Use DescribeImages with an AWS SDK or CLI - AWS SDK Code Examples

There are more AWS SDK examples available in the AWS Doc SDK Examples GitHub repo.

Use DescribeImages with an AWS SDK or CLI

The following code examples show how to use DescribeImages.

Action examples are code excerpts from larger programs and must be run in context. You can see this action in context in the following code example:

Bash
AWS CLI with Bash script
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

###############################################################################
# function ec2_describe_images
#
# This function describes one or more Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) images.
#
# Parameters:
#       -i image_ids - A space-separated  list of image IDs (optional).
#       -h - Display help.
#
# And:
#       0 - If successful.
#       1 - If it fails.
###############################################################################
function ec2_describe_images() {
  local image_ids response
  local option OPTARG # Required to use getopts command in a function.

  # bashsupport disable=BP5008
  function usage() {
    echo "function ec2_describe_images"
    echo "Describes one or more Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) images."
    echo "  -i image_ids - A space-separated list of image IDs (optional)."
    echo "  -h - Display help."
    echo ""
  }

  # Retrieve the calling parameters.
  while getopts "i:h" option; do
    case "${option}" in
      i) image_ids="${OPTARG}" ;;
      h)
        usage
        return 0
        ;;
      \?)
        echo "Invalid parameter"
        usage
        return 1
        ;;
    esac
  done
  export OPTIND=1

  local aws_cli_args=()

  if [[ -n "$image_ids" ]]; then
    # shellcheck disable=SC2206
    aws_cli_args+=("--image-ids" $image_ids)
  fi

  response=$(aws ec2 describe-images \
    "${aws_cli_args[@]}" \
    --query 'Images[*].[Description,Architecture,ImageId]' \
    --output text) || {
    aws_cli_error_log ${?}
    errecho "ERROR: AWS reports describe-images operation failed.$response"
    return 1
  }

  echo "$response"

  return 0
}

The utility functions used in this example.

###############################################################################
# function errecho
#
# This function outputs everything sent to it to STDERR (standard error output).
###############################################################################
function errecho() {
  printf "%s\n" "$*" 1>&2
}

##############################################################################
# function aws_cli_error_log()
#
# This function is used to log the error messages from the AWS CLI.
#
# The function expects the following argument:
#         $1 - The error code returned by the AWS CLI.
#
#  Returns:
#          0: - Success.
#
##############################################################################
function aws_cli_error_log() {
  local err_code=$1
  errecho "Error code : $err_code"
  if [ "$err_code" == 1 ]; then
    errecho "  One or more S3 transfers failed."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 2 ]; then
    errecho "  Command line failed to parse."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 130 ]; then
    errecho "  Process received SIGINT."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 252 ]; then
    errecho "  Command syntax invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 253 ]; then
    errecho "  The system environment or configuration was invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 254 ]; then
    errecho "  The service returned an error."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 255 ]; then
    errecho "  255 is a catch-all error."
  fi

  return 0
}
CLI
AWS CLI

Example 1: To describe an AMI

The following describe-images example describes the specified AMI in the specified Region.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --image-ids ami-1234567890EXAMPLE

Output:

{
    "Images": [
        {
            "VirtualizationType": "hvm",
            "Description": "Provided by Red Hat, Inc.",
            "PlatformDetails": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux",
            "EnaSupport": true,
            "Hypervisor": "xen",
            "State": "available",
            "SriovNetSupport": "simple",
            "ImageId": "ami-1234567890EXAMPLE",
            "UsageOperation": "RunInstances:0010",
            "BlockDeviceMappings": [
                {
                    "DeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
                    "Ebs": {
                        "SnapshotId": "snap-111222333444aaabb",
                        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
                        "VolumeType": "gp2",
                        "VolumeSize": 10,
                        "Encrypted": false
                    }
                }
            ],
            "Architecture": "x86_64",
            "ImageLocation": "123456789012/RHEL-8.0.0_HVM-20190618-x86_64-1-Hourly2-GP2",
            "RootDeviceType": "ebs",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "RootDeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
            "CreationDate": "2019-05-10T13:17:12.000Z",
            "Public": true,
            "ImageType": "machine",
            "Name": "RHEL-8.0.0_HVM-20190618-x86_64-1-Hourly2-GP2"
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Amazon Machine Images (AMI) in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 2: To describe AMIs based on filters

The following describe-images example describes Windows AMIs provided by Amazon that are backed by Amazon EBS.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners amazon \
    --filters "Name=platform,Values=windows" "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"

For an example of the output for describe-images, see Example 1.

For additional examples using filters, see Listing and filtering your resources in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 3: To describe AMIs based on tags

The following describe-images example describes all AMIs that have the tag Type=Custom. The example uses the --query parameter to display only the AMI IDs.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --filters "Name=tag:Type,Values=Custom" \
    --query 'Images[*].[ImageId]' \
    --output text

Output:

ami-1234567890EXAMPLE
ami-0abcdef1234567890

For additional examples using tag filters, see Working with tags in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

JavaScript
SDK for JavaScript (v3)
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

import { EC2Client, paginateDescribeImages } from "@aws-sdk/client-ec2";

/**
 * Describes the specified images (AMIs, AKIs, and ARIs) available to you or all of the images available to you.
 * @param {{ architecture: string, pageSize: number }} options
 */
export const main = async ({ architecture, pageSize }) => {
  pageSize = parseInt(pageSize);
  const client = new EC2Client({});

