Create an AMI and cross-Region copy

Creating an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of an instance is a common process used in backup and recovery. You might also choose to copy an AMI to another AWS Region as part of a disaster recovery architecture. Automating common maintenance tasks can reduce downtime if an issue requires failover. AWS Systems Manager Automation actions can help you accomplish this. Automation is a capability of AWS Systems Manager.

The following example AWS Systems Manager runbook performs these actions:

• Uses the aws:executeAwsApi automation action to create an AMI.

• Uses the aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty automation action to confirm the availability of the AMI.

• Uses the aws:executeScript automation action to copy the AMI to the destination Region.

YAML

    ---
    description: Custom Automation Backup and Recovery Example
    schemaVersion: '0.3'
    assumeRole: "{{ AutomationAssumeRole }}"
    parameters:
      AutomationAssumeRole:
        type: String
        description: "(Required) The ARN of the role that allows Automation to perform
          the actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation
          uses your IAM permissions to use this runbook."
        default: ''
      InstanceId:
        type: String
        description: "(Required) The ID of the EC2 instance."
        default: ''
    mainSteps:
    - name: createImage
      action: aws:executeAwsApi
      onFailure: Abort
      inputs:
        Service: ec2
        Api: CreateImage
        InstanceId: "{{ InstanceId }}"
        Name: "Automation Image for {{ InstanceId }}"
        NoReboot: false
      outputs:
        - Name: newImageId
          Selector: "$.ImageId"
          Type: String
      nextStep: verifyImageAvailability
    - name: verifyImageAvailability
      action: aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty
      timeoutSeconds: 600
      inputs:
        Service: ec2
        Api: DescribeImages
        ImageIds:
        - "{{ createImage.newImageId }}"
        PropertySelector: "$.Images[0].State"
        DesiredValues:
        - available
      nextStep: copyImage
    - name: copyImage
      action: aws:executeScript
      timeoutSeconds: 45
      onFailure: Abort
      inputs:
        Runtime: python3.8
        Handler: crossRegionImageCopy
        InputPayload:
          newImageId : "{{ createImage.newImageId }}"
        Script: |-
          def crossRegionImageCopy(events,context):
            import boto3
    
            #Initialize client
            ec2 = boto3.client('ec2', region_name='us-east-1')
            newImageId = events['newImageId']
    
            ec2.copy_image(
              Name='DR Copy for ' + newImageId,
              SourceImageId=newImageId,
              SourceRegion='us-west-2'
            )

JSON

    {
       "description": "Custom Automation Backup and Recovery Example",
       "schemaVersion": "0.3",
       "assumeRole": "{{ AutomationAssumeRole }}",
       "parameters": {
          "AutomationAssumeRole": {
             "type": "String",
             "description": "(Required) The ARN of the role that allows Automation to perform\nthe actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation\nuses your IAM permissions to run this runbook.",
             "default": ""
          },
          "InstanceId": {
             "type": "String",
             "description": "(Required) The ID of the EC2 instance.",
             "default": ""
          }
       },
       "mainSteps": [
          {
             "name": "createImage",
             "action": "aws:executeAwsApi",
             "onFailure": "Abort",
             "inputs": {
                "Service": "ec2",
                "Api": "CreateImage",
                "InstanceId": "{{ InstanceId }}",
                "Name": "Automation Image for {{ InstanceId }}",
                "NoReboot": false
             },
             "outputs": [
                {
                   "Name": "newImageId",
                   "Selector": "$.ImageId",
                   "Type": "String"
                }
             ],
             "nextStep": "verifyImageAvailability"
          },
          {
             "name": "verifyImageAvailability",
             "action": "aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty",
             "timeoutSeconds": 600,
             "inputs": {
                "Service": "ec2",
                "Api": "DescribeImages",
                "ImageIds": [
                   "{{ createImage.newImageId }}"
                ],
                "PropertySelector": "$.Images[0].State",
                "DesiredValues": [
                   "available"
                ]
             },
             "nextStep": "copyImage"
          },
          {
             "name": "copyImage",
             "action": "aws:executeScript",
             "timeoutSeconds": 45,
             "onFailure": "Abort",
             "inputs": {
                "Runtime": "python3.8",
                "Handler": "crossRegionImageCopy",
                "InputPayload": {
                   "newImageId": "{{ createImage.newImageId }}"
                },
                "Attachment": "crossRegionImageCopy.py"
             }
          }
       ],
       "files": {
            "crossRegionImageCopy.py": {
                "checksums": {
                    "sha256": "sampleETagValue"
                }
            }
        }
    }