# CloudFormation template snippets
**Topics**
+ [Nested stacks](#w2aac11c41c23b5)
+ [Wait condition](#w2aac11c41c23b7)
## Nested stacks
### Nesting a stack in a template
This example template contains a nested stack resource called `myStack`. When CloudFormation creates a stack from the template, it creates the `myStack`, whose template is specified in the `TemplateURL` property. The output value `StackRef` returns the stack ID for `myStack` and the value `OutputFromNestedStack` returns the output value `BucketName` from within the `myStack` resource. The `Outputs.nestedstackoutputname` format is reserved for specifying output values from nested stacks and can be used anywhere within the containing template.
For more information, see [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-cloudformation-stack.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-cloudformation-stack.html).
#### JSON
```
1. {
2. "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
3. "Resources" : {
4. "myStack" : {
5. "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
6. "Properties" : {
7. "TemplateURL" : "https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-templates-us-east-1/S3_Bucket.template",
8. "TimeoutInMinutes" : "60"
9. }
10. }
11. },
12. "Outputs": {
13. "StackRef": {"Value": { "Ref" : "myStack"}},
14. "OutputFromNestedStack" : {
15. "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "myStack", "Outputs.BucketName" ] }
16. }
17. }
18. }
```
#### YAML
```
1. AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
2. Resources:
3. myStack:
4. Type: AWS::CloudFormation::Stack
5. Properties:
6. TemplateURL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-templates-us-east-1/S3_Bucket.template
7. TimeoutInMinutes: '60'
8. Outputs:
9. StackRef:
10. Value: !Ref myStack
11. OutputFromNestedStack:
12. Value: !GetAtt myStack.Outputs.BucketName
```
### Nesting a stack with input parameters in a template
This example template contains a stack resource that specifies input parameters. When CloudFormation creates a stack from this template, it uses the value pairs declared within the `Parameters` property as the input parameters for the template used to create the `myStackWithParams` stack. In this example, the `InstanceType` and `KeyName` parameters are specified.
For more information, see [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-cloudformation-stack.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-cloudformation-stack.html).
#### JSON
```
1. {
2. "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
3. "Resources" : {
4. "myStackWithParams" : {
5. "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
6. "Properties" : {
7. "TemplateURL" : "https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-templates-us-east-1/EC2ChooseAMI.template",
8. "Parameters" : {
9. "InstanceType" : "t2.micro",
10. "KeyName" : "mykey"
11. }
12. }
13. }
14. }
15. }
```
#### YAML
```
1. AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
2. Resources:
3. myStackWithParams:
4. Type: AWS::CloudFormation::Stack
5. Properties:
6. TemplateURL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-templates-us-east-1/EC2ChooseAMI.template
7. Parameters:
8. InstanceType: t2.micro
9. KeyName: mykey
```
## Wait condition
### Using a wait condition with an Amazon EC2 instance
**Important**
For Amazon EC2 and Auto Scaling resources, we recommend that you use a CreationPolicy attribute instead of wait conditions. Add a CreationPolicy attribute to those resources, and use the cfn-signal helper script to signal when an instance creation process has completed successfully.
If you can't use a creation policy, you view the following example template, which declares an Amazon EC2 instance with a wait condition. The `myWaitCondition` wait condition uses `myWaitConditionHandle` for signaling, uses the `DependsOn` attribute to specify that the wait condition will trigger after the Amazon EC2 instance resource has been created, and uses the `Timeout` property to specify a duration of 4500 seconds for the wait condition. In addition, the presigned URL that signals the wait condition is passed to the Amazon EC2 instance with the `UserData` property of the `Ec2Instance` resource, thus allowing an application or script running on that Amazon EC2 instance to retrieve the presigned URL and employ it to signal a success or failure to the wait condition. You need to use `cfn-signal` or create the application or script that signals the wait condition. The output value `ApplicationData` contains the data passed back from the wait condition signal.
For more information, see [Create wait conditions in a CloudFormation template](using-cfn-waitcondition.md).
