community.general.ali_instance module – Create, Start, Stop, Restart or Terminate an Instance in ECS. Add or Remove Instance to/from a Security Group.

Note

This module is part of the community.general collection (version 4.8.3).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.ali_instance.

Synopsis

  • Create, start, stop, restart, modify or terminate ecs instances.

  • Add or remove ecs instances to/from security group.

Requirements

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

  • footmark >= 1.19.0

  • python >= 3.6

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

alicloud_access_key

aliases: access_key_id, access_key

string

Alibaba Cloud access key. If not set then the value of environment variable ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY, ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID will be used instead.

alicloud_assume_role

aliases: assume_role

dictionary

If provided with a role ARN, Ansible will attempt to assume this role using the supplied credentials.

The nested assume_role block supports alicloud_assume_role_arn, alicloud_assume_role_session_name, alicloud_assume_role_session_expiration and alicloud_assume_role_policy

alicloud_assume_role_arn

aliases: assume_role_arn

string

The Alibaba Cloud role_arn. The ARN of the role to assume. If ARN is set to an empty string, it does not perform role switching. It supports environment variable ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_ARN. ansible will execute with provided credentials.

alicloud_assume_role_session_expiration

aliases: assume_role_session_expiration

integer

The Alibaba Cloud session_expiration. The time after which the established session for assuming role expires. Valid value range 900-3600 seconds. Default to 3600 (in this case Alicloud use own default value). It supports environment variable ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_SESSION_EXPIRATION

alicloud_assume_role_session_name

aliases: assume_role_session_name

string

The Alibaba Cloud session_name. The session name to use when assuming the role. If omitted, ‘ansible’ is passed to the AssumeRole call as session name. It supports environment variable ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_SESSION_NAME

alicloud_region

aliases: region, region_id

string / required

The Alibaba Cloud region to use. If not specified then the value of environment variable ALICLOUD_REGION, ALICLOUD_REGION_ID will be used instead.

alicloud_secret_key

aliases: secret_access_key, secret_key

string

Alibaba Cloud secret key. If not set then the value of environment variable ALICLOUD_SECRET_KEY, ALICLOUD_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY will be used instead.

alicloud_security_token

aliases: security_token

string

The Alibaba Cloud security token. If not specified then the value of environment variable ALICLOUD_SECURITY_TOKEN will be used instead.

allocate_public_ip

aliases: assign_public_ip

boolean

Whether allocate a public ip for the new instance.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

auto_renew

boolean

Whether automate renew the charge of the instance.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

auto_renew_period

integer

The duration of the automatic renew the charge of the instance. Required when auto_renew=True.

Choices:

  • 1

  • 2

  • 3

  • 6

  • 12

availability_zone

aliases: alicloud_zone, zone_id

string

Aliyun availability zone ID in which to launch the instance. If it is not specified, it will be allocated by system automatically.

count

integer

The number of the new instance. An integer value which indicates how many instances that match count_tag should be running. Instances are either created or terminated based on this value.

Default: 1

count_tag

string

count determines how many instances based on a specific tag criteria should be present. This can be expressed in multiple ways and is shown in the EXAMPLES section. The specified count_tag must already exist or be passed in as the tags option. If it is not specified, it will be replaced by instance_name.

description

string

The description of ECS instance, which is a string of 2 to 256 characters. It cannot begin with http:// or https://.

dry_run

boolean

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

Specifies whether to send a dry-run request.

If dry_run=True, Only a dry-run request is sent and no instance is created. The system checks whether the required parameters are set, and validates the request format, service permissions, and available ECS instances. If the validation fails, the corresponding error code is returned. If the validation succeeds, the DryRunOperation error code is returned.

If dry_run=False, A request is sent. If the validation succeeds, the instance is created.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

ecs_role_name

aliases: role_name

string

The RAM Role Name attached on a ECS instance for API operations. You can retrieve this from the ‘Access Control’ section of the Alibaba Cloud console.

If you’re running Ansible from an ECS instance with RAM Instance using RAM Role, Ansible will just access the metadata http://100.100.100.200/latest/meta-data/ram/security-credentials/<ecs_role_name> to obtain the STS credential. This is a preferred approach over any other when running in ECS as you can avoid hard coding credentials. Instead these are leased on-the-fly by Ansible which reduces the chance of leakage.

force

boolean

Whether the current operation needs to be execute forcibly.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

host_name

string

Instance host name. Ordered hostname is not supported.

image_id

aliases: image

string

Image ID used to launch instances. Required when state=present and creating new ECS instances.

include_data_disks

boolean

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

Whether to change instance disks charge type when changing instance charge type.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

instance_charge_type

string

The charge type of the instance.

