Automating Amazon EC2 CloudScheduled Startup/Shutdown of Amazon EC2 Instances

Author:JasonAllowayCompany:AllTechSolutionsLLC

Table of Contents

IntroductionManuallychangingtheImagerunningstateAutomatingtheImagerunningstate

ObtainandConfigureasupportedJAVAJREObtainandConfiguretheAmazonEC2APIToolsSchedulingaStopInstanceTaskinWindowsTaskScheduler

Appendix

IntroductionOneoftheobviousbenefitsofcloudcomputingisthepayasyougomodelandonlypayingforwhatyouuse.AmazonEC2Cloudimagesofferusersgreatflexibilityinthisregardbyallowinginstancestobeeasilyturnedofforterminatedwhennotinuse.SinceAmazoninstanceusageismeteredyoumayhavelargechunksoftimewhereyoudonotwishtoleavetheclockrunning,andprefertobringtheinstancedown(whichwillstopthebilling).Thisdocumentprovidesstepbystepdirectionsforschedulingautomatedinstancestopsandstarts,soyoucaneasilyreducetheoverallcostoftheinstance.AlthoughthefocusofthisdocumentwasinitiatingscheduledstopandstartactionsfromaWindowsWorkstation.Unixcroncommandscanalsobeutilizedtoachievethesameresult.

Manually changing the Image running stateTheTheAmazonEC2dashboardallowsausertoeasilyinitiatestop,start,andterminateinstanceactionsfromawebbrowsersessionbynavigatingtoINSTANCES,selectingthecheckboxnexttotheinstance,andthenselectingtheACTIONSdropdownmenu.TheoptionstoTerminate,Reboot,Stop,andStartappearinthemenu:

Automating the Image running stateItmaybeimpracticalforausertomanuallystop,andstarttheAmazonEC2imagesmanuallyforavarietyofreasons.FortunatelyAmazonmakesavailableasetofCLI(CommandLineInterface)commandsthatwhencombinedwithaschedulereasilyautomatesstopandstartactionsatfixeddates&times.AsofwritingtheCLIToolsareasubsetoftheAmazonEC2APIToolsv1.6.7.3.Thedownloadlocationisintheappendixsectionofthisdocument.

Thefollowingtechnologiesareusedinthisdocument:

AmazonEC2APIToolsv1.6.7.3 AmazonEC2MachineImageamid0f89fb9(ubuntu-precise-12.04-amd64-server) MicrosoftTaskScheduler1.0 JAVAJREv1.7.0_17 Windowsv7Professionalworkstation

Obtain and Configure a supported JAVA JREIfyouneedtodetermineifyoualreadyhaveaJREinstalledusetheWindowsControlPaneltonotethelocationwhereitisinstalled

Create2newSystemEnvironmentVariableentriesontheworkstationthatwillbeusedtorunthescheduledAmazonCLIcommands.FirstcreateanewSystemVariablecalledJAVA_HOME.ThevaluewillbethedirectorycontainingyourJAVAJREbinaries.Forexample:

Note:IfyouhavespacesinthepaththenenclosethevalueindoublequotationmarksNote:Donotincludethebindirectory.TheAmazonCLIToolswillnotworkifbinisincluded

Testtheentrybyopeninganewcommandpromptandissuingthecommand:

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\javaversion

YoushouldseetheJAVAVersiondisplayed

Next,editthePATHSystemVariablebyadding:%JAVA_HOME%\bin

Note:EnsuretheentryappearsbeforeanymentionofotherJREsonthesystemPath

TesttheconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand:javaversion

YoushouldseetheJAVAversiondisplayed

Obtain and Configure the Amazon EC2 API ToolsTheAmazonEC2APIToolsarecurrentlymadeavailableasaZIParchive.AfterdownloadingthemfromAmazon,simplyextractthearchivetoadestinationfolderonyourworkstation.

