How to create an ec2 instance using boto3

Question

Is it possible to create an ec2 instance using boto3 in python? Boto3 document is not helping here, and I couldn't find any helping documents online. please provide some sample codes/links.

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 18 '23 at 16:08

43

The API has changed but it's right there in the documentation

# Boto 3
ec2.create_instances(ImageId='<ami-image-id>', MinCount=1, MaxCount=5)

Link to the documentation:

edited Mar 18 '23 at 16:08

DrGecko

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answered Sep 30 '15 at 10:34

gbs

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Do you know if there is a keyword argument to specify the security group? That way I can create the instance, and set the right security group that will let me ssh into the server. – applecider Oct 11 '15 at 21:55
2

It should accept a `SecurityGroups=['secgroup', ..]` keyword argument. This [issue](https://github.com/boto/boto3/issues/136) seems to suggest that `create_instances` is running the classic boto2 `run_instances` behind the scenes so the original parameters for `run_instances` should be valid. See the [documentation](http://botocore.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/services/ec2.html#EC2.Client.run_instances) – gbs Oct 11 '15 at 22:10
Thanks mate, will give it a shot – applecider Oct 12 '15 at 06:47
Hi. The docs are pretty skimpy and vague. If I want the new instances to be c3.xlarge, how do I set the parameters? – Moses Liao GZ Nov 04 '15 at 03:35
1

Add this keyword argument to `create_instances`: `InstanceType="c3.xlarge"` – gbs Nov 04 '15 at 13:47
How can you specify instance name? Instances are created without name... – Brian Dec 01 '17 at 16:59
@Brian, the name of an instance is just a tag with the key "Name". See `create_tags` for usage info. – gbs Jan 24 '18 at 15:13
Why isn't Amazon's own cli as simple as Boto3? Are they thinking of creating a new job branch(or already created?)? – huseyin tugrul buyukisik Jan 19 '19 at 11:22
`ec2` is `boto3.client` or `boto3.resource` type? – L F Apr 12 '22 at 17:07

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 07 '18 at 07:06

21

You can run the code I used from the boto3 docs. You can add or remove parameters as per your requirements, but this is what you would normally require:

import boto3

client = boto3.client('ec2', region_name='us-west-2')

response = client.run_instances(
    BlockDeviceMappings=[
        {
            'DeviceName': '/dev/xvda',
            'Ebs': {

                'DeleteOnTermination': True,
                'VolumeSize': 8,
                'VolumeType': 'gp2'
            },
        },
    ],
    ImageId='ami-6cd6f714',
    InstanceType='t3.micro',
    MaxCount=1,
    MinCount=1,
    Monitoring={
        'Enabled': False
    },
    SecurityGroupIds=[
        'sg-1f39854x',
    ],
)

answered Sep 07 '18 at 07:06

captainblack

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How will I know if the instance has been created and ready for login? – Macindows Jan 07 '20 at 09:25
You would have to run a DescribeInstances API call with the Instance ID you get from the RunInstances API call. – captainblack Nov 25 '20 at 11:16
However there are no API calls that would let you know if the instance is ready to login. – captainblack Nov 25 '20 at 11:17
1

Worked like charm for me – Trect Dec 17 '20 at 09:39

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 09 '18 at 08:38

The link you're really looking for in the documentation is the create_instances() method of the ServiceResource object. This is the type of object you are calling if you create an EC2 resource like this:

s = boto3.Session(region_name="us-west-1")
ec2 = s.resource('ec2')
...
instance = ec2.create_instances(**y_kwargs)

This contains a more detailed example and a longer list of available parameters.

You can also get parameter values for AWS instances that are already running using the AWS command line interface:

$ aws ec2 describe-instances

This prints out a JSON file from which relevant parameters can be extracted and passed to the create_instances() method. (Or, you can use a boto client and call the describe_instances() method.)

(Note: If you're wondering what the difference is between the Client and the Resource, they serve different purposes for the same end - the client is a lower-level interface while the Resource is a higher-level interface.)

Thanks for explaining the differences between Client and Resource! — timbram, Aug 01 '18 at 02:31
How did you figure this out? I saw ec2.create_instances in the documentation but I didn't know what ec2 was. — user3180, Apr 09 '19 at 22:46

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 22 '15 at 07:28

6

Refer to API docs has all available options to create instance

http://boto3.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/services/ec2.html#EC2.Subnet.create_instances

answered Dec 22 '15 at 07:28

ranjeetcao

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 13 '19 at 10:27

If your running from your windows computer you need configure AWS Cli with proper EC2 permisssion to launch instance.

#

import boto3

ec2 = boto3.resource('ec2')

instance = ec2.create_instances(
    ImageId='ami-5eb63a32',
    MinCount=1,
    MaxCount=1,
    InstanceType='t2.micro',
)
print(instance[0].id)

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 09 '23 at 16:30

import boto3

ec2 = boto3.client('ec2', region_name='')

conn = ec2.run_instances(ImageId='<ami-image-id>', 
                         InstanceType='<instance-type>',
                         MinCount=1, 
                         MaxCount=5
                            )

How to create an ec2 instance using boto3

6 Answers6

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