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One of my AWS EC2 instances would be a better fit for Lightsail (and more cost-effective). Is there a way to create a Lightsail instance based from an EBS snapshot?

John Rotenstein
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David Feld
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  • If it's not possible, I have had success with rsync of the entire drive using options -avhPHAXx [per this](https://superuser.com/a/709224) and then making a couple adjustments like reconfiguring the boot drive blkid in /etc/fstab (if necessary) and re-installing grub. – dw1 Nov 20 '19 at 04:39

1 Answers1

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It seems that there is the ability to Export Amazon Lightsail snapshots to Amazon EC2, but I couldn't see any capability to go from EC2 to Lightsail.

Looks like you'll need to reload/reconfigure a Lightsail instance from scratch.

John Rotenstein
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    Yeah, I've seen the Lightsail-to-EC2 instructions, too. Just not the reverse. Seems like that's a deliberate act on AWS's part to keep people from making the sort of switch I'm intending (understandable, because they'd lose $$). – David Feld Apr 11 '19 at 13:29
  • I don't think it's a profit motive ... it's just not a transition that they expect people to make. Lightsail is a very basic VPS solution ... EC2 is much more flexible. People would generally start with a basic option and move to the more flexible one. – David G Apr 11 '19 at 16:48
  • The only real benefit that Lightsail has over EC2 is a bundled Data Transfer cost. Otherwise, it is an intentionally lesser-featured service that provides a simpler interface and fewer options, so as not to confuse its audience. – John Rotenstein Apr 11 '19 at 21:33
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    @JohnRotenstein IMO, simpler interface is a significant benefit. I'm an experienced software developer (30+ years experience) and find the EC2 interface quite daunting. I was able to spin up a few Lightsail instances that gave me everything I needed in a few minutes. – David G Apr 12 '19 at 13:04