This article explains step by step how to create (spin up) an EC2 instance within AWS using Ansible and a few extras. Unlike 100% of other articles out there, this one actually demonstrates how to do it. Pay attention to the date of this article because things DO change over time.
We’re using CentOS 7 as the Ansible host.
Run the following commands to install the required dependencies for Ansible and AWS. I’m running this as a normal user with SUDO access, not the root user.
sudo pip install --upgrade pip sudo pip install boto sudo yum install ansible
Log into your AWS account to get your “AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID” and “AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY”. Go to “Identity and Access Management”. Create a new user or select an exiting one. Go to “Security Credentials” and click “Create Access Key”. Here’s an example of what you’ll end up with:
Access Key ID: NUHKOIJFOJF9GFJDO Secret Access Key: LSDJKFODSJF9SDJF8UH3U3HFKW
Keep those safe – download when asked. Use the above values to create environment variables. Copy and paste the following (with your values replacing mine) into your shell:
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="NUHKOIJFOJF9GFJDO" export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="LSDJKFODSJF9SDJF8UH3U3HFKW"
Create the “~/hosts” file with the following contents:
[local] localhost [webserver]
Now we build our YML file for Ansible to run through. Here’s a sample that will create a basic EC2 with a public IP address and your public SSH key. Put the following into the file “~/ec2-basic.yml”
---
- name: Provision an EC2 Instance
hosts: local
connection: local
gather_facts: False
tags: provisioning
# Necessary Variables for creating/provisioning the EC2 Instance
vars:
instance_type: t2.micro
security_group: ansible-webserver # Change the security group name here
image: ami-719fb712 # This is an AMI i created myself
keypair: agix-key # This is one of my keys that i already have in AWS
region: ap-southeast-2 # Change the Region
count: 1
# Task that will be used to Launch/Create an EC2 Instance
tasks:
- name: Create a security group
local_action:
module: ec2_group
name: "{{ security_group }}"
description: Security Group for webserver Servers
region: "{{ region }}"
rules:
- proto: tcp
from_port: 22
to_port: 22
cidr_ip: 0.0.0.0/0
- proto: tcp
from_port: 80
to_port: 80
cidr_ip: 0.0.0.0/0
- proto: tcp
from_port: 443
to_port: 443
cidr_ip: 0.0.0.0/0
rules_egress:
- proto: all
cidr_ip: 0.0.0.0/0
register: basic_firewall
- name: Launch the new EC2 Instance
local_action: ec2
group={{ security_group }}
instance_type={{ instance_type}}
image={{ image }}
wait=true
region={{ region }}
keypair={{ keypair }}
count={{count}}
register: ec2
- name: Add the newly created EC2 instance(s) to the local host group (located inside the directory)
local_action: lineinfile
dest="./hosts"
regexp={{ item.public_ip }}
insertafter="[webserver]" line={{ item.public_ip }}
with_items: ec2.instances
- name: Wait for SSH to come up
local_action: wait_for
host={{ item.public_ip }}
port=22
state=started
with_items: ec2.instances
- name: Add tag to Instance(s)
local_action: ec2_tag resource={{ item.id }} region={{ region }} state=present
with_items: ec2.instances
args:
tags:
Name: webserver
Being the provisioning (spin it up):
ansible-playbook -i ./hosts ec2-basic.yml
And finally log into your new ec2 instance:
ssh -l centos 54.1.2.3 -i Downloads/agix-key.pem
Resources:
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/boto#downloads http://www.tivix.com/blog/using-ansible-create-aws-instances/ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30227140/best-way-to-launch-aws-ec2-instances-with-ansible