#### JSON
```
1. {
2. "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
3. "Mappings" : {
4. "RegionMap" : {
5. "us-east-1" : {
6. "AMI" : "ami-0123456789abcdef0"
7. },
8. "us-west-1" : {
9. "AMI" : "ami-0987654321fedcba0"
10. },
11. "eu-west-1" : {
12. "AMI" : "ami-0abcdef123456789a"
13. },
14. "ap-northeast-1" : {
15. "AMI" : "ami-0fedcba987654321b"
16. },
17. "ap-southeast-1" : {
18. "AMI" : "ami-0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8"
19. }
20. }
21. },
22. "Resources" : {
23. "Ec2Instance" : {
24. "Type" : "AWS::EC2::Instance",
25. "Properties" : {
26. "UserData" : { "Fn::Base64" : {"Ref" : "myWaitHandle"}},
27. "ImageId" : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "RegionMap", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, "AMI" ]}
28. }
29. },
30. "myWaitHandle" : {
31. "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::WaitConditionHandle",
32. "Properties" : {
33. }
34. },
35. "myWaitCondition" : {
36. "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::WaitCondition",
37. "DependsOn" : "Ec2Instance",
38. "Properties" : {
39. "Handle" : { "Ref" : "myWaitHandle" },
40. "Timeout" : "4500"
41. }
42. }
43. },
44. "Outputs" : {
45. "ApplicationData" : {
46. "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "myWaitCondition", "Data" ]},
47. "Description" : "The data passed back as part of signalling the WaitCondition."
48. }
49. }
50. }
```
#### YAML
```
1. AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
2. Mappings:
3. RegionMap:
4. us-east-1:
5. AMI: ami-0123456789abcdef0
6. us-west-1:
7. AMI: ami-0987654321fedcba0
8. eu-west-1:
9. AMI: ami-0abcdef123456789a
10. ap-northeast-1:
11. AMI: ami-0fedcba987654321b
12. ap-southeast-1:
13. AMI: ami-0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8
14. Resources:
15. Ec2Instance:
16. Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
17. Properties:
18. UserData:
19. Fn::Base64: !Ref myWaitHandle
20. ImageId:
21. Fn::FindInMap:
22. - RegionMap
23. - Ref: AWS::Region
24. - AMI
25. myWaitHandle:
26. Type: AWS::CloudFormation::WaitConditionHandle
27. Properties: {}
28. myWaitCondition:
29. Type: AWS::CloudFormation::WaitCondition
30. DependsOn: Ec2Instance
31. Properties:
32. Handle: !Ref myWaitHandle
33. Timeout: '4500'
34. Outputs:
35. ApplicationData:
36. Value: !GetAtt myWaitCondition.Data
37. Description: The data passed back as part of signalling the WaitCondition.
```
### Using the cfn-signal helper script to signal a wait condition
This example shows a `cfn-signal` command line that signals success to a wait condition. You need to define the command line in the `UserData` property of the EC2 instance.
#### JSON
```
"UserData": {
"Fn::Base64": {
"Fn::Join": [
"",
[
"#!/bin/bash -xe\n",
"/opt/aws/bin/cfn-signal --exit-code 0 '",
{
"Ref": "myWaitHandle"
},
"'\n"
]
]
}
}
```
#### YAML
```
UserData:
Fn::Base64: !Sub |
#!/bin/bash -xe
/opt/aws/bin/cfn-signal --exit-code 0 '${myWaitHandle}'
```
### Using Curl to signal a wait condition
This example shows a Curl command line that signals success to a wait condition.
```
1. curl -T /tmp/a "https://cloudformation-waitcondition-test.s3.amazonaws.com/arn%3Aaws%3Acloudformation%3Aus-east-1%3A034017226601%3Astack%2Fstack-gosar-20110427004224-test-stack-with-WaitCondition--VEYW%2Fe498ce60-70a1-11e0-81a7-5081d0136786%2FmyWaitConditionHandle?Expires=1303976584&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE&Signature=ik1twT6hpS4cgNAw7wyOoRejVoo%3D"
```
Where the file /tmp/a contains the following JSON structure:
```
1. {
2. "Status" : "SUCCESS",
3. "Reason" : "Configuration Complete",
4. "UniqueId" : "ID1234",
5. "Data" : "Application has completed configuration."
6. }
```
This example shows a Curl command line that sends the same success signal except it sends the JSON as a parameter on the command line.
```
1. curl -X PUT -H 'Content-Type:' --data-binary '{"Status" : "SUCCESS","Reason" : "Configuration Complete","UniqueId" : "ID1234","Data" : "Application has completed configuration."}' "https://cloudformation-waitcondition-test.s3.amazonaws.com/arn%3Aaws%3Acloudformation%3Aus-east-1%3A034017226601%3Astack%2Fstack-gosar-20110427004224-test-stack-with-WaitCondition--VEYW%2Fe498ce60-70a1-11e0-81a7-5081d0136786%2FmyWaitConditionHandle?Expires=1303976584&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE&Signature=ik1twT6hpS4cgNAw7wyOoRejVoo%3D"
```