Can I make an AMI from a running instance that uses instance-store as its root device?

Question

Or is it absolutely necessary to have an EBS backed storage? Does anyone have manuals/Howtos?

I am following the manual given on this site.

Answer 1

You can create an AMI from either an EBS or S3-backed running instance. The simplest way is to use the AWS Management Console to select the instance and click 'Create Image' from the Instance Actions menu.

This will create either an EBS or S3-backed AMI, depending on the type of instance.

Be aware that creating an AMI from a Running instance is inherently potentially unsafe - the storage is not imaged as a hard 'point-in-time' snapshot, so changes to the filesystem whilst the image is being created may not be recorded, and may even result in a compromised image. You should quiesce the OS as far as possible before starting.

Note also that your instance will reboot during the image-creation process, so make sure you're prepared for any temporary loss of service from the VM.

Answer 2

If you bundle a Windows EBS instance while it is running, its Administrator password will be reset by Amazon's rebundling tools - so you'll have to use the EC2 "get Admin password" function with instances launched from the new AMI.

If you stop your Windows instance before rebundling, its Administrator password will remain intact through the rebundling process.

I don't know if this is documented anywhere, but it's certainly been my experience with Windows 2003 instances.

Answer 3

you will to refer the manual for the three commands:

ec2-bundle-vol, ec2-upload-bundle, ec2-register.

Keep at hand your private and certificate key (eg. pk.pem, cert.pem files) and your access and shared key. Download the ec2 ami tools and setup the environment variables for the ec2 ami tools. This site might give you the details on how to bundle the volume, create the images, upload them to S3 and finally register it as your own ami.

http://alestic.com/2009/06/ec2-ami-bundle

Answer 4

It is possible to create an AMI from an EBS running instance using the AWS management console. as mentioned by Eight-Bit Guru by clicking 'Create Image' from the Instance Actions menu.

For the S3 backed instance it is currently not possible without bundling the instance. If you are using a linux ami then you have two ways as explained in this guide:

• Creating an AMI from S3 backed instance - For Linux

For windows based S3 backed instance you can follow other guide

• Creating an AMI from S3 backed instance - For Windows

Hope this will help for creating an AMI for S3 backed intances.