Create an IAM role for VSS-enabled snapshots Download and install VSS components to the Windows on EC2 instance Create a VSS application-consistent snapshot using the console

Get started

These instructions describe how to install the VSS components and perform an application-consistent snapshot of the EBS volumes attached to an EC2 Windows instance. For more information, see Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Windows Instances.

Contents

Create an IAM role for VSS-enabled snapshots
Download and install VSS components to the Windows on EC2 instance
Create a VSS application-consistent snapshot using the console

Create an IAM role for VSS-enabled snapshots

The following procedures describes how to work with IAM policies and IAM roles. The policy enables Systems Manager to create snapshots, tags snapshots, and attach metadata like a device ID to the default snapshot tags that the system creates.

To create an IAM policy for VSS-enabled snapshots

Open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Policies, and then choose Create policy.

On the Create policy page, choose the JSON tab, and then replace the default content with the following JSON policy.


{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "ec2:CreateTags",
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:ec2:*::snapshot/*",
                "arn:aws:ec2:*::image/*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ec2:DescribeInstances",
                "ec2:CreateSnapshot",
                "ec2:CreateImage",
                "ec2:DescribeImages",
                "ec2:DescribeSnapshots"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

If you do not intend to set the CreateAmi parameter to True, then you can omit arn:aws:ec2:*::image/* from the first policy statement and you can omit ec2:CreateImage, ec2:DescribeSnapshots, and ec2:DescribeImages from the second policy statement.

If you intend to always set the CreateAmi parameter to True, then you can omit ec2:CreateSnapshot from the second policy statement.

Choose Review policy.
For Name, enter a name to identify the policy, such as VssSnapshotRole or another name that you prefer.
(Optional) For Description, enter a description of the role's purpose.
Choose Create policy.

Use the following procedure to create an IAM role for VSS-enabled snapshots. This role includes policies for Amazon EC2 and Systems Manager.

To create an IAM role for VSS-enabled EBS snapshots

Open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Roles, and then choose Create role.
Under Select type of trusted entity, choose AWS Service.
Immediately under Choose the service that will use this role, choose EC2, and then choose Next: Permissions.
Under Select your use case, choose EC2, and then choose Next: Permissions.
In the list of policies, choose the box next to AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore. (Type SSM in the search box if you need to narrow the list.)
Choose Next: Tags.
(Optional) Add one or more tag key-value pairs to organize, track, or control access for this role, and then choose Next: Review.
For Role name, enter a name for the role, such as VssSnapshotRole or another name that you prefer.
(Optional) For Role description, replace the default text with a description of this role's purpose.
Choose Create role. The system returns you to the Roles page.
Choose the role that you just created. The role Summary page opens.
Choose Attach policies.
Search for and choose the box next to the policy your created in the previous procedure, such as VssSnapshotRole or another name that you chose.
Choose Attach policy.
Attach this role to the instances for which you want to create VSS-enabled EBS snapshots. For more information, see Attach an IAM role to an instance.

Download and install VSS components to the Windows on EC2 instance

Systems Manager requires VSS components to be installed on your instances. Use the following procedure to install the components using the AWSVssComponents package. The package installs two components: a VSS requester and a VSS provider. We recommend that you install the latest AWS VSS component package to improve reliability and performance of application-consistent snapshots on your EC2 Windows instances. To view the latest package version, see the AWS VSS component package version history.

Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.
In the navigation pane, choose Run Command.
Choose Run command.
For Command document, choose the button next to AWS-ConfigureAWSPackage.
For Command parameters, do the following:
1. Verify that Action is set to Install.
2. For Name, enter AwsVssComponents.
3. For Version, leave the field empty so that Systems Manager installs the latest version.
For Targets, identify the instances on which you want to run this operation by specifying tags or selecting instances manually.

Note
If you choose to select instances manually, and an instance you expect to see is not included in the list, see Where Are My Instances? in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide for troubleshooting tips.
For Other parameters:
- (Optional) For Comment, type information about this command.
- For Timeout (seconds), specify the number of seconds for the system to wait before failing the overall command execution.
(Optional) For Rate control:
- For Concurrency, specify either a number or a percentage of instances on which to run the command at the same time.
  
  Note
  If you selected targets by choosing Amazon EC2 tags, and you are not certain how many instances use the selected tags, then limit the number of instances that can run the document at the same time by specifying a percentage.
- For Error threshold, specify when to stop running the command on other instances after it fails on either a number or a percentage of instances. For example, if you specify three errors, then Systems Manager stops sending the command when the fourth error is received. Instances still processing the command might also send errors.
(Optional) For Output options section, if you want to save the command output to a file, select the box next to Enable writing to an S3 bucket. Specify the bucket and (optional) prefix (folder) names.

Note
The S3 permissions that grant the ability to write the data to an S3 bucket are those of the instance profile assigned to the instance, not those of the user performing this task. For more information, see Create an IAM Instance Profile for Systems Manager in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.
(Optional) Specify options for SNS notifications.

For information about configuring Amazon SNS notifications for Run Command, see Configuring Amazon SNS Notifications for AWS Systems Manager.
Choose Run.

Create a VSS application-consistent snapshot using the console

Use the following procedure to create a VSS-enabled EBS snapshot.

To create VSS-enabled EBS snapshots using the console

Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.
In the navigation pane, choose Run Command.
Choose Run command.
For Command document, choose AWSEC2-CreateVssSnapshot for the Document name, then choose Default version at runtime as the Document version.
For Targets, identify the instances on which you want to run this operation by specifying tags or selecting instances manually.

Note
If you choose to select instances manually, and an instance you expect to see is not included in the list, see Where Are My Instances? for troubleshooting tips.
For Command parameters, do the following:
1. Choose an option from the Exclude Boot Volume list. Use this parameter to exclude boot volumes from the backup process.
2. (Optional) For Description field, type a description. This description is applied to any snapshot created by this process.
3. (Optional) For Tags, type keys and values for tags that you want to apply to any snapshot created by this process. Tags can help you locate, manage, and restore volumes from a list of snapshots. By default, the system populates the tag parameter with a Name key. For the value of this key, specify a name that you want to apply to snapshots created by this process. If you want to specify additional tags, separate tags by using a semicolon. For example, Key=Environment,Value=Test;Key=User,Value=TestUser1.
  
  We recommended that you tag snapshots. By default, the systems tags snapshots with the device ID, and AppConsistent (for indicating successful, application-consistent VSS-enabled EBS snapshots).
4. For Copy Only, choose True to perform a copy only backup operation. This option is set to False by default so that the system performs a full backup operation. A full backup operation prevents the system from breaking the differential backup chain in SQL Server when performing a backup.
  
  Note
  This option requires that AWS VSS provider version 1.2.00 or later be installed.
5. For No Writers, choose True to exclude application VSS writers from the snapshot process. This can help you resolve conflicts with third-party VSS backup components. This option is set to False by default.
  
  Note
  This option requires that AWS VSS provider version 1.2.00 or later be installed.
6. For CreateAmi, choose True to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) backup that is VSS-enabled, instead of an EBS snapshot. This option is set to False by default. For more information about creating an AMI, see Create a Windows AMI from a running instance.
7. (Optional) For AmiName, specify a name for the created AMI. This option applies only if the CreateAmi option is set to True.
For Other parameters:
- For Comment, type information about this command.
- For Timeout (seconds), specify the number of seconds for the system to wait before failing the overall command execution.
(Optional) For Rate control:
- For Concurrency, specify either a number or a percentage of instances on which to run the command at the same time.
  
  Note
  If you selected targets by choosing Amazon EC2 tags, and you are not certain how many instances use the selected tags, then limit the number of instances that can run the document at the same time by specifying a percentage.
- For Error threshold, specify when to stop running the command on other instances after it fails on either a number or a percentage of instances. For example, if you specify three errors, then Systems Manager stops sending the command when the fourth error is received. Instances still processing the command might also send errors.
(Optional) For Output options, to save the command output to a file, select the box next to Enable writing to an S3 bucket. Specify the bucket and (optional) prefix (folder) names.

Note
The S3 permissions that grant the ability to write the data to an S3 bucket are those of the instance profile assigned to the instance, not those of the user performing this task. For more information, see Setting Up Systems Manager.
(Optional) Specify options for SNS notifications.

For information about configuring Amazon SNS notifications for Run Command, see Configuring Amazon SNS Notifications for AWS Systems Manager in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.
Choose Run.

If successful, the command populates the list of EBS snapshots with the new snapshots. You can locate these snapshots in the list of EBS snapshots by searching for the tags you specified, or by searching for AppConsistent. If the command execution failed, view the Systems Manager command output for details about why the execution failed. If the command successfully completed, but a specific volume backup failed, you can troubleshoot the failure in the list of EBS volumes.

If the command failed and you are using Systems Manager with VPC endpoints, verify that you configured the com.amazonaws.region.ec2 endpoint. Without the EC2 endpoint defined, the call to enumerate attached EBS volumes fails, which causes the Systems Manager command to fail. For more information about setting up VPC endpoints with Systems Manager, see Create a Virtual Private Cloud Endpoint in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.

Note
You can automate backups by creating a maintenance window task that uses the AWSEC2-CreateVssSnapshot SSM document. For more information, see Working with Maintenance Windows (Console).

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Document Conventions

Before you begin

Create VSS-enabled snapshots