Create an AMI image pipeline from the AWS CLI

You can create an AMI image pipeline with a JSON file that contains configuration details as input to the create-image-pipeline command in the AWS CLI.

How often your pipeline builds a new image to incorporate any pending updates from your base image and components depends on the schedule that you have configured. A schedule has the following attributes:

• scheduleExpression – Sets the schedule for when your pipeline runs to evaluate the pipelineExecutionStartCondition and determine if it should start a build. The schedule is configured with cron expressions. For more information on how to format a cron expression in Image Builder, see Use cron expressions in Image Builder.

• pipelineExecutionStartCondition – Determines if your pipeline should start the build. Valid values include:

  • EXPRESSION_MATCH_ONLY – your pipeline will build a new image every time the cron expression matches the current time.

  • EXPRESSION_MATCH_AND_DEPENDENCY_UPDATES_AVAILABLE – your pipeline will not start a new image build unless there are pending changes to your base image or components.

When you run the create-image-pipeline command in the AWS CLI, many of the configuration resources are optional. However, some of the resources have conditional requirements, depending on what type of image the pipeline creates. The following resources are required for AMI image pipelines:

• Image recipe ARN

• Infrastructure configuration ARN

1. Create a CLI input JSON file

   Use your favorite file editing tool to create a JSON file with the following keys, plus values that are valid for your environment. This example uses a file named create-image-pipeline.json:

   {
   	"name": "MyWindows2019Pipeline",
   	"description": "Builds Windows 2019 Images",
   	"enhancedImageMetadataEnabled": true,
   	"imageRecipeArn": "arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:123456789012:image-recipe/my-example-recipe/2020.12.03",
   	"infrastructureConfigurationArn": "arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:123456789012:infrastructure-configuration/my-example-infrastructure-configuration",
   	"distributionConfigurationArn": "arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:123456789012:distribution-configuration/my-example-distribution-configuration",
   	"imageTestsConfiguration": {
   		"imageTestsEnabled": true,
   		"timeoutMinutes": 60
   	},
   	"schedule": {
   		"scheduleExpression": "cron(0 0 * * SUN *)",
   		"pipelineExecutionStartCondition": "EXPRESSION_MATCH_AND_DEPENDENCY_UPDATES_AVAILABLE"
   	},
   	"status": "ENABLED"
   }
   

   Note

   • You must include the file:// notation at the beginning of the JSON file path.

   • The path for the JSON file should follow the appropriate convention for the base operating system where you are running the command. For example, Windows uses the backslash (\) to refer to the directory path, while Linux and macOS use the forward slash (/).

2. Run the following command, using the file you created as input.

   aws imagebuilder create-image-pipeline --cli-input-json file://create-image-pipeline.json