In order to launch a new EC2 instance, customers need to specify a lot of options, and it can be a slow and overwhelming task. It requires users to have an initial network stack (VPC-Id/Subnet-Id/Security-Groups), remote login, and many more. Often times, we require EC2 instance for adhoc testing for a short period of time without requiring complex networking infrastructure in place. AWS Simple EC2 CLI aims to solve this issue and make it easier for users to launch, connect and terminate EC2 instances with a single command
- Launch an instance using single command
- Connect to an instance using single command
- Terminate an instance using single command
- Interactive mode that help users to decide parameters to use
- Config file for more convenient launch
To execute the CLI, you will need AWS credentials configured. Take a look at the AWS CLI configuration documentation for details on the various ways to configure credentials. Alternatively, you can try out the AWS Simple EC2 CLI by populating following environment variables:
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="..."
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="..."
# Set default Region (optional)
export AWS_REGION="us-east-1"
brew tap aws/tap
brew install aws-simple-ec2-cli
curl -Lo simple-ec2 https://github.com/awslabs/aws-simple-ec2-cli/releases/download/v0.11.0/simple-ec2-`uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'`-amd64
chmod +x simple-ec2
curl -Lo simple-ec2 https://github.com/awslabs/aws-simple-ec2-cli/releases/download/v0.11.0/simple-ec2-linux-arm
curl -Lo simple-ec2 https://github.com/awslabs/aws-simple-ec2-cli/releases/download/v0.11.0/simple-ec2-linux-arm64
curl -Lo simple-ec2 https://github.com/awslabs/aws-simple-ec2-cli/releases/download/v0.11.0/simple-ec2-windows-amd64.exe
$ simple-ec2 version
Prints the version of this tool
All CLI Options
$ simple-ec2 launch -h
Launch an Amazon EC2 instance with the default configurations. All configurations can be overridden by configurations provided by configuration files or user input.
Usage:
simple-ec2 launch [flags]
Flags:
-a, --auto-termination-timer int The auto-termination timer for the instance in minutes
-b, --boot-script string The absolute filepath to a bash script passed to the instance and executed after the instance starts (user data)
--capacity-type string Launch instance as "On-Demand" (the default) or "Spot"
-h, --help help for launch
-p, --iam-instance-profile string The profile containing an IAM role to attach to the instance
-m, --image-id string The image id of the AMI used to launch the instance
-t, --instance-type string The instance type of the instance
-i, --interactive Interactive mode
-k, --keep-ebs Keep EBS volumes after instance termination
-l, --launch-template-id string The launch template id with which the instance will be launched
-v, --launch-template-version string The launch template version with which the instance will be launched
-r, --region string The region where the instance will be launched
-c, --save-config Save config as a JSON config file
-g, --security-group-ids strings The security groups with which the instance will be launched
-s, --subnet-id string The subnet id in which the instance will be launched
--tags stringToString The tags applied to instances and volumes at launch (Example: tag1=val1,tag2=val2) (default [])
Single Command Launch
$ simple-ec2 launch
Please confirm if you would like to launch instance with following options:
CONFIGURATION │ VALUE
───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Region │ us-east-1
VPC │ vpc-example
Subnet │ subnet-example
Instance Type │ t1.micro
Capacity Type │ On-Demand
Image │ ami-047a51fa27710816e
Security Group │ sg-example
Keep EBS Volume(s) After Termination │ false
Auto Termination Timer in Minutes │ None
EBS Volumes │ /dev/xvda(gp2): 8 GiB
> Yes
No
Options confirmed! Launching instance...
Launch Instance Success!
Instance ID: i-123example
Single Command Launch With Flags
$ simple-ec2 launch -r us-east-2 -m ami-123example -t t2.micro -s subnet-123example -g sg-123example
Please confirm if you would like to launch instance with following options:
CONFIGURATION │ VALUE
───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Region │ us-east-2
VPC │ vpc-example
Subnet │ subnet-123example
Instance Type │ t2.micro
Capacity Type │ On-Demand
Image │ ami-123example
Security Group │ sg-123example
Keep EBS Volume(s) After Termination │ false
Auto Termination Timer in Minutes │ None
EBS Volumes │ /dev/xvda(gp2): 8 GiB
> Yes
No
Options confirmed! Launching instance...
Launch Instance Success!