Choices:

  • PrePaid

  • PostPaid ← (default)

instance_ids

list / elements=string

A list of instance ids. It is required when need to operate existing instances. If it is specified, count will lose efficacy.

instance_name

aliases: name

string

The name of ECS instance, which is a string of 2 to 128 Chinese or English characters. It must begin with an uppercase/lowercase letter or a Chinese character and can contain numerals, “.”, “_” or “-“. It cannot begin with http:// or https://.

instance_type

aliases: type

string

Instance type used to launch instances. Required when state=present and creating new ECS instances.

internet_charge_type

string

Internet charge type of ECS instance.

Choices:

  • PayByBandwidth ← (default)

  • PayByTraffic

key_name

aliases: keypair

string

The name of key pair which is used to access ECS instance in SSH.

max_bandwidth_in

integer

Maximum incoming bandwidth from the public network, measured in Mbps (Megabits per second).

Default: 200

max_bandwidth_out

integer

Maximum outgoing bandwidth to the public network, measured in Mbps (Megabits per second). Required when allocate_public_ip=True. Ignored when allocate_public_ip=False.

Default: 0

password

string

The password to login instance. After rebooting instances, modified password will take effect.

period

integer

The charge duration of the instance, in month. Required when instance_charge_type=PrePaid.

The valid value are [1-9, 12, 24, 36].

Default: 1

period_unit

string

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

The duration unit that you will buy the resource. It is valid when instance_charge_type=PrePaid

Choices:

  • Month ← (default)

  • Week

profile

string

This is the Alicloud profile name as set in the shared credentials file. It can also be sourced from the ALICLOUD_PROFILE environment variable.

purge_tags

boolean

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

Delete any tags not specified in the task that are on the instance. If True, it means you have to specify all the desired tags on each task affecting an instance.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

ram_role_name

string

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

The name of the instance RAM role.

security_groups

aliases: group_ids

list / elements=string

A list of security group IDs.

shared_credentials_file

string

This is the path to the shared credentials file. It can also be sourced from the ALICLOUD_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE environment variable.

If this is not set and a profile is specified, ~/.aliyun/config.json will be used.

spot_price_limit

float

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

The maximum hourly price for the preemptible instance. This parameter supports a maximum of three decimal places and takes effect when the SpotStrategy parameter is set to SpotWithPriceLimit.

spot_strategy

string

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

The bidding mode of the pay-as-you-go instance. This parameter is valid when InstanceChargeType is set to PostPaid.

Choices:

  • NoSpot ← (default)

  • SpotWithPriceLimit

  • SpotAsPriceGo

state

string

The state of the instance after operating.

Choices:

  • present ← (default)

  • running

  • stopped

  • restarted

  • absent

system_disk_category

string

Category of the system disk.

Choices:

  • cloud_efficiency ← (default)

  • cloud_ssd

system_disk_description

string

Description of the system disk.

system_disk_name

string

Name of the system disk.

system_disk_size

integer

Size of the system disk, in GB. The valid values are 40~500.

Default: 40

tags

aliases: instance_tags

dictionary

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

A hash/dictionaries of instance tags, to add to the new instance or for starting/stopping instance by tag. {"key":"value"}

unique_suffix

boolean

added in 0.2.0 of community.general

Specifies whether to add sequential suffixes to the host_name. The sequential suffix ranges from 001 to 999.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

user_data

string

User-defined data to customize the startup behaviors of an ECS instance and to pass data into an ECS instance. It only will take effect when launching the new ECS instances.

vswitch_id

aliases: subnet_id

string

The subnet ID in which to launch the instances (VPC).

