Launch an EC2 instance using details from an existing instance - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

Launch an EC2 instance using details from an existing instance

The Amazon EC2 console provides a Launch more like this option that enables you to use a current instance as a base for launching other instances. This option automatically populates the Amazon EC2 launch instance wizard with certain configuration details from the selected instance.

Considerations

  • We do not clone your instances; we only replicate some of the configuration details. To create a copy of your instance, first create an AMI from it, then launch more instances from the AMI. Create a launch template to ensure that you launch your instances using the same launch details.

  • The current instance must be in the running state.

Copied details

The following configuration details are copied from the selected instance into the launch instance wizard:

  • AMI ID

  • Instance type

  • Availability Zone, or the VPC and subnet in which the selected instance is located

  • Public IPv4 address. If the selected instance currently has a public IPv4 address, the new instance receives a public IPv4 address, regardless of the selected instance's default public IPv4 address setting. For more information about public IPv4 addresses, see Public IPv4 addresses.

  • Placement group, if applicable

  • IAM role associated with the instance, if applicable

  • Shutdown behavior setting (stop or terminate)

  • Termination protection setting (true or false)

  • CloudWatch monitoring (enabled or disabled)

  • Amazon EBS-optimization setting (true or false)

  • Tenancy setting, if launching into a VPC (shared or dedicated)

  • Kernel ID and RAM disk ID, if applicable

  • User data, if specified

  • Tags associated with the instance, if applicable

  • Security groups associated with the instance

  • [Windows instances] Association information. If the selected instance is associated with a configuration file, the same file is automatically associated with the new instance. If the configuration file includes a joined domain configuration, the new instance is joined to the same domain. For more information about joining a domain, see Seamlessly join a Windows EC2 instance to your AWS Managed Microsoft AD Active Directory in the AWS Directory Service Administration Guide.

Details not copied

The following configuration details are not copied from your selected instance. Instead, the wizard applies their default settings or behavior:

  • Number of network interfaces – The default is one network interface, which is the primary network interface (eth0).

  • Storage – The default storage configuration is determined by the AMI and the instance type.

To launch more instances like an existing instance

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

  3. Select an instance, and then choose Actions, Images and templates, Launch more like this.

  4. The launch instance wizard opens. You can make any necessary changes to the instance configuration by selecting different options on this screen.

    When you are ready to launch your instance, choose Launch instance.

  5. If the instance fails to launch or the state immediately goes to terminated instead of running, see Troubleshoot Amazon EC2 instance launch issues.