Use DescribeSnapshots with an AWS SDK or CLI

Example 1: To describe a snapshot

The following describe-snapshots example describes the specified snapshot.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --snapshot-ids snap-1234567890abcdef0

Output:

{
    "Snapshots": [
        {
            "Description": "This is my snapshot",
            "Encrypted": false,
            "VolumeId": "vol-049df61146c4d7901",
            "State": "completed",
            "VolumeSize": 8,
            "StartTime": "2019-02-28T21:28:32.000Z",
            "Progress": "100%",
            "OwnerId": "012345678910",
            "SnapshotId": "snap-01234567890abcdef",
            "Tags": [
                {
                    "Key": "Stack",
                    "Value": "test"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Amazon EBS snapshots in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 2: To describe snapshots based on filters

The following describe-snapshots example uses filters to scope the results to snapshots owned by your AWS account that are in the pending state. The example uses the --query parameter to display only the snapshot IDs and the time the snapshot was started.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --owner-ids self \
    --filters Name=status,Values=pending \
    --query "Snapshots[*].{ID:SnapshotId,Time:StartTime}"

Output:

[
    {
        "ID": "snap-1234567890abcdef0",
        "Time": "2019-08-04T12:48:18.000Z"
    },
    {
        "ID": "snap-066877671789bd71b",
        "Time": "2019-08-04T02:45:16.000Z
    },
    ...
]

The following describe-snapshots example uses filters to scope the results to snapshots created from the specified volume. The example uses the --query parameter to display only the snapshot IDs.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --filters Name=volume-id,Values=049df61146c4d7901 \
    --query "Snapshots[*].[SnapshotId]" \
    --output text

Output:

snap-1234567890abcdef0
snap-08637175a712c3fb9
...

For additional examples using filters, see Listing and filtering your resources in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 3: To describe snapshots based on tags

The following describe-snapshots example uses tag filters to scope the results to snapshots that have the tag Stack=Prod.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --filters Name=tag:Stack,Values=prod

For an example of the output for describe-snapshots, see Example 1.

For additional examples using tag filters, see Working with tags in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 4: To describe snapshots based on age

The following describe-snapshots example uses JMESPath expressions to describe all snapshots created by your AWS account before the specified date. It displays only the snapshot IDs.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --owner-ids 012345678910 \
    --query "Snapshots[?(StartTime<='2020-03-31')].[SnapshotId]"

For additional examples using filters, see Listing and filtering your resources in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Example 5: To view only archived snapshots

The following describe-snapshots example lists only snapshots that are stored in the archive tier.

aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
    --filters "Name=storage-tier,Values=archive"

Output:

{
    "Snapshots": [
        {
            "Description": "Snap A",
            "Encrypted": false,
            "VolumeId": "vol-01234567890aaaaaa",
            "State": "completed",
            "VolumeSize": 8,
            "StartTime": "2021-09-07T21:00:00.000Z",
            "Progress": "100%",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "SnapshotId": "snap-01234567890aaaaaa",
            "StorageTier": "archive",
            "Tags": []
        },
    ]
}

For more information, see View archived snapshots in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

Example 1: This example describes the specified snapshot.

Get-EC2Snapshot -SnapshotId snap-12345678

Output:

DataEncryptionKeyId :
Description         : Created by CreateImage(i-1a2b3c4d) for ami-12345678 from vol-12345678
Encrypted           : False
KmsKeyId            :
OwnerAlias          :
OwnerId             : 123456789012
Progress            : 100%
SnapshotId          : snap-12345678
StartTime           : 10/23/2014 6:01:28 AM
State               : completed
StateMessage        :
Tags                : {}
VolumeId            : vol-12345678
VolumeSize          : 8

Example 2: This example describes the snapshots that have a 'Name' tag.

Get-EC2Snapshot | ? { $_.Tags.Count -gt 0 -and $_.Tags.Key -eq "Name" }

Example 3: This example describes the snapshots that have a 'Name' tag with the value 'TestValue'.

Get-EC2Snapshot | ? { $_.Tags.Count -gt 0 -and $_.Tags.Key -eq "Name" -and $_.Tags.Value -eq "TestValue" }

Example 4: This example describes all your snapshots.

Get-EC2Snapshot -Owner self

Shows the state of a snapshot.

async fn show_state(client: &Client, id: &str) -> Result<(), Error> {
    let resp = client
        .describe_snapshots()
        .filters(Filter::builder().name("snapshot-id").values(id).build())
        .send()
        .await?;

    println!(
        "State: {}",
        resp.snapshots().first().unwrap().state().unwrap().as_ref()
    );

    Ok(())
}

async fn show_snapshots(client: &Client) -> Result<(), Error> {
    // "self" represents your account ID.
    // You can list the snapshots for any account by replacing
    // "self" with that account ID.
    let resp = client.describe_snapshots().owner_ids("self").send().await?;
    let snapshots = resp.snapshots();
    let length = snapshots.len();

    for snapshot in snapshots {
        println!(
            "ID:          {}",
            snapshot.snapshot_id().unwrap_or_default()
        );
        println!(
            "Description: {}",
            snapshot.description().unwrap_or_default()
        );
        println!("State:       {}", snapshot.state().unwrap().as_ref());
        println!();
    }

    println!();
    println!("Found {} snapshot(s)", length);
    println!();

    Ok(())
}