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ec2-describe-instances

From Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud: 2009-08-15

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ec2-describe-instances

Description

Returns information about instances that you own.

If you specify one or more instance IDs, Amazon EC2 returns information for those instances. If you do not specify instance IDs, Amazon EC2 returns information for all relevant instances. If you specify an invalid instance ID, a fault is returned. If you specify an instance that you do not own, it will not be included in the returned results.

Recently terminated instances might appear in the returned results.This interval is usually less than one hour.

Syntax

ec2-describe-instances [instance_id|availability_zone ...]

Options

Name Description Required

instance_id

Instance IDs to describe.

Type: String

Default: Returns all instances.

Example: r-15a4417c

No

Output

The command returns a table that contains the following information:

  • Output type identifier ("RESERVATION", "INSTANCE")

  • Instance ID for each running instance

  • AMI ID of the image on which the instance is based

  • Public DNS name associated with the instance. This is only present for instances in the running state

  • Private DNS name associated with the instance. This is only present for instances in the running state

  • Instance state

  • Key name. If a key was associated with the instance at launch, its name will appear

  • AMI launch index

  • Product codes attached to the instance

  • Instance type. The type of the instance

  • Instance launch time. The time the instance launched

  • Availability Zone. The Availability Zone in which the instance is located

  • Monitoring state

Amazon EC2 displays errors on stderr.

Examples

Example Request

This example describes the current state of the instances owned by this user.

PROMPT> ec2-describe-instances
RESERVATION r-15a4417c AIDADH4IGTRXXKCD INSTANCE i-3ea74257 ami-6ba54002 ec2-72-44-33-4.compute-1.amazonaws.com 10-251-50-154.ec2.internal running 0 774F4FF8 m1.small 2007-07-11T16:40:44+0000   aki-ba3adfd3   ari-badbad00   us-east-1a INSTANCE i-31a74258 ami-6ba54002 ec2-72-44-34-23.compute-1.amazonaws.com 10-251-50-156.ec2.internal running 1 m1.small 2007-07-11T16:40:44+0000   aki-ba3adfd3   ari-badbad00   us-east-1a   monitoring-enabled
RESERVATION     r-1c65b675      262355691199    default INSTANCE        i-e5b3108c      ami-e3698d8a    ec2-75-101-211-130.compute-1.amazonaws.com      ip-10-250-57-219.ec2.internal   running primary 0  m1.small        2008-09-26T23:53:16+0000        us-east-1a  windows IMAGE ami-78a54011 powerdns/image.manifest.xml AIDADH4IGTRXXKCD available private 774F4FF8 i386  machine aki-a2d732cb    ari-a3d732ca   monitoring-enabled

ec2-run-instances

  • ec2-terminate-instances

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