SeveralmoreSystemEnvironmentVariableswillneedtobecreated.FirstcreateanewSystemVariablecalledEC2_HOME.ThevaluewillbethedirectorythatcontainstheAmazonEC2supportinglibrariesthatwerejustunarchivedForexample:

TestthenewconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand:

dir%EC2_HOME%

YoushouldseethecontentsoftheAmazonEC2APIToolsoutputtothescreen:

Next,edittheSystemEnvironmentVariablePathandaddthevalue:%EC2_HOME%\bin

TestthenewconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand:

ec2describeregions

YoushouldseetheAmazonEC2Cloudregionsoutputtothescreen:

Next,definetheAWS_ACCESS_KEYandAWS_SECRET_KEYSystemEnvironmentVariables.Thevaluesforthese2variablescanberetrievedfromtheAmazonEC2WebServicessiteathttp://aws.amazon.com,clickMYACCOUNT/CONSOLE,andselectSECURITYCREDENTIALS:

ExpandtheAccessKeyssectiononthefollowingscreen:

HereyoucannoteyourAccessKeyID,butasofthetimeofwritingyoumustfollowthelinkinthelowerrighttoobtaintheSecretAccessKey:

Usethese2valuestoaddtheSystemEnvironmentVariables:

Finally,bydefaulttheAmazonEC2CLIToolsusetheuseast1AmazonCloudregionwiththeserviceendpointurl:ec2.useast1.amazonaws.com.Ifyourinstance(s)resideinadifferentregiondefinetheSystemEnvironmentVariableEC2_URL.Forexample:

AtthispointtheAmazonEC2CLIToolsareinstalledandcommandscanbeissuedfromtheCMDpromptinanydirectory.

Scheduling a Stop Instance Task in Windows Task SchedulerLaunchtheWindowsTaskScheduler,andchooseCREATEBASICTASK:

TheCreateBasicTaskWizardwillLaunchandguideyouthroughcreatingthetaskcreationandscheduling.WhenpromptedenteranameanddescriptionandclickNEXT:

SelectyourtriggerfrequencyandclickNEXT,forthisexamplewearechoosingDaily:

Youwillbepromptedtoprovidemoredetailonthethedates,time,andfrequencyyouwantthetasktorun.ClickNEXT:

ChoosetoStartaprogram,andclickNEXT:

ProvidetheAmazonEC2CLIcommandthatwillstoparunninginstanceintheProgram/Scriptfield,andtheAmazonEC2instanceIDoftheinstancethatwillbetargetedintheAddarguments(optional)field.Thecommandis:

ec2stopinstances

ClickNEXT

Note:TheInstanceIDcanberetrievedfromtheAmazonEC2Dashboard

ReviewthedetailsofthetaskandclickFINISH:

Congratulations,theconfigurationneededtostoparunninginstanceofanAmazonEC2Cloudimageisnowcomplete,andthenewtaskwillappearintheTaskSchedulerLibrary.Tovalidatetheconfiguration,thetaskcanbeexecutedimmediatelywhilestillintheTaskSchedulerUI.Rightclickthenewtask,andselectRUN:

ReturntotheAmazonEC2Dashboardandverifythestatushaschangedfromrunningtostoppedbyrefreshingthescreen:

Atasktoscheduleatasktostartastoppedinstancecanbecreatedusingthesamesteps.Simplyreplacethecommandec2stopinstanceswithec2startinstances.

Note:InorderfortheAmazonEC2commandstoexecutesuccessfullyfromtheWindowsworkstation,TheAmazonCloudmustbereachableviaafunctioninginternetconnection.Ifyouareoperatingbehindaproxy,thereareadditionalstepsneededtocompletenotcoveredinthisdocument.

AppendixThedownloadlocationfortheAmazonEC2APIToolsasofwritingishere:http://aws.amazon.com/developertools/351

ThemostrecentfulllistofallAmazonCLICommandsislocatedhere:http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/CommandLineReference/commandreference.html

TheOracleJAVAJREDownloadsiteishere:http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html