Instance ID: i-123example
Interactive Mode Launch
$ simple-ec2 launch -i
Select a region for the instance:
REGION │ DESCRIPTION
─────────────────┼────────────────────────────
ap-northeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
ap-northeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Seoul)
ap-northeast-3 │ Asia Pacific (Osaka)
ap-south-1 │ Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
ap-southeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Singapore)
ap-southeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Sydney)
ca-central-1 │ Canada (Central)
eu-central-1 │ Europe (Frankfurt)
eu-north-1 │ Europe (Stockholm)
eu-west-1 │ Europe (Ireland)
eu-west-2 │ Europe (London)
eu-west-3 │ Europe (Paris)
sa-east-1 │ South America (Sao Paulo)
us-east-1 │ US East (N. Virginia)
> us-east-2 │ US East (Ohio)
us-west-1 │ US West (N. California)
us-west-2 │ US West (Oregon)
How do you want to choose the instance type?
Enter the instance type
Provide vCPUs and memory information for advice
> Use the default instance type, [t3.micro]
Select an AMI for the instance:
OPERATING SYSTEM │ IMAGE ID │ CREATION DATE
───────────────────┼───────────────────────┼───────────────────────────
> Amazon Linux 2 │ ami-017a73c6475f1cefe │ 2022-07-22T22:59:04.000Z
Ubuntu │ ami-0c1efade7e2a5a12e │ 2022-08-10T12:06:14.000Z
Amazon Linux │ ami-02a1b876e6016a354 │ 2022-07-16T02:38:59.000Z
Red Hat │ ami-078cbc4c2d057c244 │ 2022-05-13T11:53:05.000Z
SUSE Linux │ ami-0535d9b70179f9734 │ 2022-07-23T07:01:55.000Z
Windows │ ami-04d1c6a7290ee815a │ 2022-08-10T07:21:08.000Z
Persist EBS Volume(s) after the instance is terminated?
Yes
> No
After how many minutes should the instance terminate? (0 for no auto-termination)
> 25
Select the VPC for the instance:
VPC │ CIDR BLOCK
─────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────
> vpc-123example │ 172.31.0.0/16
vpc-example │ 172.31.0.0/16
Create new VPC with default CIDR and 3 subnets │
Select the subnet for the instance:
SUBNET │ AVAILABILITY ZONE │ CIDR BLOCK
────────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────
> subnet-123example │ us-east-2a │ 172.31.0.0/24
subnet-456example │ us-east-2b │ 172.31.16.0/24
subnet-789example │ us-east-2c │ 172.31.32.0/24
Select the security groups for the instance:
SECURITY GROUP │ DESCRIPTION
───────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────
[x] sg-123example │ My Favorite Security Group
[ ] sg-456example │ default VPC security group
[ ] Create a new security group that enables SSH │
[ SUBMIT ]
Select an IAM Profile:
PROFILE NAME │ PROFILE ID │ CREATION DATE
────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
Instance-Profile-1 │ AIPAXP7DUN6CORG253IFG │ 2021-01-20 14:31:28 +0000 UTC
Instance-Profile-2 │ AIPAXP7DUN6CJLXGLI2M5 │ 2021-01-20 14:31:51 +0000 UTC
> Do not attach IAM profile │ │
Would you like to add a filepath to the instance boot script?
Yes
> No
Would you like to add tags to instances and persisted volumes?
Yes
> No
Select capacity type. Spot instances are available at up to a 90% discount compared to On-Demand instances,
but they may get interrupted by EC2 with a 2-minute warning
CAPACITY TYPE │ PRICE
────────────────┼─────────────
> On-Demand │ $0.0104/hr
Spot │ $0.0031/hr
Please confirm if you would like to launch instance with following options:
(Or select a configuration to repeat a question)
CONFIGURATION │ VALUE
───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Region │ us-east-2
VPC │ vpc-123example
Subnet │ subnet-123example
Instance Type │ t3.micro
Capacity Type │ On-Demand
Image │ ami-017a73c6475f1cefe
Security Group │ sg-123example
Keep EBS Volume(s) After Termination │ false
Auto Termination Timer in Minutes │ 25
EBS Volumes │ /dev/xvda(gp2): 8 GiB
> Yes
No
Options confirmed! Launching instance...
Launch Instance Success!
Instance ID: i-123example
Do you want to save the configuration above as a JSON file that can be used in non-interactive mode and as question defaults
> Yes
No
Saving config...