Notes

Note

  • If parameters are not set within the module, the following environment variables can be used in decreasing order of precedence ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY or ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID, ALICLOUD_SECRET_KEY or ALICLOUD_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, ALICLOUD_REGION or ALICLOUD_REGION_ID, ALICLOUD_SECURITY_TOKEN, ALICLOUD_ECS_ROLE_NAME, ALICLOUD_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE, ALICLOUD_PROFILE, ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_ARN, ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_SESSION_NAME, ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_SESSION_EXPIRATION,

  • ALICLOUD_REGION or ALICLOUD_REGION_ID can be typically be used to specify the ALICLOUD region, when required, but this can also be configured in the footmark config file

Examples

# basic provisioning example vpc network
- name: Basic provisioning example
  hosts: localhost
  vars:
    alicloud_access_key: <your-alicloud-access-key-id>
    alicloud_secret_key: <your-alicloud-access-secret-key>
    alicloud_region: cn-beijing
    image: ubuntu1404_64_40G_cloudinit_20160727.raw
    instance_type: ecs.n4.small
    vswitch_id: vsw-abcd1234
    assign_public_ip: True
    max_bandwidth_out: 10
    host_name: myhost
    password: mypassword
    system_disk_category: cloud_efficiency
    system_disk_size: 100
    internet_charge_type: PayByBandwidth
    security_groups: ["sg-f2rwnfh23r"]

    instance_ids: ["i-abcd12346", "i-abcd12345"]
    force: True

  tasks:
    - name: Launch ECS instance in VPC network
      community.general.ali_instance:
        alicloud_access_key: '{{ alicloud_access_key }}'
        alicloud_secret_key: '{{ alicloud_secret_key }}'
        alicloud_region: '{{ alicloud_region }}'
        image: '{{ image }}'
        system_disk_category: '{{ system_disk_category }}'
        system_disk_size: '{{ system_disk_size }}'
        instance_type: '{{ instance_type }}'
        vswitch_id: '{{ vswitch_id }}'
        assign_public_ip: '{{ assign_public_ip }}'
        internet_charge_type: '{{ internet_charge_type }}'
        max_bandwidth_out: '{{ max_bandwidth_out }}'
        tags:
            Name: created_one
        host_name: '{{ host_name }}'
        password: '{{ password }}'

    - name: With count and count_tag to create a number of instances
      community.general.ali_instance:
        alicloud_access_key: '{{ alicloud_access_key }}'
        alicloud_secret_key: '{{ alicloud_secret_key }}'
        alicloud_region: '{{ alicloud_region }}'
        image: '{{ image }}'
        system_disk_category: '{{ system_disk_category }}'
        system_disk_size: '{{ system_disk_size }}'
        instance_type: '{{ instance_type }}'
        assign_public_ip: '{{ assign_public_ip }}'
        security_groups: '{{ security_groups }}'
        internet_charge_type: '{{ internet_charge_type }}'
        max_bandwidth_out: '{{ max_bandwidth_out }}'
        tags:
            Name: created_one
            Version: 0.1
        count: 2
        count_tag:
            Name: created_one
        host_name: '{{ host_name }}'
        password: '{{ password }}'

    - name: Start instance
      community.general.ali_instance:
        alicloud_access_key: '{{ alicloud_access_key }}'
        alicloud_secret_key: '{{ alicloud_secret_key }}'
        alicloud_region: '{{ alicloud_region }}'
        instance_ids: '{{ instance_ids }}'
        state: 'running'

    - name: Reboot instance forcibly
      ecs:
        alicloud_access_key: '{{ alicloud_access_key }}'
        alicloud_secret_key: '{{ alicloud_secret_key }}'
        alicloud_region: '{{ alicloud_region }}'
        instance_ids: '{{ instance_ids }}'
        state: 'restarted'
        force: '{{ force }}'

    - name: Add instances to an security group
      ecs:
        alicloud_access_key: '{{ alicloud_access_key }}'
        alicloud_secret_key: '{{ alicloud_secret_key }}'
        alicloud_region: '{{ alicloud_region }}'
        instance_ids: '{{ instance_ids }}'
        security_groups: '{{ security_groups }}'

Return Values

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

Key

Description

ids

list / elements=string

List of ECS instance IDs

Returned: always

Sample: [“i-12345er”, “i-3245fs”]

instances

complex

List of ECS instances

Returned: always

availability_zone

string

The availability zone of the instance is in.

Returned: always

Sample: “cn-beijing-a”

block_device_mappings

complex

Any block device mapping entries for the instance.

Returned: always

attach_time

string

The time stamp when the attachment initiated.

Returned: always

Sample: “2018-06-25T04:08:26Z”

delete_on_termination

boolean

Indicates whether the volume is deleted on instance termination.

