Instance type to use for the instance, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-types.html.
kernel string		Kernel eki to use for the instance.
key_name string		Key pair to use on the instance. aliases: keypair
monitoring boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Enable detailed monitoring (CloudWatch) for instance.
network_interfaces list added in 2.0		A list of existing network interfaces to attach to the instance at launch. When specifying existing network interfaces, none of the assign_public_ip, private_ip, vpc_subnet_id, group, or group_id parameters may be used. (Those parameters are for creating a new network interface at launch.) aliases: network_interface
placement_group string		Placement group for the instance when using EC2 Clustered Compute.
private_ip string		The private ip address to assign the instance (from the vpc subnet).
profile string		Uses a boto profile. Only works with boto >= 2.24.0.
ramdisk string		Ramdisk eri to use for the instance.
region string		The AWS region to use. Must be specified if ec2_url is not used. If not specified then the value of the AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION environment variable, if any, is used. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region. aliases: aws_region, ec2_region
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
source_dest_check boolean	Choices: no yes	Enable or Disable the Source/Destination checks (for NAT instances and Virtual Routers). When initially creating an instance the EC2 API defaults this to True.
spot_launch_group string added in 2.1		Launch group for spot request, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/how-spot-instances-work.html#spot-launch-group.
spot_price string		Maximum spot price to bid. If not set, a regular on-demand instance is requested. A spot request is made with this maximum bid. When it is filled, the instance is started.
spot_type string added in 2.0	Choices: one-time ← persistent	Type of spot request; one of "one-time" or "persistent". Defaults to "one-time" if not supplied.
spot_wait_timeout integer	Default: 600	How long to wait for the spot instance request to be fulfilled.
state string	Choices: absent present ← restarted running stopped	Create, terminate, start, stop or restart instances. The state 'restarted' was added in Ansible 2.2. When 'absent', instance_ids is required. When 'running', 'stopped' and 'restarted', instance_ids or instance_tags is required.
tenancy string	Choices: default ← dedicated	An instance with a tenancy of "dedicated" runs on single-tenant hardware and can only be launched into a VPC. Note that to use dedicated tenancy you MUST specify a vpc_subnet_id as well. Dedicated tenancy is not available for EC2 "micro" instances.
termination_protection boolean added in 2.0	Choices: no ← yes	Enable or Disable the Termination Protection.
user_data string		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 list		a list of hash/dictionaries of volumes to add to the new instance; '[{"key":"value", "key":"value"}]'; keys allowed are - device_name (str; required), delete_on_termination (bool; False), device_type (deprecated), ephemeral (str), encrypted (bool; False), snapshot (str), volume_type (str), volume_size (int, GiB), iops (int) - device_type is deprecated use volume_type, iops must be set when volume_type='io1', ephemeral and snapshot are mutually exclusive.
vpc_subnet_id string		the subnet ID in which to launch the instance (VPC).
wait boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Wait for the instance to reach its desired state before returning. Does not wait for SSH, see 'wait_for_connection' example for details.
wait_timeout integer	Default: 300	How long before wait gives up, in seconds.
zone string		AWS availability zone in which to launch the instance. aliases: aws_zone, ec2_zone

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.

# Basic provisioning example
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    instance_type: t2.micro
    image: ami-123456
    wait: yes
    group: webserver
    count: 3
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

# Advanced example with tagging and CloudWatch
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    group: databases
    instance_type: t2.micro
    image: ami-123456
    wait: yes
    wait_timeout: 500
    count: 5
    instance_tags:
       db: postgres
    monitoring: yes
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

# Single instance with additional IOPS volume from snapshot and volume delete on termination
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    group: webserver
    instance_type: c3.medium
    image: ami-123456
    wait: yes
    wait_timeout: 500
    volumes:
      - device_name: /dev/sdb
        snapshot: snap-abcdef12
        volume_type: io1
        iops: 1000
        volume_size: 100
        delete_on_termination: true
    monitoring: yes
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

# Single instance with ssd gp2 root volume
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    group: webserver
    instance_type: c3.medium
    image: ami-123456
    wait: yes
    wait_timeout: 500
    volumes:
      - device_name: /dev/xvda
        volume_type: gp2
        volume_size: 8
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes
    count_tag:
      Name: dbserver
    exact_count: 1

# Multiple groups example
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    group: ['databases', 'internal-services', 'sshable', 'and-so-forth']
    instance_type: m1.large
    image: ami-6e649707
    wait: yes
    wait_timeout: 500
    count: 5
    instance_tags:
        db: postgres
    monitoring: yes
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