Config successfully saved: /Users/${USER}/.simple-ec2/simple-ec2.json
All CLI Options
$ simple-ec2 connect -h
Connect to an Amazon EC2 Instance, given the region and instance id
Usage:
simple-ec2 connect [flags]
Flags:
-h, --help help for connect
-n, --instance-id string The instance id of the instance you want to connect to
-i, --interactive Interactive mode
-r, --region string The region in which the instance you want to connect locates
Single Command Connect
$ simple-ec2 connect -r us-east-2 -n i-123example
Last login: Wed Jul 29 21:01:45 2020 from 52.95.4.1
__| __|_ )
_| ( / Amazon Linux 2 AMI
___|\___|___|
https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-2/
14 package(s) needed for security, out of 31 available
Run "sudo yum update" to apply all updates.
[ec2-user@ip-example ~]$ exit
logout
Interactive Mode Connect
$ simple-ec2 connect -i
Select a region for the instance:
REGION │ DESCRIPTION
─────────────────┼────────────────────────────
ap-northeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
ap-northeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Seoul)
ap-northeast-3 │ Asia Pacific (Osaka)
ap-south-1 │ Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
ap-southeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Singapore)
ap-southeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Sydney)
ca-central-1 │ Canada (Central)
eu-central-1 │ Europe (Frankfurt)
eu-north-1 │ Europe (Stockholm)
eu-west-1 │ Europe (Ireland)
eu-west-2 │ Europe (London)
eu-west-3 │ Europe (Paris)
sa-east-1 │ South America (Sao Paulo)
us-east-1 │ US East (N. Virginia)
> us-east-2 │ US East (Ohio)
us-west-1 │ US West (N. California)
us-west-2 │ US West (Oregon)
Select the instance you want to connect to:
INSTANCE │ TAG-KEY │ TAG-VALUE
──────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────
> i-123example │ CreatedBy │ simple-ec2
│ CreatedTime │ 2022-08-19 14:04:08 CDT
i-456example │ CreatedBy │ simple-ec2
│ CreatedTime │ 2022-08-19 13:58:33 CDT
__| __|_ )
_| ( / Amazon Linux 2 AMI
___|\___|___|
https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-2/
14 package(s) needed for security, out of 31 available
Run "sudo yum update" to apply all updates.
[ec2-user@ip-example ~]$ exit
logout
All CLI Options
$ simple-ec2 terminate -h
Terminate Amazon EC2 Instances, given the region and instance ids or tag values
Usage:
simple-ec2 terminate [flags]
Flags:
-h, --help help for terminate
-n, --instance-ids strings The instance ids of the instances you want to terminate
-i, --interactive Interactive mode
-r, --region string The region in which the instances you want to terminate locates
--tags stringToString Terminate instances containing EXACT tag key-pair (Example: CreatedBy=simple-ec2) (default [])
One Command Terminate
$ simple-ec2 terminate -r us-east-2 -n i-123example
Terminating instances
Instances [i-123example] terminated successfully
One Command Terminate using tags
$ simple-ec2 terminate -r us-east-1 --tags CreatedBy=simple-ec2
Terminating instances
Instances [i-123example i-456example] terminated successfully
Interactive Terminate
$ simple-ec2 terminate -i
Select a region for the instance:
REGION │ DESCRIPTION
─────────────────┼────────────────────────────
ap-northeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
ap-northeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Seoul)
ap-northeast-3 │ Asia Pacific (Osaka)
ap-south-1 │ Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
ap-southeast-1 │ Asia Pacific (Singapore)
ap-southeast-2 │ Asia Pacific (Sydney)
ca-central-1 │ Canada (Central)
eu-central-1 │ Europe (Frankfurt)
eu-north-1 │ Europe (Stockholm)
eu-west-1 │ Europe (Ireland)
eu-west-2 │ Europe (London)
eu-west-3 │ Europe (Paris)
sa-east-1 │ South America (Sao Paulo)
us-east-1 │ US East (N. Virginia)
> us-east-2 │ US East (Ohio)
us-west-1 │ US West (N. California)
us-west-2 │ US West (Oregon)
Select the instances you want to terminate:
INSTANCE │ TAG-KEY │ TAG-VALUE
──────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────
[x] i-123example │ CreatedBy │ simple-ec2
│ CreatedTime │ 2022-08-19 14:05:29 CDT
[x] i-456example │ CreatedTime │ 2022-08-19 14:18:10 CDT
│ CreatedBy │ simple-ec2
[ SUBMIT ]
Are you sure you want to terminate 2 instance(s): [i-123example i-456example]
> Yes
No
Terminating instances
Instances [i-123example i-456example] terminated successfully
For build instructions please consult BUILD.md.
If you've run into a bug or have a new feature request, please open an issue.
Contributions are welcome! Please read our guidelines and our Code of Conduct
This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.