Returned: always

Sample: true

device_name

string

The device name exposed to the instance (for example, /dev/xvda).

Returned: always

Sample: “/dev/xvda”

status

string

The attachment state.

Returned: always

Sample: “in_use”

volume_id

string

The ID of the cloud disk.

Returned: always

Sample: “d-2zei53pjsi117y6gf9t6”

cpu

integer

The CPU core count of the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: 4

creation_time

string

The time the instance was created.

Returned: always

Sample: “2018-06-25T04:08Z”

description

string

The instance description.

Returned: always

Sample: “my ansible instance”

eip

complex

The attribution of EIP associated with the instance.

Returned: always

allocation_id

string

The ID of the EIP.

Returned: always

Sample: “eip-12345”

internet_charge_type

string

The internet charge type of the EIP.

Returned: always

Sample: “paybybandwidth”

ip_address

string

EIP address.

Returned: always

Sample: “42.10.2.2”

expired_time

string

The time the instance will expire.

Returned: always

Sample: “2099-12-31T15:59Z”

gpu

complex

The attribution of instance GPU.

Returned: always

amount

integer

The count of the GPU.

Returned: always

Sample: 0

spec

string

The specification of the GPU.

Returned: always

Sample: “”

host_name

string

The host name of the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “iZ2zewaoZ”

id

string

Alias of instance_id.

Returned: always

Sample: “i-abc12345”

image_id

string

The ID of the image used to launch the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “m-0011223344”

inner_ip_address

string

The inner IPv4 address of the classic instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “10.0.0.2”

instance_charge_type

string

The instance charge type.

Returned: always

Sample: “PostPaid”

instance_id

string

ECS instance resource ID.

Returned: always

Sample: “i-abc12345”

instance_name

string

The name of the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “my-ecs”

instance_type

string

The instance type of the running instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “ecs.sn1ne.xlarge”

instance_type_family

string

The instance type family of the instance belongs.

Returned: always

Sample: “ecs.sn1ne”

internet_charge_type

string

The billing method of the network bandwidth.

Returned: always

Sample: “PayByBandwidth”

internet_max_bandwidth_in

integer

Maximum incoming bandwidth from the internet network.

Returned: always

Sample: 200

internet_max_bandwidth_out

integer

Maximum incoming bandwidth from the internet network.

Returned: always

Sample: 20

io_optimized

boolean

Indicates whether the instance is optimized for EBS I/O.

Returned: always

Sample: false

memory

integer

Memory size of the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: 8192

network_interfaces

complex

One or more network interfaces for the instance.

Returned: always

mac_address

string

The MAC address.

Returned: always

Sample: “00:11:22:33:44:55”

network_interface_id

string

The ID of the network interface.

Returned: always

Sample: “eni-01234567”

primary_ip_address

string

The primary IPv4 address of the network interface within the vswitch.

Returned: always

Sample: “10.0.0.1”

osname

string

The operation system name of the instance owned.

Returned: always

Sample: “CentOS”

ostype

string

The operation system type of the instance owned.

Returned: always

Sample: “linux”

private_ip_address

string

The IPv4 address of the network interface within the subnet.

Returned: always

Sample: “10.0.0.1”

public_ip_address

string

The public IPv4 address assigned to the instance or eip address

Returned: always

Sample: “43.0.0.1”

resource_group_id

string

The id of the resource group to which the instance belongs.

Returned: always

Sample: “my-ecs-group”

security_groups

list / elements=dictionary

One or more security groups for the instance.

Returned: always

group_id

string

The ID of the security group.

Returned: always

Sample: “sg-0123456”

group_name

string

The name of the security group.

Returned: always

Sample: “my-security-group”

spot_price_limit

float

The maximum hourly price for the preemptible instance.

Returned: always

Sample: 0.97

spot_strategy

string

The bidding mode of the pay-as-you-go instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “NoSpot”

status

string

The current status of the instance.

Returned: always

Sample: “running”

tags

dictionary

Any tags assigned to the instance.

Returned: always

user_data

dictionary

User-defined data.

Returned: always

vpc_id

string

The ID of the VPC the instance is in.

Returned: always

Sample: “vpc-0011223344”

vswitch_id

string

The ID of the vswitch in which the instance is running.

Returned: always

Sample: “vsw-dew00abcdef”

Authors

  • He Guimin (@xiaozhu36)