Restore a root volume from the latest snapshot
The operating system on a root volume can become corrupted for various reasons. For example, following a patching operation, instances might fail to boot successfully due to a corrupted kernel or registry. Automating common troubleshooting tasks, like restoring a root volume from the latest snapshot taken before the patching operation, can reduce downtime and expedite your troubleshooting efforts. AWS Systems Manager Automation actions can help you accomplish this. Automation is a capability of AWS Systems Manager.
The following example AWS Systems Manager runbook performs these actions:
-
Uses the
aws:executeAwsApiautomation action to retrieve details from the root volume of the instance. -
Uses the
aws:executeScriptautomation action to retrieve the latest snapshot for the root volume. -
Uses the
aws:branchautomation action to continue the automation if a snapshot is found for the root volume.
- YAML
-
--- description: Custom Automation Troubleshooting Example schemaVersion: '0.3' assumeRole: "{{ AutomationAssumeRole }}" parameters: AutomationAssumeRole: type: String description: "(Required) The ARN of the role that allows Automation to perform the actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation uses your IAM permissions to use this runbook." default: '' InstanceId: type: String description: "(Required) The Instance Id whose root EBS volume you want to restore the latest Snapshot." default: '' mainSteps: - name: getInstanceDetails action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeInstances InstanceIds: - "{{ InstanceId }}" outputs: - Name: availabilityZone Selector: "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].Placement.AvailabilityZone" Type: String - Name: rootDeviceName Selector: "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].RootDeviceName" Type: String nextStep: getRootVolumeId - name: getRootVolumeId action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeVolumes Filters: - Name: attachment.device Values: ["{{ getInstanceDetails.rootDeviceName }}"] - Name: attachment.instance-id Values: ["{{ InstanceId }}"] outputs: - Name: rootVolumeId Selector: "$.Volumes[0].VolumeId" Type: String nextStep: getSnapshotsByStartTime - name: getSnapshotsByStartTime action: aws:executeScript timeoutSeconds: 45 onFailure: Abort inputs: Runtime: python3.8 Handler: getSnapshotsByStartTime InputPayload: rootVolumeId : "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" Script: |- def getSnapshotsByStartTime(events,context): import boto3 #Initialize client ec2 = boto3.client('ec2') rootVolumeId = events['rootVolumeId'] snapshotsQuery = ec2.describe_snapshots( Filters=[ { "Name": "volume-id", "Values": [rootVolumeId] } ] ) if not snapshotsQuery['Snapshots']: noSnapshotFoundString = "NoSnapshotFound" return { 'noSnapshotFound' : noSnapshotFoundString } else: jsonSnapshots = snapshotsQuery['Snapshots'] sortedSnapshots = sorted(jsonSnapshots, key=lambda k: k['StartTime'], reverse=True) latestSortedSnapshotId = sortedSnapshots[0]['SnapshotId'] return { 'latestSnapshotId' : latestSortedSnapshotId } outputs: - Name: Payload Selector: $.Payload Type: StringMap - Name: latestSnapshotId Selector: $.Payload.latestSnapshotId Type: String - Name: noSnapshotFound Selector: $.Payload.noSnapshotFound Type: String nextStep: branchFromResults - name: branchFromResults action: aws:branch onFailure: Abort inputs: Choices: - NextStep: createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot Not: Variable: "{{ getSnapshotsByStartTime.noSnapshotFound }}" StringEquals: "NoSnapshotFound" isEnd: true - name: createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: CreateVolume AvailabilityZone: "{{ getInstanceDetails.availabilityZone }}" SnapshotId: "{{ getSnapshotsByStartTime.latestSnapshotId }}" outputs: - Name: newRootVolumeId Selector: "$.VolumeId" Type: String nextStep: stopInstance - name: stopInstance action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: StopInstances InstanceIds: - "{{ InstanceId }}" nextStep: verifyVolumeAvailability - name: verifyVolumeAvailability action: aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty timeoutSeconds: 120 inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeVolumes VolumeIds: - "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" PropertySelector: "$.Volumes[0].State" DesiredValues: - "available" nextStep: verifyInstanceStopped - name: verifyInstanceStopped action: aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty timeoutSeconds: 120 inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeInstances InstanceIds: - "{{ InstanceId }}" PropertySelector: "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].State.Name" DesiredValues: - "stopped" nextStep: detachRootVolume - name: detachRootVolume action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DetachVolume VolumeId: "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" nextStep: verifyRootVolumeDetached - name: verifyRootVolumeDetached action: aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty timeoutSeconds: 30 inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeVolumes VolumeIds: - "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" PropertySelector: "$.Volumes[0].State" DesiredValues: - "available" nextStep: attachNewRootVolume - name: attachNewRootVolume action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: AttachVolume Device: "{{ getInstanceDetails.rootDeviceName }}" InstanceId: "{{ InstanceId }}" VolumeId: "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" nextStep: verifyNewRootVolumeAttached - name: verifyNewRootVolumeAttached action: aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty timeoutSeconds: 30 inputs: Service: ec2 Api: DescribeVolumes VolumeIds: - "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" PropertySelector: "$.Volumes[0].Attachments[0].State" DesiredValues: - "attached" nextStep: startInstance - name: startInstance action: aws:executeAwsApi onFailure: Abort inputs: Service: ec2 Api: StartInstances InstanceIds: - "{{ InstanceId }}" - JSON
