The AWS::EC2::Instance
Resource doesn't support the MinCount
/MaxCount
parameters of the underlying RunInstances
API, so it's not possible to create a variable number of EC2 instances by passing Parameters to a single copy of this Resource.
To create a variable number of EC2 instance resources in CloudFormation template according to a template Parameter, and without deploying an Auto Scaling Group instead, there are two options:
1. Conditions
You can use Conditions
to create a variable number of AWS::EC2::Instance
Resources depending on the Parameter.
It's a little verbose (because you have to use Fn::Equals
), but it works.
Here's a working example that allows the user to specify up to a maximum of 5 instances:
Description: Create a variable number of EC2 instance resources.
Parameters:
InstanceCount:
Description: Number of EC2 instances (must be between 1 and 5).
Type: Number
Default: 1
MinValue: 1
MaxValue: 5
ConstraintDescription: Must be a number between 1 and 5.
ImageId:
Description: Image ID to launch EC2 instances.
Type: AWS::EC2::Image::Id
# amzn-ami-hvm-2016.09.1.20161221-x86_64-gp2
Default: ami-9be6f38c
InstanceType:
Description: Instance type to launch EC2 instances.
Type: String
Default: m3.medium
AllowedValues: [ m3.medium, m3.large, m3.xlarge, m3.2xlarge ]
Conditions:
Launch1: !Equals [1, 1]
Launch2: !Not [!Equals [1, !Ref InstanceCount]]
Launch3: !And
- !Not [!Equals [1, !Ref InstanceCount]]
- !Not [!Equals [2, !Ref InstanceCount]]
Launch4: !Or
- !Equals [4, !Ref InstanceCount]
- !Equals [5, !Ref InstanceCount]
Launch5: !Equals [5, !Ref InstanceCount]
Resources:
Instance1:
Condition: Launch1
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
Instance2:
Condition: Launch2
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
Instance3:
Condition: Launch3
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
Instance4:
Condition: Launch4
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
Instance5:
Condition: Launch5
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
1a. Template preprocessor with Conditions
As a variation on the above, you can use a template preprocessor like Ruby's Erb to generate the above template based on a specified maximum, making your source code more compact and eliminating duplication:
<%max = 10-%>
Description: Create a variable number of EC2 instance resources.
Parameters:
InstanceCount:
Description: Number of EC2 instances (must be between 1 and <%=max%>).
Type: Number
Default: 1
MinValue: 1
MaxValue: <%=max%>
ConstraintDescription: Must be a number between 1 and <%=max%>.
ImageId:
Description: Image ID to launch EC2 instances.
Type: AWS::EC2::Image::Id
# amzn-ami-hvm-2016.09.1.20161221-x86_64-gp2
Default: ami-9be6f38c
InstanceType:
Description: Instance type to launch EC2 instances.
Type: String
Default: m3.medium
AllowedValues: [ m3.medium, m3.large, m3.xlarge, m3.2xlarge ]
Conditions:
Launch1: !Equals [1, 1]
Launch2: !Not [!Equals [1, !Ref InstanceCount]]
<%(3..max-1).each do |x|
low = (max-1)/(x-1) <= 1-%>
Launch<%=x%>: !<%=low ? 'Or' : 'And'%>
<% (1..max).each do |i|
if low && i >= x-%>
- !Equals [<%=i%>, !Ref InstanceCount]
<% elsif !low && i < x-%>
- !Not [!Equals [<%=i%>, !Ref InstanceCount]]
<% end
end
end-%>
Launch<%=max%>: !Equals [<%=max%>, !Ref InstanceCount]
Resources:
<%(1..max).each do |x|-%>
Instance<%=x%>:
Condition: Launch<%=x%>
Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
Properties:
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
<%end-%>
To process the above source into a CloudFormation-compatible template, run:
ruby -rerb -e "puts ERB.new(ARGF.read, nil, '-').result" < template.yml > template-out.yml
For convenience, here is a gist with the generated output YAML for 10 variable EC2 instances.
2. Custom Resource
An alternate approach is to implement a Custom Resource that calls the RunInstances
/TerminateInstances
APIs directly:
Description: Create a variable number of EC2 instance resources.
Parameters:
InstanceCount:
Description: Number of EC2 instances (must be between 1 and 10).
