How to Download an Amazon EC2 AMI: A Guide

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances greatly simplify the process of running virtual servers in the cloud. An integral part of this process is the Amazon Machine Image (AMI), which encapsulates the information necessary to instantiate these instances. Yet, downloading an AMI for backup or other uses can be a bit tricky. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to download an Amazon EC2 AMI.

By Saturn Cloud | Tuesday, August 08, 2023 | Miscellaneous

How to Download an Amazon EC2 AMI: A Guide

What is an Amazon EC2 AMI?

An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a template that contains a software configuration (operating system, application server, and applications). AMIs are used to create instances in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). They are like a snapshot of a system’s state at a specific time, including the operating system, installed applications, and any user data.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you will need:

AWS account with necessary permissions
AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) installed
An existing AMI ID

Step-by-Step Guide to Download an Amazon EC2 AMI

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance from your AMI

First, launch an EC2 instance from the AMI you want to download. You can do this from the AWS Management Console or via AWS CLI with the following command:

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id <ami-id> --count 1 --instance-type <instance-type>

Step 2: Create an EBS Snapshot of the EC2 Instance

Once the instance is running, create an EBS snapshot. This will capture the state of the instance’s attached EBS volumes:

aws ec2 create-snapshot --volume-id <volume-id>

Step 3: Create an EBS Volume from the Snapshot

Next, create an EBS volume from the snapshot:

aws ec2 create-volume --snapshot-id <snapshot-id> --availability-zone <availability-zone>

Step 4: Attach the EBS Volume to the Instance

Attach the newly created EBS volume to the EC2 instance:

aws ec2 attach-volume --volume-id <volume-id> --instance-id <instance-id> --device /dev/sdf

Step 5: Connect to the EC2 Instance

SSH into the instance:

ssh -i <keypair.pem> ec2-user@<public-ip-of-instance>

Step 6: Mount the EBS Volume

Mount the EBS volume to a directory:

sudo mount /dev/xvdf /mnt/my-volume

Step 7: Compress and Copy the AMI to S3

Compress the data and copy it to an S3 bucket:

sudo tar czvf - /mnt/my-volume | aws s3 cp - s3://my-bucket/my-ami.tar.gz

Step 8: Download the AMI from S3

Finally, download the AMI from the S3 bucket:

aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/my-ami.tar.gz ./my-ami.tar.gz

In Conclusion

Downloading an Amazon EC2 AMI involves launching an instance from the AMI, creating a snapshot, converting the snapshot into an EBS volume, attaching the volume to the instance, and then compressing and copying the data to an S3 bucket. It’s a complex process, but with this guide, you should be able to accomplish it with ease.

Remember to clean up any resources you don’t need after the download to avoid unnecessary costs.

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