ec2_instance – Create & manage EC2 instances — Ansible Documentation

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# ec2_instance – Create & manage EC2 instances

New in version 2.5.

- Synopsis
- Requirements
- Parameters
- Notes
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## 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. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-optimize-cpu.html for combinations available. 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_info 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. For more information about each parameter, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_BlockDeviceMapping.html.
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

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

### Authors

- Ryan Scott Brown (@ryansb)

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