Overview
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is AWS's compute service – virtual machines, storage volumes, networking. The Automize AWS EC2 connector covers instance lifecycle, EBS snapshots/volumes, AMI listings, VPC + subnet + security group + key pair queries, and Elastic IPs.
- Regions: EC2 is regional. Instances + volumes + AMIs all live in one region. Cross-region operations need separate connections.
- Plans: Pay-per-instance-hour + storage. Free tier 750 hrs/month of t2.micro for new accounts.
Setting up the connection
Auth type: aws_sigv4.
- AWS Console → IAM → user with programmatic access.
- Attach AmazonEC2FullAccess or scope to specific actions.
- In Automize, open Settings → Connectors → AWS EC2 → Add connection. Paste keys + region.
Find your credentials at https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home.
Rate limits
Per-API rate limits – Describe-* APIs cap around 5-20 TPS per region. Mutating APIs lower. Connector retries Throttling.
Data model
EC2 primitives:
Region ─┬─ VPCs ─── Subnets ─── Instances ─┬─ EBS Volumes ─── Snapshots
│ ├─ Security Groups
│ └─ Key Pairs (SSH)
├─ AMIs (machine images)
└─ Elastic IPsAvailable operations
18 operations available. Click any row to jump to its detail.
| Operation | Category | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Allocate Address | General | Allocate an Elastic IP |
| Create Snapshot | General | Create an EBS snapshot |
| Create Tags | General | Add tags to resources |
| Describe Images | General | List AMIs |
| Describe Instance Status | General | Get instance status checks |
| Describe Instances | General | List EC2 instances |
| Describe Key Pairs | General | List SSH key pairs |
| Describe Security Groups | General | List security groups |
| Describe Snapshots | General | List EBS snapshots |
| Describe Subnets | General | List subnets |
| Describe Volumes | General | List EBS volumes |
| Describe VPCs | General | List VPCs |
| Reboot Instances | General | Reboot instances |
| Release Address | General | Release an Elastic IP |
| Run Instances | General | Launch new instances |
| Start Instances | General | Start stopped instances |
| Stop Instances | General | Stop running instances |
| Terminate Instances | General | Terminate instances |
Operations
Allocate Address
Allocate an Elastic IP
No input parameters.
Tips
- Allocates an Elastic IP. Charged when not associated with a running instance (~$0.005/hr).
Create Snapshot
Create an EBS snapshot
No input parameters.
Tips
- VolumeId + Description. Async – completes in background.
Create Tags
Add tags to resources
No input parameters.
Tips
- Resources[] + Tags[]. Applies to most EC2 resource types (instances, volumes, AMIs).
Describe Images
List AMIs
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by Owners (self, amazon, aws-marketplace, or AWS account IDs).
- ImageIds[] to fetch specific AMIs.
Describe Instance Status
Get instance status checks
No input parameters.
Tips
- Returns health checks + scheduled events. Use for monitoring instance health vs Describe Instances which gives state only.
Describe Instances
List EC2 instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by Filters[]: {Name: 'tag:Environment', Values: ['prod']}, {Name: 'instance-state-name', Values: ['running']}.
- Returns Reservations[] which group instances launched together.
Describe Key Pairs
List SSH key pairs
No input parameters.
Tips
- SSH key pairs registered to your account. Returns fingerprints + names.
Describe Security Groups
List security groups
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by VpcId or GroupIds.
Describe Snapshots
List EBS snapshots
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by OwnerIds[] (self for your own snapshots).
Describe Subnets
List subnets
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by VpcId.
Describe Volumes
List EBS volumes
No input parameters.
Tips
- EBS volumes. Filter by state, instance-id.
Describe VPCs
List VPCs
No input parameters.
Tips
- Returns VPCs in this region.
Reboot Instances
Reboot instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- Soft reboot. Preserves IP + storage. ~minute downtime.
Release Address
Release an Elastic IP
No input parameters.
Tips
- Release back to AWS pool. Free, but you can't get the same IP back.
Run Instances
Launch new instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- ImageId + InstanceType + MinCount/MaxCount required.
- UserData: base64-encoded boot script.
- TagSpecifications applies tags at launch.
Start Instances
Start stopped instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- Start a stopped instance. InstanceIds[] up to 100.
- Public IP changes on restart unless Elastic IP is associated.
Stop Instances
Stop running instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- Stops + retains EBS data. Continues to incur storage costs.
- Hibernate=true preserves RAM (requires hibernation-enabled AMI + encrypted volumes).
Terminate Instances
Terminate instances
No input parameters.
Tips
- PERMANENT. Detached EBS volumes survive (if DeleteOnTermination=false).
FAQ
- Why does Stop Instance keep billing me?
- Stopped instances don't bill for compute, but EBS volumes still cost storage. To stop all costs, Terminate + delete volumes.
- Spot vs On-Demand?
- Spot is 60-90% cheaper but can be interrupted. Use Run Instances with InstanceMarketOptions: {MarketType:'spot'} for spot. Production apps should be spot-fault-tolerant.
- Instance Connect / Session Manager?
- Modern replacement for SSH key pair access. Configure in IAM + Systems Manager. Not exposed in this connector – use AWS CLI directly.