Use ImportSnapshot with an AWS SDK or CLI

The following code examples show how to use ImportSnapshot.

CLI

AWS CLI

To import a snapshot

The following import-snapshot example imports the specified disk as a snapshot.

aws ec2 import-snapshot \
    --description "My server VMDK" \
    --disk-container Format=VMDK,UserBucket={S3Bucket=my-import-bucket,S3Key=vms/my-server-vm.vmdk}

Output:

{
    "Description": "My server VMDK",
    "ImportTaskId": "import-snap-1234567890abcdef0",
    "SnapshotTaskDetail": {
        "Description": "My server VMDK",
        "DiskImageSize": "0.0",
        "Format": "VMDK",
        "Progress": "3",
        "Status": "active",
        "StatusMessage": "pending"
        "UserBucket": {
            "S3Bucket": "my-import-bucket",
            "S3Key": "vms/my-server-vm.vmdk"
        }
    }
}

• For API details, see ImportSnapshot in AWS CLI Command Reference.

PowerShell

Tools for PowerShell

Example 1: This example imports a VM disk image of format 'VMDK' to an Amazon EBS snapshot. The example requires a VM Import Service Role with the default name 'vmimport', with a policy allowing Amazon EC2 access to the specified bucket, as explained in the VM Import Prequisites topic in http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/VMImportPrerequisites.html. To use a custom role, specify the role name using the -RoleName parameter.

$parms = @{
    "ClientToken"="idempotencyToken"
    "Description"="Disk Image Import"
    "DiskContainer_Description" = "Data disk"
    "DiskContainer_Format" = "VMDK"
    "DiskContainer_S3Bucket" = "myVirtualMachineImages"
    "DiskContainer_S3Key" = "datadiskimage.vmdk"
}

Import-EC2Snapshot @parms

Output:

Description            ImportTaskId               SnapshotTaskDetail                                                          
-----------------      --------------------       ------------------                                                          
Disk Image Import      import-snap-abcdefgh       Amazon.EC2.Model.SnapshotTaskDetail

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

For a complete list of AWS SDK developer guides and code examples, see Create Amazon EC2 resources using an AWS SDK. This topic also includes information about getting started and details about previous SDK versions.