  // The paginate function is a wrapper around the base command.
  const paginator = paginateDescribeImages(
    // Without limiting the page size, this call can take a long time. pageSize is just sugar for
    // the MaxResults property in the base command.
    { client, pageSize },
    {
      // There are almost 70,000 images available. Be specific with your filtering
      // to increase efficiency.
      // See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSJavaScriptSDK/v3/latest/clients/client-ec2/interfaces/describeimagescommandinput.html#filters
      Filters: [{ Name: "architecture", Values: [architecture] }],
    },
  );

  /**
   * @type {import('@aws-sdk/client-ec2').Image[]}
   */
  const images = [];
  let recordsScanned = 0;

  try {
    for await (const page of paginator) {
      recordsScanned += pageSize;
      if (page.Images.length) {
        images.push(...page.Images);
        break;
      } else {
        console.log(
          `No matching image found yet. Searched ${recordsScanned} records.`,
        );
      }
    }

    if (images.length) {
      console.log(
        `Found ${images.length} images:\n\n${images.map((image) => image.Name).join("\n")}\n`,
      );
    } else {
      console.log(
        `No matching images found. Searched ${recordsScanned} records.\n`,
      );
    }

    return images;
  } catch (caught) {
    if (caught instanceof Error && caught.name === "InvalidParameterValue") {
      console.warn(`${caught.message}`);
      return [];
    }
    throw caught;
  }
};

  • For API details, see DescribeImages in AWS SDK for JavaScript API Reference.

PowerShell
Tools for PowerShell

Example 1: This example describes the specified AMI.

Get-EC2Image -ImageId ami-12345678

Output:

Architecture        : x86_64
BlockDeviceMappings : {/dev/xvda}
CreationDate        : 2014-10-20T00:56:28.000Z
Description         : My image
Hypervisor          : xen
ImageId             : ami-12345678
ImageLocation       : 123456789012/my-image
ImageOwnerAlias     :
ImageType           : machine
KernelId            :
Name                : my-image
OwnerId             : 123456789012
Platform            :
ProductCodes        : {}
Public              : False
RamdiskId           :
RootDeviceName      : /dev/xvda
RootDeviceType      : ebs
SriovNetSupport     : simple
State               : available
StateReason         :
Tags                : {Name}
VirtualizationType  : hvm

Example 2: This example describes the AMIs that you own.

Get-EC2Image -owner self

Example 3: This example describes the public AMIs that run Microsoft Windows Server.

Get-EC2Image -Filter @{ Name="platform"; Values="windows" }

Example 4: This example describes all public AMIs in the 'us-west-2' region.

Get-EC2Image -Region us-west-2

  • For API details, see DescribeImages in AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference.

Python
SDK for Python (Boto3)
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

class EC2InstanceWrapper:
    """Encapsulates Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance actions using the client interface."""

    def __init__(
        self, ec2_client: Any, instances: Optional[List[Dict[str, Any]]] = None
    ) -> None:
        """
        Initializes the EC2InstanceWrapper with an EC2 client and optional instances.

        :param ec2_client: A Boto3 Amazon EC2 client. This client provides low-level
                           access to AWS EC2 services.
        :param instances: A list of dictionaries representing Boto3 Instance objects. These are high-level objects that
                          wrap instance actions.
        """
        self.ec2_client = ec2_client
        self.instances = instances or []

    @classmethod
    def from_client(cls) -> "EC2InstanceWrapper":
        """
        Creates an EC2InstanceWrapper instance with a default EC2 client.

        :return: An instance of EC2InstanceWrapper initialized with the default EC2 client.
        """
        ec2_client = boto3.client("ec2")
        return cls(ec2_client)


    def get_images(self, image_ids: List[str]) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
        """
        Gets information about Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) from a list of AMI IDs.

        :param image_ids: The list of AMI IDs to look up.
        :return: A list of dictionaries representing the requested AMIs.
        """
        try:
            response = self.ec2_client.describe_images(ImageIds=image_ids)
            images = response["Images"]
        except ClientError as err:
            logger.error(f"Failed to stop AMI(s): {','.join(map(str, image_ids))}")
            error_code = err.response["Error"]["Code"]
            if error_code == "InvalidAMIID.NotFound":
                logger.error("One or more of the AMI IDs does not exist.")
            raise
        return images

  • For API details, see DescribeImages in AWS SDK for Python (Boto3) API Reference.

Rust
SDK for Rust
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

    pub async fn list_images(&self, ids: Vec<Parameter>) -> Result<Vec<Image>, EC2Error> {
        let image_ids = ids.into_iter().filter_map(|p| p.value).collect();
        let output = self
            .client
            .describe_images()
            .set_image_ids(Some(image_ids))
            .send()
            .await?;

        let images = output.images.unwrap_or_default();
        if images.is_empty() {
            Err(EC2Error::new("No images for selected AMIs"))
        } else {
            Ok(images)
        }
    }

Using the list_images function with SSM to limit based on your environment. For more details on SSM, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/example_ssm_GetParameters_section.html.

    async fn find_image(&mut self) -> Result<ScenarioImage, EC2Error> {
        let params: Vec<Parameter> = self
            .ssm
            .list_path("/aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest")
            .await
            .map_err(|e| e.add_message("Could not find parameters for available images"))?
            .into_iter()
            .filter(|param| param.name().is_some_and(|name| name.contains("amzn2")))
            .collect();
        let amzn2_images: Vec<ScenarioImage> = self
            .ec2
            .list_images(params)
            .await
            .map_err(|e| e.add_message("Could not find images"))?
            .into_iter()
            .map(ScenarioImage::from)
            .collect();
        println!("We will now create an instance from an Amazon Linux 2 AMI");
        let ami = self.util.select_scenario_image(amzn2_images)?;
        Ok(ami)
    }

  • For API details, see DescribeImages in AWS SDK for Rust API reference.