Type: Number
Default: 1
MinValue: 1
MaxValue: 10
ConstraintDescription: Must be a number between 1 and 10.
ImageId:
Description: Image ID to launch EC2 instances.
Type: AWS::EC2::Image::Id
# amzn-ami-hvm-2016.09.1.20161221-x86_64-gp2
Default: ami-9be6f38c
InstanceType:
Description: Instance type to launch EC2 instances.
Type: String
Default: m3.medium
AllowedValues: [ m3.medium, m3.large, m3.xlarge, m3.2xlarge ]
Resources:
EC2Instances:
Type: Custom::EC2Instances
Properties:
ServiceToken: !GetAtt EC2InstancesFunction.Arn
ImageId: !Ref ImageId
InstanceType: !Ref InstanceType
MinCount: !Ref InstanceCount
MaxCount: !Ref InstanceCount
EC2InstancesFunction:
Type: AWS::Lambda::Function
Properties:
Handler: index.handler
Role: !GetAtt LambdaExecutionRole.Arn
Code:
ZipFile: !Sub |
var response = require('cfn-response');
var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
exports.handler = function(event, context) {
var physicalId = event.PhysicalResourceId || 'none';
function success(data) {
return response.send(event, context, response.SUCCESS, data, physicalId);
}
function failed(e) {
return response.send(event, context, response.FAILED, e, physicalId);
}
var ec2 = new AWS.EC2();
var instances;
if (event.RequestType == 'Create') {
var launchParams = event.ResourceProperties;
delete launchParams.ServiceToken;
ec2.runInstances(launchParams).promise().then((data)=> {
instances = data.Instances.map((data)=> data.InstanceId);
physicalId = instances.join(':');
return ec2.waitFor('instanceRunning', {InstanceIds: instances}).promise();
}).then((data)=> success({Instances: instances})
).catch((e)=> failed(e));
} else if (event.RequestType == 'Delete') {
if (physicalId == 'none') {return success({});}
var deleteParams = {InstanceIds: physicalId.split(':')};
ec2.terminateInstances(deleteParams).promise().then((data)=>
ec2.waitFor('instanceTerminated', deleteParams).promise()
).then((data)=>success({})
).catch((e)=>failed(e));
} else {
return failed({Error: "In-place updates not supported."});
}
};
Runtime: nodejs4.3
Timeout: 300
LambdaExecutionRole:
Type: AWS::IAM::Role
Properties:
AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
Version: '2012-10-17'
Statement:
- Effect: Allow
Principal: {Service: [lambda.amazonaws.com]}
Action: ['sts:AssumeRole']
Path: /
ManagedPolicyArns:
- arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole
Policies:
- PolicyName: EC2Policy
PolicyDocument:
Version: '2012-10-17'
Statement:
- Effect: Allow
Action:
- 'ec2:RunInstances'
- 'ec2:DescribeInstances'
- 'ec2:DescribeInstanceStatus'
- 'ec2:TerminateInstances'
Resource: ['*']
Outputs:
Instances:
Value: !Join [',', !GetAtt EC2Instances.Instances]
CentOS publishes their AMI product codes to their wiki. The wiki provides the following information for the latest CentOS 7 AMI:
- Owner:
aws-marketplace
- Product Code:
aw0evgkw8e5c1q413zgy5pjce
Using this information, we can query describe-images with the AWS CLI:
Example:
aws ec2 describe-images \
--owners 'aws-marketplace' \
--filters 'Name=product-code,Values=aw0evgkw8e5c1q413zgy5pjce' \
--query 'sort_by(Images, &CreationDate)[-1].[ImageId]' \
--output 'text'
Output:
ami-6d1c2007
This query returns a single AMI ID, selected by sorting the collection by creation date and then selecting the last (most recent) element in the collection.
Per the CentOS wiki, multiple AMI ids may be associated with a product key
, so while this query would currently only return a single AMI because only one matching this product currently exists... in the future if a new AMI is created for this product code for any reason this query will return it instead.
Best Answer
Yes, you can create an AMI from an EC2 instance within a CloudFormation template by implementing a Custom Resource that calls the CreateImage API on create (and calls the DeregisterImage and DeleteSnapshot APIs on delete).
Since AMIs can sometimes take a long time to create, a Lambda-backed Custom Resource will need to re-invoke itself if the wait has not completed before the Lambda function times out.
Here's a complete example: