---
layout: docs
sidebar_current: docs-builders-amazon-ebsbacked
page_title: Amazon EBS - Builders
description: |-
  The amazon-ebs Packer builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS
  volumes for use in EC2. For more information on the difference between
  EBS-backed instances and instance-store backed instances, see the storage for
  the root device section in the EC2 documentation.
---

# AMI Builder (EBS backed)

Type: `amazon-ebs`

The `amazon-ebs` Packer builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS
volumes for use in [EC2](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/). For more information on
the difference between EBS-backed instances and instance-store backed instances,
see the ["storage for the root device" section in the EC2
documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ComponentsAMIs.html#storage-for-the-root-device).

This builder builds an AMI by launching an EC2 instance from a source AMI,
provisioning that running machine, and then creating an AMI from that machine.
This is all done in your own AWS account. The builder will create temporary
keypairs, security group rules, etc. that provide it temporary access to the
instance while the image is being created. This simplifies configuration quite a
bit.

The builder does *not* manage AMIs. Once it creates an AMI and stores it in your
account, it is up to you to use, delete, etc. the AMI.

-> **Note:** Temporary resources are, by default, all created with the prefix
`packer`. This can be useful if you want to restrict the security groups and
key pairs Packer is able to operate on.

## Configuration Reference

There are many configuration options available for the builder. They are
segmented below into two categories: required and optional parameters. Within
each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.

In addition to the options listed here, a
[communicator](/docs/templates/communicator.html) can be configured for this
builder.

### Required:

- `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn
  how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials)

- `ami_name` (string) - The name of the resulting AMI that will appear when
  managing AMIs in the AWS console or via APIs. This must be unique. To help
  make this unique, use a function like `timestamp` (see [template
  engine](/docs/templates/engine.html) for more info)

- `instance_type` (string) - The EC2 instance type to use while building the
  AMI, such as `m1.small`.

- `region` (string) - The name of the region, such as `us-east-1`, in which to
  launch the EC2 instance to create the AMI.

- `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn
  how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials)

- `source_ami` (string) - The initial AMI used as a base for the newly
  created machine. `source_ami_filter` may be used instead to populate this
  automatically.

### Optional:

- `ami_block_device_mappings` (array of block device mappings) - Add one or
  more [block device mappings](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/block-device-mapping-concepts.html)
  to the AMI. These will be attached when booting a new instance from your
  AMI. To add a block device during the Packer build see
  `launch_block_device_mappings` below. Your options here may vary depending
  on the type of VM you use. The block device mappings allow for the following
  configuration:

  - `delete_on_termination` (boolean) - Indicates whether the EBS volume is
  deleted on instance termination. Default `false`. **NOTE**: If this
  value is not explicitly set to `true` and volumes are not cleaned up by
  an alternative method, additional volumes will accumulate after
  every build.

  - `device_name` (string) - The device name exposed to the instance (for
   example, `/dev/sdh` or `xvdh`). Required when specifying `volume_size`.

  - `encrypted` (boolean) - Indicates whether to encrypt the volume or not

  - `iops` (integer) - The number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) that the
  volume supports. See the documentation on
  [IOPs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_EbsBlockDevice.html)
  for more information

  - `no_device` (boolean) - Suppresses the specified device included in the
  block device mapping of the AMI

  - `snapshot_id` (string) - The ID of the snapshot

  - `virtual_name` (string) - The virtual device name. See the documentation on
  [Block Device
  Mapping](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_BlockDeviceMapping.html)
  for more information

  - `volume_size` (integer) - The size of the volume, in GiB. Required if not
  specifying a `snapshot_id`

  - `volume_type` (string) - The volume type. `gp2` for General Purpose (SSD)
  volumes, `io1` for Provisioned IOPS (SSD) volumes, and `standard` for Magnetic
  volumes

- `ami_description` (string) - The description to set for the
  resulting AMI(s). By default this description is empty. This is a
  [template engine](/docs/templates/engine.html)
  where the `SourceAMI` variable is replaced with the source AMI ID and
  `BuildRegion` variable is replaced with the value of `region`.

- `ami_groups` (array of strings) - A list of groups that have access to
  launch the resulting AMI(s). By default no groups have permission to launch
  the AMI. `all` will make the AMI publicly accessible. AWS currently doesn't
  accept any value other than `all`.

- `ami_product_codes` (array of strings) - A list of product codes to
  associate with the AMI. By default no product codes are associated with
  the AMI.

- `ami_regions` (array of strings) - A list of regions to copy the AMI to.
  Tags and attributes are copied along with the AMI. AMI copying takes time
  depending on the size of the AMI, but will generally take many minutes.

- `ami_users` (array of strings) - A list of account IDs that have access to
  launch the resulting AMI(s). By default no additional users other than the
  user creating the AMI has permissions to launch it.

- `ami_virtualization_type` (string) - The type of virtualization for the AMI
  you are building. This option must match the supported virtualization
  type of `source_ami`. Can be `paravirtual` or `hvm`.

- `associate_public_ip_address` (boolean) - If using a non-default VPC, public
  IP addresses are not provided by default. If this is toggled, your new
  instance will get a Public IP.

- `availability_zone` (string) - Destination availability zone to launch
  instance in. Leave this empty to allow Amazon to auto-assign.

- `disable_stop_instance` (boolean) - Packer normally stops the build instance
  after all provisioners have run. For Windows instances, it is sometimes
  desirable to [run Sysprep](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/ami-create-standard.html)
  which will stop the instance for you. If this is set to true, Packer *will not*
  stop the instance and will wait for you to stop it manually. You can do this
  with a [windows-shell provisioner](https://www.packer.io/docs/provisioners/windows-shell.html).

    ```json
    {
      "type": "windows-shell",
      "inline": ["\"c:\\Program Files\\Amazon\\Ec2ConfigService\\ec2config.exe\" -sysprep"]
    }
    ```

- `ebs_optimized` (boolean) - Mark instance as [EBS
  Optimized](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSOptimized.html).
  Default `false`.

- `enhanced_networking` (boolean) - Enable enhanced
  networking (SriovNetSupport and ENA) on HVM-compatible AMIs. If true, add
  `ec2:ModifyInstanceAttribute` to your AWS IAM policy. Note: you must make
  sure enhanced networking is enabled on your instance. See [Amazon's
  documentation on enabling enhanced networking](
  https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/enhanced-networking.html#enabling_enhanced_networking)

- `force_deregister` (boolean) - Force Packer to first deregister an existing
  AMI if one with the same name already exists. Default `false`.

- `force_delete_snapshot` (boolean) - Force Packer to delete snapshots associated with
  AMIs, which have been deregistered by `force_deregister`. Default `false`.

- `encrypt_boot` (boolean) - Instruct packer to automatically create a copy of the
  AMI with an encrypted boot volume (discarding the initial unencrypted AMI in the
  process). Default `false`.

- `kms_key_id` (string) - The ID of the KMS key to use for boot volume encryption.
  This only applies to the main `region`, other regions where the AMI will be copied
  will be encrypted by the default EBS KMS key.

- `iam_instance_profile` (string) - The name of an [IAM instance
  profile](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/instance-profiles.html)
  to launch the EC2 instance with.

- `launch_block_device_mappings` (array of block device mappings) - Add one or
  more block devices before the Packer build starts. These are not necessarily
  preserved when booting from the AMI built with Packer. See
  `ami_block_device_mappings`, above, for details.

- `run_tags` (object of key/value strings) - Tags to apply to the instance
  that is *launched* to create the AMI. These tags are *not* applied to the
  resulting AMI unless they're duplicated in `tags`. This is a
  [template engine](/docs/templates/engine.html)
  where the `SourceAMI` variable is replaced with the source AMI ID and
  `BuildRegion` variable is replaced with the value of `region`.

- `run_volume_tags` (object of key/value strings) - Tags to apply to the volumes
  that are *launched* to create the AMI. These tags are *not* applied to the
  resulting AMI unless they're duplicated in `tags`. This is a
  [template engine](/docs/templates/engine.html)
  where the `SourceAMI` variable is replaced with the source AMI ID and
  `BuildRegion` variable is replaced with the value of `region`.

- `security_group_id` (string) - The ID (*not* the name) of the security group
  to assign to the instance. By default this is not set and Packer will
  automatically create a new temporary security group to allow SSH access.
  Note that if this is specified, you must be sure the security group allows
  access to the `ssh_port` given below.

- `security_group_ids` (array of strings) - A list of security groups as
  described above. Note that if this is specified, you must omit the
  `security_group_id`.

- `shutdown_behavior` (string) - Automatically terminate instances on shutdown
  in case Packer exits ungracefully. Possible values are "stop" and "terminate",
  default is `stop`.

- `skip_region_validation` (boolean) - Set to true if you want to skip
  validation of the region configuration option.  Default `false`.

- `snapshot_groups` (array of strings) - A list of groups that have access to
  create volumes from the snapshot(s). By default no groups have permission to create
  volumes form the snapshot(s). `all` will make the snapshot publicly accessible.

- `snapshot_users` (array of strings) - A list of account IDs that have access to
  create volumes from the snapshot(s). By default no additional users other than the
  user creating the AMI has permissions to create volumes from the backing snapshot(s).

- `snapshot_tags` (object of key/value strings) - Tags to apply to snapshot.
   They will override AMI tags if already applied to snapshot. This is a
  [template engine](/docs/templates/engine.html)
  where the `SourceAMI` variable is replaced with the source AMI ID and
  `BuildRegion` variable is replaced with the value of `region`.

- `source_ami_filter` (object) - Filters used to populate the `source_ami` field.
    Example:

    ```json
    {
      "source_ami_filter": {
        "filters": {
          "virtualization-type": "hvm",
          "name": "*ubuntu-xenial-16.04-amd64-server-*",
          "root-device-type": "ebs"
        },
        "owners": ["099720109477"],
        "most_recent": true
      }
    }
    ```

    This selects the most recent Ubuntu 16.04 HVM EBS AMI from Canonical.
    NOTE: This will fail unless *exactly* one AMI is returned. In the above
    example, `most_recent` will cause this to succeed by selecting the newest image.

    - `filters` (map of strings) - filters used to select a `source_ami`.
         NOTE: This will fail unless *exactly* one AMI is returned.
         Any filter described in the docs for [DescribeImages](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeImages.html)
         is valid.

    - `owners` (array of strings) - This scopes the AMIs to certain Amazon account IDs.
         This is helpful to limit the AMIs to a trusted third party, or to your own account.

    - `most_recent` (bool) - Selects the newest created image when true.
         This is most useful for selecting a daily distro build.

- `spot_price` (string) - The maximum hourly price to pay for a spot instance
  to create the AMI. Spot instances are a type of instance that EC2 starts
  when the current spot price is less than the maximum price you specify. Spot
  price will be updated based on available spot instance capacity and current
  spot instance requests. It may save you some costs. You can set this to
  `auto` for Packer to automatically discover the best spot price or to "0"
  to use an on demand instance (default).

- `spot_price_auto_product` (string) - Required if `spot_price` is set
  to `auto`. This tells Packer what sort of AMI you're launching to find the
  best spot price. This must be one of: `Linux/UNIX`, `SUSE Linux`, `Windows`,
  `Linux/UNIX (Amazon VPC)`, `SUSE Linux (Amazon VPC)`, `Windows (Amazon VPC)`

- `ssh_keypair_name` (string) - If specified, this is the key that will be
  used for SSH with the machine. The key must match a key pair name loaded
  up into Amazon EC2.  By default, this is blank, and Packer will
  generate a temporary keypair unless
  [`ssh_password`](/docs/templates/communicator.html#ssh_password) is used.
  [`ssh_private_key_file`](/docs/templates/communicator.html#ssh_private_key_file)
  or `ssh_agent_auth` must be specified when `ssh_keypair_name` is utilized.

- `ssh_agent_auth` (boolean) - If true, the local SSH agent will be used to
  authenticate connections to the source instance. No temporary keypair will
  be created, and the values of `ssh_password` and `ssh_private_key_file` will
  be ignored. To use this option with a key pair already configured in the source
  AMI, leave the `ssh_keypair_name` blank. To associate an existing key pair
  in AWS with the source instance, set the `ssh_keypair_name` field to the name
  of the key pair.

- `ssh_private_ip` (boolean) - If true, then SSH will always use the private
  IP if available. Also works for WinRM.

- `subnet_id` (string) - If using VPC, the ID of the subnet, such as
  `subnet-12345def`, where Packer will launch the EC2 instance. This field is
  required if you are using an non-default VPC.

- `tags` (object of key/value strings) - Tags applied to the AMI and
  relevant snapshots. This is a
  [template engine](/docs/templates/engine.html)
  where the `SourceAMI` variable is replaced with the source AMI ID and
  `BuildRegion` variable is replaced with the value of `region`.

- `temporary_key_pair_name` (string) - The name of the temporary key pair
  to generate. By default, Packer generates a name that looks like
  `packer_<UUID>`, where \<UUID\> is a 36 character unique identifier.

- `token` (string) - The access token to use. This is different from the
  access key and secret key. If you're not sure what this is, then you
  probably don't need it. This will also be read from the `AWS_SESSION_TOKEN`
  environmental variable.

- `user_data` (string) - User data to apply when launching the instance. Note
  that you need to be careful about escaping characters due to the templates
  being JSON. It is often more convenient to use `user_data_file`, instead.

- `user_data_file` (string) - Path to a file that will be used for the user
  data when launching the instance.

- `vpc_id` (string) - If launching into a VPC subnet, Packer needs the VPC ID
  in order to create a temporary security group within the VPC. Requires `subnet_id`
  to be set. If this field is left blank, Packer will try to get the VPC ID from the
  `subnet_id`.

- `windows_password_timeout` (string) - The timeout for waiting for a Windows
  password for Windows instances. Defaults to 20 minutes. Example value: `10m`

## Basic Example

Here is a basic example. You will need to provide access keys, and may need to
change the AMI IDs according to what images exist at the time the template is run:

```json
{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-fce3c696",
  "instance_type": "t2.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}"
}
```

-> **Note:** Packer can also read the access key and secret access key from
environmental variables. See the configuration reference in the section above
for more information on what environmental variables Packer will look for.

Further information on locating AMI IDs and their relationship to instance types
and regions can be found in the AWS EC2 Documentation
[for Linux](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/finding-an-ami.html)
or [for Windows](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/finding-an-ami.html).

## Accessing the Instance to Debug

If you need to access the instance to debug for some reason, run the builder
with the `-debug` flag. In debug mode, the Amazon builder will save the private
key in the current directory and will output the DNS or IP information as well.
You can use this information to access the instance as it is running.

## AMI Block Device Mappings Example

Here is an example using the optional AMI block device mappings. Our
configuration of `launch_block_device_mappings` will expand the root volume
(`/dev/sda`) to 40gb during the build (up from the default of 8gb). With
`ami_block_device_mappings` AWS will attach additional volumes `/dev/sdb` and
`/dev/sdc` when we boot a new instance of our AMI.

```json
{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-fce3c696",
  "instance_type": "t2.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}",
  "launch_block_device_mappings": [
    {
      "device_name": "/dev/sda1",
      "volume_size": 40,
      "volume_type": "gp2",
      "delete_on_termination": true
    }
  ],
  "ami_block_device_mappings": [
    {
      "device_name": "/dev/sdb",
      "virtual_name": "ephemeral0"
    },
    {
      "device_name": "/dev/sdc",
      "virtual_name": "ephemeral1"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Tag Example

Here is an example using the optional AMI tags. This will add the tags
`OS_Version` and `Release` to the finished AMI. As before, you will need to
provide your access keys, and may need to change the source AMI ID based on what
images exist when this template is run:

```json
{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-fce3c696",
  "instance_type": "t2.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}",
  "tags": {
  "OS_Version": "Ubuntu",
  "Release": "Latest"
  }
}
```

-> **Note:** Packer uses pre-built AMIs as the source for building images.
These source AMIs may include volumes that are not flagged to be destroyed on
termination of the instance building the new image. Packer will attempt to clean
up all residual volumes that are not designated by the user to remain after
termination. If you need to preserve those source volumes, you can overwrite the
termination setting by specifying `delete_on_termination=false` in the
`launch_block_device_mappings` block for the device.