How to get the list of Nitro system based EC2 instance type by CLI? - amazon-web-services

Question

I know this page lists up the instance types which based on Nitro system but I would like to know the list in a dynamic way with CLI. (for example, using aws ec2 describe-instances). Is it possible to get Nitro based instance type other than parsing the static page? If so, could you tell me the how?

Answer 1

You'd have to write a bit of additional code to get that information. aws ec2 describe-instances will give you InstanceType property. You should use a programming language to parse the JSON, extract InstanceType and then call describe-instances like so: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-instance-types.html?highlight=nitro
From the JSON you get back, extract hypervisor. That'll give you Nitro if the instance is Nitro.
Here's a Python code that might work. I have not tested it fully but you can tweak this to get the results you want.
"""List all EC2 instances"""
import boto3
def ec2_connection():
"""Connect to AWS using API"""
region = 'us-east-2'
aws_key = 'xxx'
aws_secret = 'xxx'
session = boto3.Session(
aws_access_key_id = aws_key,
aws_secret_access_key = aws_secret
)
ec2 = session.client('ec2', region_name = region)
return ec2
def get_reservations(ec2):
"""Get a list of instances as a dictionary"""
response = ec2.describe_instances()
return response['Reservations']
def process_instances(reservations, ec2):
"""Print a colorful list of IPs and instances"""
if len(reservations) == 0:
print('No instance found. Quitting')
return
for reservation in reservations:
for instance in reservation['Instances']:
# get friendly name of the server
# only try this for mysql1.local server
friendly_name = get_friendly_name(instance)
if friendly_name.lower() != 'mysql1.local':
continue
# get the hypervisor based on the instance type
instance_type = get_instance_info(instance['InstanceType'], ec2)
# print findings
print(f'{friendly_name} // {instance["InstanceType"]} is {instance_type}')
break
def get_instance_info(instance_type, ec2):
"""Get hypervisor from the instance type"""
response = ec2.describe_instance_types(
InstanceTypes=[instance_type]
)
return response['InstanceTypes'][0]['Hypervisor']
def get_friendly_name(instance):
"""Get friendly name of the instance"""
tags = instance['Tags']
for tag in tags:
if tag['Key'] == 'Name':
return tag['Value']
return 'Unknown'
def run():
"""Main method to call"""
ec2 = ec2_connection()
reservations = get_reservations(ec2)
process_instances(reservations, ec2)
if __name__ == '__main__':
run()
print('Done')

Answer 2

In the above answer , the statement "From the JSON you get back, extract hypervisor. That'll give you Nitro if the instance is Nitro " is not longer accurate.
As per the latest AWS documentation,
hypervisor - The hypervisor type of the instance (ovm | xen ). The value xen is used for both Xen and Nitro hypervisors.

Answer 3

Cleaned up, verified working code below:
# Get all instance types that run on Nitro hypervisor
import boto3
def get_nitro_instance_types():
"""Get all instance types that run on Nitro hypervisor"""
ec2 = boto3.client('ec2', region_name = 'us-east-1')
response = ec2.describe_instance_types(
Filters=[
{
'Name': 'hypervisor',
'Values': [
'nitro',
]
},
],
)
instance_types = []
for instance_type in response['InstanceTypes']:
instance_types.append(instance_type['InstanceType'])
return instance_types
get_nitro_instance_types()
Example output as of 12/06/2022 below:
['r5dn.8xlarge', 'x2iedn.xlarge', 'r6id.2xlarge', 'r6gd.medium',
'm5zn.2xlarge', 'r6idn.16xlarge', 'c6a.48xlarge', 'm5a.16xlarge',
'im4gn.2xlarge', 'c6gn.16xlarge', 'c6in.24xlarge', 'r5ad.24xlarge',
'r6i.xlarge', 'c6i.32xlarge', 'x2iedn.2xlarge', 'r6id.xlarge',
'i3en.24xlarge', 'i3en.12xlarge', 'm5d.8xlarge', 'c6i.8xlarge',
'r6g.large', 'm6gd.4xlarge', 'r6a.2xlarge', 'x2iezn.4xlarge',
'c6i.large', 'r6in.24xlarge', 'm6gd.xlarge', 'm5dn.2xlarge',
'd3en.2xlarge', 'c6id.8xlarge', 'm6a.large', 'is4gen.xlarge',
'r6g.8xlarge', 'm6idn.large', 'm6a.2xlarge', 'c6i.4xlarge',
'i4i.16xlarge', 'm5zn.6xlarge', 'm5.8xlarge', 'm6id.xlarge',
'm5n.16xlarge', 'c6g.16xlarge', 'r5n.12xlarge', 't4g.nano',
'm5ad.12xlarge', 'r6in.12xlarge', 'm6idn.12xlarge', 'g5.2xlarge',
'trn1.32xlarge', 'x2gd.8xlarge', 'is4gen.4xlarge', 'r6gd.xlarge',
'r5a.xlarge', 'r5a.2xlarge', 'c5ad.24xlarge', 'r6a.xlarge',
'r6g.medium', 'm6id.12xlarge', 'r6idn.2xlarge', 'c5n.2xlarge',
'g5.4xlarge', 'm5d.xlarge', 'i3en.3xlarge', 'r5.24xlarge',
'r6gd.2xlarge', 'c5d.large', 'm6gd.12xlarge', 'm6id.2xlarge',
'm6i.large', 'z1d.2xlarge', 'm5a.4xlarge', 'm5a.2xlarge',
'c6in.xlarge', 'r6id.16xlarge', 'c7g.8xlarge', 'm5dn.12xlarge',
'm6gd.medium', 'im4gn.8xlarge', 'm5dn.large', 'c5ad.4xlarge',
'r6g.16xlarge', 'c6a.24xlarge', 'c6a.16xlarge']

Answer 4

"""List all EC2 instances"""
import boto3
def ec2_connection():
"""Connect to AWS using API"""
region = 'us-east-2'
aws_key = 'xxx'
aws_secret = 'xxx'
session = boto3.Session(
aws_access_key_id = aws_key,
aws_secret_access_key = aws_secret
)
ec2 = session.client('ec2', region_name = region)
return ec2
def get_reservations(ec2):
"""Get a list of instances as a dictionary"""
response = ec2.describe_instances()
return response['Reservations']
def process_instances(reservations, ec2):
"""Print a colorful list of IPs and instances"""
if len(reservations) == 0:
print('No instance found. Quitting')
return
for reservation in reservations:
for instance in reservation['Instances']:
# get friendly name of the server
# only try this for mysql1.local server
friendly_name = get_friendly_name(instance)
if friendly_name.lower() != 'mysql1.local':
continue
# get the hypervisor based on the instance type
instance_type = get_instance_info(instance['InstanceType'], ec2)
# print findings
print(f'{friendly_name} // {instance["InstanceType"]} is {instance_type}')
break
def get_instance_info(instance_type, ec2):
"""Get hypervisor from the instance type"""
response = ec2.describe_instance_types(
InstanceTypes=[instance_type]
)
return response['InstanceTypes'][0]['Hypervisor']
def get_friendly_name(instance):
"""Get friendly name of the instance"""
tags = instance['Tags']
for tag in tags:
if tag['Key'] == 'Name':
return tag['Value']
return 'Unknown'
def run():
"""Main method to call"""
ec2 = ec2_connection()
reservations = get_reservations(ec2)
process_instances(reservations, ec2)
if name == 'main':
run()
print('Done')