We are using using cloud formation script to create and setup a windows instance for our application. Instance is created using AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration.
Now we have a requirement to attach a previously created volume to this instance using the same cloud formation script. Tried using AWS::EC2::VolumeAttachment but was unsuccessful as we do not have the instance id information that is required.
Any inputs?
My suggestion would be that the AMI which you're using to launch your ASG members should include this volume as part of the image if possible.
Related
Problem:
I have an EC2 instance running and I have made some modifications to the instance: installed docker, setup directories for certs, etc. Now, I am wanting to create the same instance but use infrastructure as code principals. Instead of remembering all the additions that I have done and creating a template by hand, I am trying to find a way to export my current EC2 instance into a json or yaml format so that I can terminate this instance and create another one that is equivalent to the one running.
I have tried:
aws ec2 describe-instances
Reading through the AWS CLI EC2 docs
Reading through the CloudFormation docs
Searched Google
Searched SO
Since you have no knowledge of how the instance was setup, the only choice is to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). This will create an exact copy of the disk, so everything you have installed will be available to any new instances launched from the AMI. The CloudFormation template can then be configured to launch instances using this AMI.
If, on the other hand, you knew all the commands that needed to be run to configure the instance, then you could provide a User Data script that would run when new instances first boot. This would configure the instances automatically and is the recommended way to configure instances because it is easy to modify and allows instances to launch with the latest version of the Operating System.
Such a script can be provided as part of a CloudFormation template.
See: Running commands on your Linux instance at launch - Amazon EC2
One option would be to create AMI from live instance and spin up new CF stack using the AMI.
Other would be importing resource: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-import-existing-resources-into-a-cloudformation-stack/
There is a tool (still in beta) developed by AWS called CloudFormer:
CloudFormer is a template creation beta tool that creates an AWS CloudFormation template from existing AWS resources in your account. You select any supported AWS resources that are running in your account, and CloudFormer creates a template in an Amazon S3 bucket.
The CloudFormer is an AWS managed template. Once you launch it, the template will create an AWS::EC2::Instance for you along with a number of other related resources. You will access the instance using URL through browser, and an AWS wizard will guide you from there.
Its tutorial even shows how to create a CloudFormation template from an existing EC2 instance.
Import the EC2 instance into CloudFormation then copy it’s template.
Read more: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/resource-import.html
I am not able to find a find documents showing how can I copy a Windows instance to an Amazon S3 bucket.
Can any one help me with step by step approach to do this and suggest some of the links?
You can not copy AMIs to s3. You can either create a snapshot of your volumes or create another image (AMI).
I assume you're trying to create a backup of your AMIs. So, there are some alternatives for doing that.
Create a new AMI from an existing running image. Reference: Creating an Amazon EBS-Backed Windows AMI
Creating a Windows AMI from a Running Instance
You can create an AMI using the AWS Management Console or the command line. The following diagram summarizes the process for creating an Amazon EBS-backed AMI from a running EC2 instance. Start with an existing AMI, launch an instance, customize it, create a new AMI from it, and finally launch an instance of your new AMI. The steps in the following diagram match the steps in the procedure below. If you already have a running Amazon EBS-backed instance, you can go directly to step 4.
You can create images using the AWS CLI command create-image
Create Snapshots of your volumes, these snapshots will be stored behind the scenes in s3. Reference: Creating an Amazon EBS Snapshot
You can create EBS snapshots using the AWS CLI command create-snapshot
+ Resources
Copying an Amazon EBS Snapshot
Copying an AMI
I am able to monitor a Windows instance's memory usage using custom metrics in CloudWatch.
I have followed the following blog to achieve that :
http://blog.krishnachaitanya.ch/2016/03/monitor-ec2-memory-usage-using-aws.html
Using that, I am able to monitor only one instance. I am now doing the process in every instance launched.
Can I do it at once for all instances instead of changing .json file and enabling cloud watch integration in every instance?
If the instances are already launched, you have to do it for each instance. Else you can take an AMI of the first instance, then launch other instances from that AMI and you do not have to do it for each instance.
If you have to do it manually, consider something like Ansible to do it for you. There is a bit of learning but not difficult.
BTW, adding custom metrics is straightforward for Linux instances. Monitoring Memory and Disk Metrics for Amazon EC2 Linux Instances
For Windows instance: Sending Performance Counters to CloudWatch and Logs to CloudWatch Logs Using Amazon EC2 Simple Systems Manager
If your instances have the appropriate instance profile and are running the SSM agent (which they probably are if you launched from an Amazon provided AMI), you can use SSM run command to run arbitrary powershell against an instance or a set of instances (using tags). There is even a Amazon managed SSM document called AWS-ConfigureCloudWatch that is built specifically for this use case.
See http://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/run-command.html
I have a running micro strategy instance in AWS (Amazon Web Services). I created a snap shot of my running instance, after which I created a AMI using the snap shot. When i tried to create a new instance with the image I was not able to create it. I am getting a failure message.
My currently running AMI is : ami-b1b9cdd8
MY AMI created from the snapshot : ami-817320e8
Kindly help me on the same
It is not possible to create a (working) AMI from a snapshot of a Windows instance. Instead, create the AMI directly from the instance (not via a snapshot).
I have an instance in AWS that I set up my entire environment (I'll call it my ready instance) on and is running perfectly. I then created a load balancer (ELB) with an autoscaling policy.
When I created a load balancer with an autoscaling policy (min of 2 instances), 2 instances sprung up. The instances were empty, however. For the launch configuration, I specified my ready instance AMI. Isn't this supposed to tell the autoscaling policy which instance to clone? In this case, shouldn't my ready instance be cloned into them and they should have the same content?
Instances are not created based on a clone of a running instance, but rather just the disk image stored in the AMI. It might be a case where you need to create a new AMI from your running instance and use that AMI as the basis for your autoscaling group.
once upon a time even I was this phase of my life.Basically it will just the boot the AMI which you have specified in your as configuration. If your AMI has got old code, then it will boot and serve your client from the out-dated code. Do solve this you can automate the code management process, all you have to do is boot the new ami with a user-data script which will perfom certain actions during the boot. Using user-data script you can automate this process. Autoscaling configuration also have a provision to accept the user-script data.