# Run EC2Rescue commands on an Amazon EC2 Linux instance
<a name="ec2rl_working"></a>

EC2Rescue is a command line tool. After you have installed EC2Rescue on your Linux instance, you can get general help on how to use the tool by running `./ec2rl help`. You can view the available modules by running `./ec2rl list`, and you can get help on a specific module by running `./ec2rl help module_name`.

The following are common tasks you can perform to get started using this tool.

**Topics**
+ [Run EC2Rescue modules](#ec2rl_running_module)
+ [Upload the EC2Rescue module results](#ec2rl_uploading_results)
+ [Create backups of an Amazon EC2 Linux instance](#ec2rl_creating_backups)

## Run EC2Rescue modules
<a name="ec2rl_running_module"></a>

**To run all EC2Rescue modules**  
Use the **./ec2rl run** command without specifying any additional parameters. Some modules require root access. If you are not a root user, use **sudo** when you run the command.

```
./ec2rl run
```

**To run a specific EC2Rescue module**  
Use the **./ec2rl run** command and for `--only-modules`, specify the name of the module to run. Some modules require *arguments* to use them.

```
./ec2rl run --only-modules=module_name --arguments
```

For example, to run the **dig** module to query the `amazon.com` domain, use the following command.

```
./ec2rl run --only-modules=dig --domain=amazon.com
```

**To view the results of an EC2Rescue module**  
Run the module then view the log file in `cat /var/tmp/ec2rl/logfile_location`. For example, the log file for the **dig** module can be found in the following location:

```
cat /var/tmp/ec2rl/timestamp/mod_out/run/dig.log
```

## Upload the EC2Rescue module results
<a name="ec2rl_uploading_results"></a>

If Support has requested the results for a EC2Rescue module, you can upload the log file using the EC2Rescue tool. You can upload the results either to a location provided by Support or to an Amazon S3 bucket that you own.

**To upload results to a location provided by Support**  
Use the **./ec2rl upload** command. For `--upload-directory`, specify the location of the log file. For `--support-url`, specify the URL provided by Support.

```
./ec2rl upload --upload-directory=/var/tmp/ec2rl/logfile_location --support-url="url_provided_by_aws_support"
```

**To upload results to an Amazon S3 bucket**  
Use the **./ec2rl upload** command. For `--upload-directory`, specify the location of the log file. For `--presigned-url`, specify a presigned URL for the S3 bucket. For more information about generating pre-signed URLs for Amazon S3, see [Uploading Objects Using Pre-Signed URLs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/PresignedUrlUploadObject.html).

```
./ec2rl upload --upload-directory=/var/tmp/ec2rl/logfile_location --presigned-url="presigned_s3_url"
```

## Create backups of an Amazon EC2 Linux instance
<a name="ec2rl_creating_backups"></a>

You can use EC2Rescue to backup your Linux instance by creating an AMI or by creating snapshots of it's attached volumes.

**To create an AMI**  
Use the `./ec2rl run` command and for --`backup`, specify `ami`.

```
./ec2rl run --backup=ami
```

**To create multi-volume snapshots of all attached volumes**  
Use the `./ec2rl run` command and for --`backup`, specify `allvolumes`.

```
./ec2rl run --backup=allvolumes
```

**To create a snapshot of a specific attached volume**  
Use the `./ec2rl run` command and for --`backup`, specify the ID of the volume to back up.

```
./ec2rl run --backup=vol-01234567890abcdef
```