Examples for creating and managing launch templates with the AWS CLI

You can create and manage launch templates through the AWS Management Console, AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), or SDKs. This section shows you examples of creating and managing launch templates for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling from the AWS CLI.

Example usage

{
    "LaunchTemplateName": "my-template-for-auto-scaling",
    "VersionDescription": "test description",
    "LaunchTemplateData": {
        "ImageId": "ami-04d5cc9b88example",
        "InstanceType": "t2.micro",
        "SecurityGroupIds": [
            "sg-903004f88example"
        ], 
        "KeyName": "MyKeyPair",
        "Monitoring": {
            "Enabled": true
        },
        "Placement": {
            "Tenancy": "dedicated"
        },
        "CreditSpecification": {
            "CpuCredits": "unlimited"
        },
        "MetadataOptions": {
            "HttpTokens": "required",
            "HttpPutResponseHopLimit": 1,
            "HttpEndpoint": "enabled"
        }
    }
}

Create a basic launch template

To create a basic launch template, use the create-launch-template command as follows, with these modifications:

This example creates a launch template with the name my-template-for-auto-scaling. If the instances created by this launch template are launched in a default VPC, they receive a public IP address by default. If the instances are launched in a nondefault VPC, they do not receive a public IP address by default.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

For more information about quoting JSON-formatted parameters, see Using quotation marks with strings in the AWS CLI in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

Alternatively, you can specify the JSON-formatted parameters in a configuration file.

The following example creates a basic launch template, referencing a configuration file for launch template parameter values.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data file://config.json

Contents of config.json:

{ 
    "ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example",
    "InstanceType":"t2.micro"
}

Specify tags that tag instances at launch

The following example adds a tag (for example, purpose=webserver) to instances at launch.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"TagSpecifications":[{"ResourceType":"instance","Tags":[{"Key":"purpose","Value":"webserver"}]}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Specify an IAM role to pass to instances

The following example specifies the name of the instance profile associated with the IAM role to pass to instances at launch. For more information, see IAM role for applications that run on Amazon EC2 instances.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
--launch-template-data '{"IamInstanceProfile":{"Name":"my-instance-profile"},"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Assign public IP addresses

The following create-launch-template example configures the launch template to assign public addresses to instances launched in a nondefault VPC.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"NetworkInterfaces":[{"DeviceIndex":0,"AssociatePublicIpAddress":true,"Groups":["sg-903004f88example"],"DeleteOnTermination":true}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Specify a user data script that configures instances at launch

The following example specifies a user data script as a base64-encoded string that configures instances at launch. The create-launch-template command requires base64-encoded user data.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
--launch-template-data '{"UserData":"IyEvYmluL2Jhc...","ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Specify a block device mapping

The following create-launch-template example creates a launch template with a block device mapping: a 22-gigabyte EBS volume mapped to /dev/xvdcz. The /dev/xvdcz volume uses the General Purpose SSD (gp2) volume type and is deleted when terminating the instance it is attached to.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"BlockDeviceMappings":[{"DeviceName":"/dev/xvdcz","Ebs":{"VolumeSize":22,"VolumeType":"gp2","DeleteOnTermination":true}}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Specify Dedicated Hosts to bring software licenses from external vendors

If you specify host tenancy, you can specify a host resource group and a License Manager license configuration to bring eligible software licenses from external vendors. Then, you can use the licenses on EC2 instances by using the following create-launch-template command.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"Placement":{"Tenancy":"host","HostResourceGroupArn":"arn"},"LicenseSpecifications":[{"LicenseConfigurationArn":"arn"}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Specify an existing network interface

The following create-launch-template example configures the primary network interface to use an existing network interface.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"NetworkInterfaces":[{"DeviceIndex":0,"NetworkInterfaceId":"eni-b9a5ac93","DeleteOnTermination":false}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

Create multiple network interfaces

The following create-launch-template example adds a secondary network interface. The primary network interface has a device index of 0, and the secondary network interface has a device index of 1.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"NetworkInterfaces":[{"DeviceIndex":0,"Groups":["sg-903004f88example"],"DeleteOnTermination":true},{"DeviceIndex":1,"Groups":["sg-903004f88example"],"DeleteOnTermination":true}],"ImageId":"ami-04d5cc9b88example","InstanceType":"t2.micro"}'

