ImportImage - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Request ParametersResponse ElementsErrorsSee Also

ImportImage

Note

To import your virtual machines (VMs) with a console-based experience, you can use the Import virtual machine images to AWS template in the Migration Hub Orchestrator console. For more information, see the AWS Migration Hub Orchestrator User Guide.

Import single or multi-volume disk images or EBS snapshots into an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).

Important

AWS VM Import/Export strongly recommends specifying a value for either the --license-type or --usage-operation parameter when you create a new VM Import task. This ensures your operating system is licensed appropriately and your billing is optimized.

For more information, see Importing a VM as an image using VM Import/Export in the VM Import/Export User Guide.

Request Parameters

The following parameters are for this specific action. For more information about required and optional parameters that are common to all actions, see Common Query Parameters.

Architecture

The architecture of the virtual machine.

Valid values: i386 | x86_64

Type: String

Required: No

BootMode

The boot mode of the virtual machine.

Note

The uefi-preferred boot mode isn't supported for importing images. For more information, see Boot modes in the VM Import/Export User Guide.

Type: String

Valid Values: legacy-bios | uefi | uefi-preferred

Required: No

ClientData

The client-specific data.

Type: ClientData object

Required: No

ClientToken

The token to enable idempotency for VM import requests.

Type: String

Required: No

Description

A description string for the import image task.

Type: String

Required: No

DiskContainer.N

Information about the disk containers.

Type: Array of ImageDiskContainer objects

Required: No

DryRun

Checks whether you have the required permissions for the action, without actually making the request, and provides an error response. If you have the required permissions, the error response is DryRunOperation. Otherwise, it is UnauthorizedOperation.

Type: Boolean

Required: No

Encrypted

Specifies whether the destination AMI of the imported image should be encrypted. The default KMS key for EBS is used unless you specify a non-default KMS key using KmsKeyId. For more information, see Amazon EBS Encryption in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

Type: Boolean

Required: No

Hypervisor

The target hypervisor platform.

Valid values: xen

Type: String

Required: No

KmsKeyId

An identifier for the symmetric KMS key to use when creating the encrypted AMI. This parameter is only required if you want to use a non-default KMS key; if this parameter is not specified, the default KMS key for EBS is used. If a KmsKeyId is specified, the Encrypted flag must also be set.

The KMS key identifier may be provided in any of the following formats:

  • Key ID

  • Key alias

  • ARN using key ID. The ID ARN contains the arn:aws:kms namespace, followed by the Region of the key, the AWS account ID of the key owner, the key namespace, and then the key ID. For example, arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:012345678910:key/abcd1234-a123-456a-a12b-a123b4cd56ef.

  • ARN using key alias. The alias ARN contains the arn:aws:kms namespace, followed by the Region of the key, the AWS account ID of the key owner, the alias namespace, and then the key alias. For example, arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:012345678910:alias/ExampleAlias.

AWS parses KmsKeyId asynchronously, meaning that the action you call may appear to complete even though you provided an invalid identifier. This action will eventually report failure.

The specified KMS key must exist in the Region that the AMI is being copied to.

Amazon EBS does not support asymmetric KMS keys.

Type: String

Required: No

LicenseSpecifications.N

The ARNs of the license configurations.

Type: Array of ImportImageLicenseConfigurationRequest objects

Required: No

LicenseType

The license type to be used for the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) after importing.

Specify AWS to replace the source-system license with an AWS license or BYOL to retain the source-system license. Leaving this parameter undefined is the same as choosing AWS when importing a Windows Server operating system, and the same as choosing BYOL when importing a Windows client operating system (such as Windows 10) or a Linux operating system.

To use BYOL, you must have existing licenses with rights to use these licenses in a third party cloud, such as AWS. For more information, see Prerequisites in the VM Import/Export User Guide.

Type: String

Required: No

Platform

The operating system of the virtual machine. If you import a VM that is compatible with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) using an EBS snapshot, you must specify a value for the platform.

Valid values: Windows | Linux

Type: String

Required: No

RoleName

The name of the role to use when not using the default role, 'vmimport'.

Type: String

Required: No

TagSpecification.N

The tags to apply to the import image task during creation.

Type: Array of TagSpecification objects

Required: No

UsageOperation

The usage operation value. For more information, see Licensing options in the VM Import/Export User Guide.

Type: String

Required: No

Response Elements

The following elements are returned by the service.

architecture

The architecture of the virtual machine.

Type: String

description

A description of the import task.

Type: String

encrypted

Indicates whether the AMI is encrypted.

Type: Boolean

hypervisor

The target hypervisor of the import task.

Type: String

imageId

The ID of the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) created by the import task.

Type: String

importTaskId

The task ID of the import image task.

Type: String

kmsKeyId

The identifier for the symmetric KMS key that was used to create the encrypted AMI.

Type: String

licenseSpecifications

The ARNs of the license configurations.

Type: Array of ImportImageLicenseConfigurationResponse objects

licenseType

The license type of the virtual machine.

Type: String

platform

The operating system of the virtual machine.

Type: String

progress

The progress of the task.

Type: String

requestId

The ID of the request.

Type: String

snapshotDetailSet

Information about the snapshots.

Type: Array of SnapshotDetail objects

status

A brief status of the task.

Type: String

statusMessage

A detailed status message of the import task.

Type: String

tagSet

Any tags assigned to the import image task.

Type: Array of Tag objects

usageOperation

The usage operation value.

Type: String

Errors

For information about the errors that are common to all actions, see Common client error codes.

See Also

For more information about using this API in one of the language-specific AWS SDKs, see the following: