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How to Create a New EBS-Backed AMI with Custom AMI ID on Amazon EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. To make server setup easier, Amazon EC2 uses Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Let’s delve into how to create a new Elastic Block Store (EBS)-backed AMI with a custom AMI ID on Amazon EC2.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous

How to Create a New EBS-Backed AMI with Custom AMI ID on Amazon EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. To make server setup easier, Amazon EC2 uses Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Let’s delve into how to create a new Elastic Block Store (EBS)-backed AMI with a custom AMI ID on Amazon EC2.

What is an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)?

An AMI is a template that contains the software configuration (operating system, application server, and applications) required to launch an instance. AMIs are either backed by Amazon EBS or instance store (ephemeral storage), depending on where the root volume resides.

What is an EBS-Backed AMI?

An EBS-backed AMI is an AMI whose instances use an Amazon EBS volume as their root device. The advantage of using an EBS-backed AMI is that the instance can be stopped and restarted, enabling you to only pay for the storage resources you actually consume.

Creating a New EBS-Backed AMI with Custom AMI ID

As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, AWS does not allow users to specify a custom AMI ID when creating an EBS-backed AMI. The AMI ID is a unique identifier AWS assigns for tracking and management purposes. However, you can use tags to organize your AWS resources, including your AMIs, in a way that makes sense for your business.

Here’s how to create an EBS-backed AMI and assign it a custom tag:

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.
  2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.
  3. Select the instance that you want to create an AMI of.
  4. Choose Actions, Create Image.
  5. In the Create Image dialog box, type a unique name and description, and choose Create Image.
  6. After the AMI is created, it will be available in the AMIs section of the EC2 dashboard.
  7. Select your new AMI, then select Actions > Manage Tags.
  8. In the Manage Tags dialog box, you can add a new tag. For the Key, input “CustomAMIID” and for the Value, input your desired custom AMI ID.

Here’s how to add a tag using the AWS CLI:

aws ec2 create-tags --resources ami-0abcd1234efgh5678 --tags Key=CustomAMIID,Value=my-custom-ami-id

Remember, even though you can’t directly specify a custom AMI ID, you can effectively achieve the same organization and tracking capabilities using tags.

Conclusion

While AWS doesn’t allow for custom AMI IDs, their tagging system offers a flexible and powerful way to manage your resources. By understanding how to create an EBS-backed AMI and assign it a custom tag, you can more effectively manage and organize your AMIs.

Remember to use descriptive and consistent tags to make tracking and management easier. And, as always, make sure to follow best practices for security and cost management when using AWS resources.

Please note: The instructions provided in this blog post are based on the AWS Management Console and AWS CLI as of September 2021. For the most up-to-date instructions, please refer to the official AWS documentation or consult with an AWS professional.

Keywords: Amazon EC2, EBS-backed AMI, custom AMI ID, AWS, AMI, EBS, AWS CLI, AWS Management Console, AWS resources, tagging.

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