View archived Amazon EBS snapshots

To view archival information about an archived snapshot

Use the describe-snapshot-tier-status AWS CLI command. Specify the snapshot-id filter, and for the filter value, specify the snapshot ID. Alternatively, to view all archived snapshots, omit the filter.

$ aws ec2 describe-snapshot-tier-status --filters "Name=snapshot-id, Values=snapshot_id"

The output includes the following response parameters:

Example

The following command displays information about snapshot snap-01234567890abcedf.

$ aws ec2 describe-snapshot-tier-status --filters "Name=snapshot-id, Values=snap-01234567890abcedf"

The following is the command output.

{
    "SnapshotTierStatuses": [
        {
            "Status": "completed",
            "ArchivalCompleteTime": "2021-09-15T17:33:16.147Z",
            "LastTieringProgress": 100,
            "Tags": [],
            "VolumeId": "vol-01234567890abcedf",
            "LastTieringOperationState": "archival-completed",
            "StorageTier": "archive",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "SnapshotId": "snap-01234567890abcedf",
            "LastTieringStartTime": "2021-09-15T16:44:37.574Z"
        }
    ]
}

To view archived and standard tier snapshots

Use the describe-snapshots AWS CLI command. For --snapshot-ids, specify the ID of the snapshot view.

$ aws ec2 describe-snapshots --snapshot-ids snapshot_id

For example, the following command displays information about snapshot snap-01234567890abcedf.

$ aws ec2 describe-snapshots --snapshot-ids snap-01234567890abcedf

The following is the command output. The StorageTier response parameter indicates whether the snapshot is currently archived. archive indicates that the snapshot is currently archived and stored in the archive tier, and standard indicates that the snapshot is currently not archived and that it is stored in the standard tier.

In the following example output, only Snap A is archived. Snap B and Snap C are not archived.

Additionally, the RestoreExpiryTime response parameter is returned only for snapshots that are temporarily restored from the archive. It indicates when temporarily restored snapshots are to be automatically removed from the standard tier. It is not returned for snapshots that are permanently restored.

In the following example output, Snap C is temporarily restored, and it will be automatically removed from the standard tier at 2021-09-19T21:00:00.000Z (September 19, 2021 at 21:00 UTC).

{
    "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": []
        },
        {
            "Description": "Snap B",
            "Encrypted": false,
            "VolumeId": "vol-09876543210bbbbbb",
            "State": "completed",
            "VolumeSize": 10,
            "StartTime": "2021-09-14T21:00:00.000Z",
            "Progress": "100%",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "SnapshotId": "snap-09876543210bbbbbb",
            "StorageTier": "standard",           
            "RestoreExpiryTime": "2019-09-19T21:00:00.000Z",
            "Tags": []
        },
        {
            "Description": "Snap C",
            "Encrypted": false,
            "VolumeId": "vol-054321543210cccccc",
            "State": "completed",
            "VolumeSize": 12,
            "StartTime": "2021-08-01T21:00:00.000Z",
            "Progress": "100%",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "SnapshotId": "snap-054321543210cccccc",
            "StorageTier": "standard",
            "Tags": []
        }
    ]
}

To view only snapshots that are stored in the archive tier or the standard tier

Use the describe-snapshots AWS CLI command. Include the --filter option, for the filter name, specify storage-tier, and for the filter value specify either archive or standard.

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

For example, the following command displays only archived snapshots.

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