Find a SQL Server license-included AMI

This topic describes how you can find SQL Server license-included AMIs using the Amazon EC2 console, the AWS Tools for PowerShell, the AWS CLI, or by searching the AWS Marketplace. For SQL Server license-included AMIs, use the installation and setup media included in C:\SQLServerSetup to make changes to the default installation, add new features, or install additional named instances.

As you select a SQL Server license-included AMI, consider the following requirements you might have for the instances that you'll launch:

• The AWS Region

• The operating system

• The architecture: 64-bit (x86_64)

• The root device type: Amazon EBS-backed (EBS)

• The provider (for example, Amazon Web Services)

• Additional software (for example, SQL Server)

SQL Server license-included AMI discovery options

AWS Marketplace

To view a list of SQL Server AMIs available from AWS in AWS Marketplace, see Windows AMIs.

Console

You can find SQL Server license-included AMIs using the Amazon EC2 console. You can select from the list of AMIs when you use the launch instance wizard to launch an instance, or you can search through all available AMIs using the Images page. AMI IDs are unique to each AWS Region.

To find a SQL Server license-included AMI using the launch instance wizard

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

2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location.

3. From the console dashboard, choose Launch instances.

4. Under Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image), enter SQL in the search bar and choose Enter. You will be taken to the AMIs page, where you can browse and choose from AMIs with SQL Server included. You can choose from AMIs under the Quickstart AMIs, My AMIs, AWS Marketplace AMIs, and the Community AMIs tabs. You can filter by cost, operating system, and architecture.

5. To launch an instance from this AMI, select it and then choose Launch instance. For more information about launching an instance using the console, see Launch an instance using the new launch instance wizard. If you're not ready to launch the instance now, take note of the AMI ID for later.

To find a SQL Server AMI using the AMIs page

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

2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location.

3. In the navigation pane, choose AMI Catalog.

4. Enter SQL in the search bar and choose Enter. You can choose from SQL Server license-included AMIs under the Quickstart AMIs, My AMIs, AWS Marketplace AMIs, and the Community AMIs tabs. You can filter by cost, operating system, and architecture.

5. To launch an instance from this AMI, select it and then choose Launch instance . For more information about launching an instance using the console, see Launching your instance from an AMI. If you're not ready to launch the instance now, take note of the AMI ID for later.

PowerShell

You can use cmdlets for Amazon EC2 to list only the Windows AMIs that match your requirements. After locating an AMI that matches your requirements, take note of its ID so that you can use it to launch instances. For more information, see Launch an Instance Using Windows PowerShell in the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

To list the latest SQL Server license-included AMIs provided by Amazon, you can use the Get-SSMLatestEC2Image cmdlet. The following command lists the latest Windows AMIs with SQL in their image name:

Get-SSMLatestEC2Image -Path ami-windows-latest -ImageName *SQL*

To list SQL Server license-included AMIs using commands that match specific criteria, you can use the Get-EC2Image cmdlet in addition to filters. The following commands filter for AMIs owned by you, or Amazon, with SQL in their name:

$name_values = New-Object 'collections.generic.list[string]'
$name_values.add("*SQL*")
$filter_name = New-Object Amazon.EC2.Model.Filter -Property @{Name = "name"; Values = $name_values}
Get-EC2Image -Owner amazon, self -Filter $filter_name

For more information and examples, see Find an AMI Using Windows PowerShell in the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

AWS CLI

You can use AWS CLI commands for Amazon EC2 to list only the SQL Server license-included AMIs that match your requirements. After locating an AMI that matches your requirements, take note of its ID so that you can use it to launch instances. For more information, see Launching an Instance Using the AWS CLI in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

The describe-images command supports filtering parameters. For example, use the --owners parameter with amazon to display public AMIs owned by Amazon or self to list AMIs you own. You can specify multiple values for the --owners parameter as in the following example:

aws ec2 describe-images --owners self amazon

You can add the following filter to the previous command to display only SQL Server license-included AMIs:

--filters "Name=name,Values=*SQL*"

You can use the following filter with the command to display only AMIs backed by Amazon EBS:

--filters "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"

You can combine multiple filters together. For example, this command will list all AMIs owned by you or Amazon with SQL in the AMI name and the --root-device-type parameter as ebs:

aws ec2 describe-images --owners self amazon --filters "Name=name,Values=*SQL*" "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"

Note

Omitting the --owners flag from the describe-images command will return all images for which you have launch permissions, regardless of ownership.

SQL Server license-included AMI version history

To view changes to each release of the AWS Windows AMIs, including SQL Server updates, see the AWS Windows AMI version history in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.