AWS_VM_IMPORT.md

Importing an OVA VM Image to an AWS EC2 AMI

Prerequisites

• Install and configure the AWS CLI.
• Follow the guidance in VM Import/Export Prerequisites.
• For non-root IAM users you may need to attach the following inline policy to the vmimport service role.

  {
      "Version": "2012-10-17",
      "Statement": [
          {
              "Sid": "380",
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Action": [
                  "iam:CreateRole",
                  "iam:PutRolePolicy"
              ],
              "Resource": [
                  "arn:aws:iam::{{user_account_id}}:role/vmimport"
              ]
          }
      ]
  }
  

Create an Import Bucket

Create S3 bucket named {{bucket_name}} in a nearby region for use by the import process.

Note: Buckets are region specific so it's recommended to include a region identifier in the name.

$ aws s3 mb \
  s3://{{bucket_name}} \
  --region eu-west-1

Upload an Image

Upload the vmdk,ova or raw format image to the S3 bucket {{bucket_name}}.

$ aws s3 cp \
  builds/CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US.vmdk \
  s3://{{bucket_name}}/CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US.vmdk

Import

Import the image from the S3 bucket {{bucket_name}}.

This will return some output that includes an ImportTaskId. e.g. import-ami-08e9c882d14e44b83.

$ aws ec2 import-image \
  --architecture x86_64 \
  --boot-mode legacy-bios \
  --description "jdeathe/CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US" \
  --disk-containers '[ { "Description": "jdeathe/CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US", "Format": "vmdk", "UserBucket": { "S3Bucket": "{{bucket_name}}", "S3Key" : "CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US.vmdk" } } ]' \
  --license-type BYOL \
  --platform Linux \
  --region eu-west-1

Check progress

$ aws ec2 describe-import-image-tasks \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --import-task-ids {{ImportTaskId}}

If you need to cancel the import:

$ aws ec2 cancel-import-task \
  --import-task-id {{ImportTaskId}}

Once complete, identify the ImageId.

$ aws --output json ec2 describe-images \
  --owners self \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --filters '[ { "Name": "description", "Values": ["AWS-VMImport service*"] } ]' \
  | grep '"ImageId"' \
  | sed -r -e 's~^(.*"ImageId": ")(ami-[0-9a-zA-Z]+)(",)$~\2~'

Create copy of the intermediate image with required name and description values to the target region(s).

$ aws ec2 copy-image \
  --source-region eu-west-1 \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --name "jdeathe/centos-7-x86_64-minimal-en_us-v7.9.0" \
  --description "CentOS-7.9.2009 x86_64 Minimal Base Image - en_US locale" \
  --source-image-id {{ImageId}}

Clean up

Deregister the intermediate image that was created by the import process.

$ aws ec2 deregister-image \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --image-id {{ImageId}}

Identify SpanshotId. i.e. With a Description starting "Created by AWS-VMImport service".

$ aws --output json ec2 describe-snapshots \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --owner-ids self \
  --filters '[ { "Name": "description", "Values": ["Created by AWS-VMImport service*"] } ]' \
  | grep '"SnapshotId"' \
  | sed -r -e 's~^(.*"SnapshotId": ")(snap-[0-9a-zA-Z]+)(",)$~\2~'

Remove snapshot created by the import process.

$ aws ec2 delete-snapshot \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --snapshot-id {{SnapshotId}}

Remove the source image from the S3 bucket.

$ aws s3 rm \
  s3://{{bucket_name}}/CentOS-7.9.2009-x86_64-Minimal-AMI-en_US.vmdk