-
{ "description": "Custom Automation Troubleshooting Example", "schemaVersion": "0.3", "assumeRole": "{{ AutomationAssumeRole }}", "parameters": { "AutomationAssumeRole": { "type": "String", "description": "(Required) The ARN of the role that allows Automation to perform the actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation uses your IAM permissions to run this runbook.", "default": "" }, "InstanceId": { "type": "String", "description": "(Required) The Instance Id whose root EBS volume you want to restore the latest Snapshot.", "default": "" } }, "mainSteps": [ { "name": "getInstanceDetails", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeInstances", "InstanceIds": [ "{{ InstanceId }}" ] }, "outputs": [ { "Name": "availabilityZone", "Selector": "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].Placement.AvailabilityZone", "Type": "String" }, { "Name": "rootDeviceName", "Selector": "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].RootDeviceName", "Type": "String" } ], "nextStep": "getRootVolumeId" }, { "name": "getRootVolumeId", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeVolumes", "Filters": [ { "Name": "attachment.device", "Values": [ "{{ getInstanceDetails.rootDeviceName }}" ] }, { "Name": "attachment.instance-id", "Values": [ "{{ InstanceId }}" ] } ] }, "outputs": [ { "Name": "rootVolumeId", "Selector": "$.Volumes[0].VolumeId", "Type": "String" } ], "nextStep": "getSnapshotsByStartTime" }, { "name": "getSnapshotsByStartTime", "action": "aws:executeScript", "timeoutSeconds": 45, "onFailure": "Continue", "inputs": { "Runtime": "python3.8", "Handler": "getSnapshotsByStartTime", "InputPayload": { "rootVolumeId": "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" }, "Attachment": "getSnapshotsByStartTime.py" }, "outputs": [ { "Name": "Payload", "Selector": "$.Payload", "Type": "StringMap" }, { "Name": "latestSnapshotId", "Selector": "$.Payload.latestSnapshotId", "Type": "String" }, { "Name": "noSnapshotFound", "Selector": "$.Payload.noSnapshotFound", "Type": "String" } ], "nextStep": "branchFromResults" }, { "name": "branchFromResults", "action": "aws:branch", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Choices": [ { "NextStep": "createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot", "Not": { "Variable": "{{ getSnapshotsByStartTime.noSnapshotFound }}", "StringEquals": "NoSnapshotFound" } } ] }, "isEnd": true }, { "name": "createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "CreateVolume", "AvailabilityZone": "{{ getInstanceDetails.availabilityZone }}", "SnapshotId": "{{ getSnapshotsByStartTime.latestSnapshotId }}" }, "outputs": [ { "Name": "newRootVolumeId", "Selector": "$.VolumeId", "Type": "String" } ], "nextStep": "stopInstance" }, { "name": "stopInstance", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "StopInstances", "InstanceIds": [ "{{ InstanceId }}" ] }, "nextStep": "verifyVolumeAvailability" }, { "name": "verifyVolumeAvailability", "action": "aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty", "timeoutSeconds": 120, "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeVolumes", "VolumeIds": [ "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" ], "PropertySelector": "$.Volumes[0].State", "DesiredValues": [ "available" ] }, "nextStep": "verifyInstanceStopped" }, { "name": "verifyInstanceStopped", "action": "aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty", "timeoutSeconds": 120, "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeInstances", "InstanceIds": [ "{{ InstanceId }}" ], "PropertySelector": "$.Reservations[0].Instances[0].State.Name", "DesiredValues": [ "stopped" ] }, "nextStep": "detachRootVolume" }, { "name": "detachRootVolume", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DetachVolume", "VolumeId": "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" }, "nextStep": "verifyRootVolumeDetached" }, { "name": "verifyRootVolumeDetached", "action": "aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty", "timeoutSeconds": 30, "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeVolumes", "VolumeIds": [ "{{ getRootVolumeId.rootVolumeId }}" ], "PropertySelector": "$.Volumes[0].State", "DesiredValues": [ "available" ] }, "nextStep": "attachNewRootVolume" }, { "name": "attachNewRootVolume", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "AttachVolume", "Device": "{{ getInstanceDetails.rootDeviceName }}", "InstanceId": "{{ InstanceId }}", "VolumeId": "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" }, "nextStep": "verifyNewRootVolumeAttached" }, { "name": "verifyNewRootVolumeAttached", "action": "aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty", "timeoutSeconds": 30, "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "DescribeVolumes", "VolumeIds": [ "{{ createNewRootVolumeFromSnapshot.newRootVolumeId }}" ], "PropertySelector": "$.Volumes[0].Attachments[0].State", "DesiredValues": [ "attached" ] }, "nextStep": "startInstance" }, { "name": "startInstance", "action": "aws:executeAwsApi", "onFailure": "Abort", "inputs": { "Service": "ec2", "Api": "StartInstances", "InstanceIds": [ "{{ InstanceId }}" ] } } ], "files": { "getSnapshotsByStartTime.py": { "checksums": { "sha256": "sampleETagValue" } } } }
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