# Multiple instances with additional volume from snapshot
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    group: webserver
    instance_type: m1.large
    image: ami-6e649707
    wait: yes
    wait_timeout: 500
    count: 5
    volumes:
    - device_name: /dev/sdb
      snapshot: snap-abcdef12
      volume_size: 10
    monitoring: yes
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

# Dedicated tenancy example
- local_action:
    module: ec2
    assign_public_ip: yes
    group_id: sg-1dc53f72
    key_name: mykey
    image: ami-6e649707
    instance_type: m1.small
    tenancy: dedicated
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    wait: yes

# Spot instance example
- ec2:
    spot_price: 0.24
    spot_wait_timeout: 600
    keypair: mykey
    group_id: sg-1dc53f72
    instance_type: m1.small
    image: ami-6e649707
    wait: yes
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes
    spot_launch_group: report_generators

# Examples using pre-existing network interfaces
- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    instance_type: t2.small
    image: ami-f005ba11
    network_interface: eni-deadbeef

- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    instance_type: t2.small
    image: ami-f005ba11
    network_interfaces: ['eni-deadbeef', 'eni-5ca1ab1e']

# Launch instances, runs some tasks
# and then terminate them

- name: Create a sandbox instance
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: False
  vars:
    keypair: my_keypair
    instance_type: m1.small
    security_group: my_securitygroup
    image: my_ami_id
    region: us-east-1
  tasks:
    - name: Launch instance
      ec2:
         key_name: "{{ keypair }}"
         group: "{{ security_group }}"
         instance_type: "{{ instance_type }}"
         image: "{{ image }}"
         wait: true
         region: "{{ region }}"
         vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
         assign_public_ip: yes
      register: ec2

    - name: Add new instance to host group
      add_host:
        hostname: "{{ item.public_ip }}"
        groupname: launched
      loop: "{{ ec2.instances }}"

    - name: Wait for SSH to come up
      delegate_to: "{{ item.public_dns_name }}"
      wait_for_connection:
        delay: 60
        timeout: 320
      loop: "{{ ec2.instances }}"

- name: Configure instance(s)
  hosts: launched
  become: True
  gather_facts: True
  roles:
    - my_awesome_role
    - my_awesome_test

- name: Terminate instances
  hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - name: Terminate instances that were previously launched
      ec2:
        state: 'absent'
        instance_ids: '{{ ec2.instance_ids }}'

# Start a few existing instances, run some tasks
# and stop the instances

- name: Start sandbox instances
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    instance_ids:
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
    region: us-east-1
  tasks:
    - name: Start the sandbox instances
      ec2:
        instance_ids: '{{ instance_ids }}'
        region: '{{ region }}'
        state: running
        wait: True
        vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
        assign_public_ip: yes
  roles:
    - do_neat_stuff
    - do_more_neat_stuff

- name: Stop sandbox instances
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    instance_ids:
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
      - 'i-xxxxxx'
    region: us-east-1
  tasks:
    - name: Stop the sandbox instances
      ec2:
        instance_ids: '{{ instance_ids }}'
        region: '{{ region }}'
        state: stopped
        wait: True
        vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
        assign_public_ip: yes

#
# Start stopped instances specified by tag
#
- local_action:
    module: ec2
    instance_tags:
        Name: ExtraPower
    state: running

#
# Restart instances specified by tag
#
- local_action:
    module: ec2
    instance_tags:
        Name: ExtraPower
    state: restarted

#
# Enforce that 5 instances with a tag "foo" are running
# (Highly recommended!)
#

- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    instance_type: c1.medium
    image: ami-40603AD1
    wait: yes
    group: webserver
    instance_tags:
        foo: bar
    exact_count: 5
    count_tag: foo
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

#
# Enforce that 5 running instances named "database" with a "dbtype" of "postgres"
#

- ec2:
    key_name: mykey
    instance_type: c1.medium
    image: ami-40603AD1
    wait: yes
    group: webserver
    instance_tags:
        Name: database
        dbtype: postgres
    exact_count: 5
    count_tag:
        Name: database
        dbtype: postgres
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-29e63245
    assign_public_ip: yes

#
# count_tag complex argument examples
#

    # instances with tag foo
- ec2:
    count_tag:
        foo:

    # instances with tag foo=bar
- ec2:
    count_tag:
        foo: bar

    # instances with tags foo=bar & baz
- ec2:
    count_tag:
        foo: bar
        baz:

    # instances with tags foo & bar & baz=bang
- ec2:
    count_tag:
        - foo
        - bar
        - baz: bang

Status

• This module is guaranteed to have no backward incompatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]

• This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

Authors

• Tim Gerla (@tgerla)

• Lester Wade (@lwade)

• Seth Vidal (@skvidal)

Hint

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