If you use an instance type that supports multiple network cards and Elastic Fabric Adapters (EFAs), you can add a secondary interface to a secondary network card and enable EFA by using the following create-launch-template command. For more information, see Adding an EFA to a launch template in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name my-template-for-auto-scaling --version-description version1 \
  --launch-template-data '{"NetworkInterfaces":[{"NetworkCardIndex":0,"DeviceIndex":0,"Groups":["sg-7c2270198example"],"InterfaceType":"efa","DeleteOnTermination":true},{"NetworkCardIndex":1,"DeviceIndex":1,"Groups":["sg-7c2270198example"],"InterfaceType":"efa","DeleteOnTermination":true}],"ImageId":"ami-09d95fab7fexample","InstanceType":"p4d.24xlarge"}'

Manage your launch templates

The AWS CLI includes several other commands that help you manage your launch templates.

List and describe your launch templates

You can use two AWS CLI commands to get information about your launch templates: describe-launch-templates and describe-launch-template-versions.

The describe-launch-templates command enables you to get a list of any of the launch templates that you have created. You can use an option to filter results on a launch template name, create time, tag key, or tag key-value combination. This command returns summary information about any of your launch templates, including the launch template identifier, latest version, and default version.

The following example provides a summary of the specified launch template.

aws ec2 describe-launch-templates --launch-template-names my-template-for-auto-scaling

The following is an example response.

{
    "LaunchTemplates": [
        {
            "LaunchTemplateId": "lt-068f72b729example",
            "LaunchTemplateName": "my-template-for-auto-scaling",
            "CreateTime": "2020-02-28T19:52:27.000Z",
            "CreatedBy": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/Bob",
            "DefaultVersionNumber": 1,
            "LatestVersionNumber": 1
        }
    ]
}

If you don't use the --launch-template-names option to limit the output to one launch template, information on all of your launch templates is returned.

The following describe-launch-template-versions command provides information describing the versions of the specified launch template.

aws ec2 describe-launch-template-versions --launch-template-id lt-068f72b729example

The following is an example response.

{
    "LaunchTemplateVersions": [
        {
            "VersionDescription": "version1",
            "LaunchTemplateId": "lt-068f72b729example",
            "LaunchTemplateName": "my-template-for-auto-scaling",
            "VersionNumber": 1,
            "CreatedBy": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/Bob",
            "LaunchTemplateData": {
                "TagSpecifications": [
                    {
                        "ResourceType": "instance",
                        "Tags": [
                            {
                                "Key": "purpose",
                                "Value": "webserver"
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ],
                "ImageId": "ami-04d5cc9b88example",
                "InstanceType": "t2.micro",
                "NetworkInterfaces": [
                    {
                        "DeviceIndex": 0,
                        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
                        "Groups": [
                            "sg-903004f88example"
                        ],
                        "AssociatePublicIpAddress": true
                    }
                ]
            },
            "DefaultVersion": true,
            "CreateTime": "2020-02-28T19:52:27.000Z"
        }
    ]
}

Create a launch template version

The following create-launch-template-version command creates a new launch template version based on version 1 of the launch template and specifies a different AMI ID.

aws ec2 create-launch-template-version --launch-template-id lt-068f72b729example --version-description version2 \
  --source-version 1 --launch-template-data "ImageId=ami-c998b6b2example"

To set the default version of the launch template, use the modify-launch-template command.

Delete a launch template version

The following delete-launch-template-versions command deletes the specified launch template version.

aws ec2 delete-launch-template-versions --launch-template-id lt-068f72b729example --versions 1

Delete a launch template

If you no longer require a launch template, you can delete it using the following delete-launch-template command. Deleting a launch template deletes all of its versions.

aws ec2 delete-launch-template --launch-template-id lt-068f72b729example

Update an Auto Scaling group to use a launch template

You can use the update-auto-scaling-group command to add a launch template to an existing Auto Scaling group.

Update an Auto Scaling group to use the latest version of a launch template

The following update-auto-scaling-group command updates the specified Auto Scaling group to use the latest version of the specified launch template.

aws autoscaling update-auto-scaling-group --auto-scaling-group-name my-asg \
  --launch-template LaunchTemplateId=lt-068f72b729example,Version='$Latest'

Update an Auto Scaling group to use a specific version of a launch template

The following update-auto-scaling-group command updates the specified Auto Scaling group to use a specific version of the specified launch template.

aws autoscaling update-auto-scaling-group --auto-scaling-group-name my-asg \
  --launch-template LaunchTemplateName=my-template-for-auto-scaling,Version='2'