Request Parameters Response Elements Errors Examples See Also

RunInstances

Launches the specified number of instances using an AMI for which you have permissions.

You can specify a number of options, or leave the default options. The following rules apply:

If you don't specify a subnet ID, we choose a default subnet from your default VPC for you. If you don't have a default VPC, you must specify a subnet ID in the request.
All instances have a network interface with a primary private IPv4 address. If you don't specify this address, we choose one from the IPv4 range of your subnet.
Not all instance types support IPv6 addresses. For more information, see Instance types.
If you don't specify a security group ID, we use the default security group. For more information, see Security groups.
If any of the AMIs have a product code attached for which the user has not subscribed, the request fails.

You can create a launch template, which is a resource that contains the parameters to launch an instance. When you launch an instance using RunInstances, you can specify the launch template instead of specifying the launch parameters.

To ensure faster instance launches, break up large requests into smaller batches. For example, create five separate launch requests for 100 instances each instead of one launch request for 500 instances.

An instance is ready for you to use when it's in the running state. You can check the state of your instance using DescribeInstances. You can tag instances and EBS volumes during launch, after launch, or both. For more information, see CreateTags and Tagging your Amazon EC2 resources.

Linux instances have access to the public key of the key pair at boot. You can use this key to provide secure access to the instance. Amazon EC2 public images use this feature to provide secure access without passwords. For more information, see Key pairs.

For troubleshooting, see What to do if an instance immediately terminates, and Troubleshooting connecting to your instance.

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.

AdditionalInfo

Reserved.

Type: String

Required: No

BlockDeviceMapping.N

The block device mapping, which defines the EBS volumes and instance store volumes to attach to the instance at launch. For more information, see Block device mappings in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Type: Array of BlockDeviceMapping objects

Required: No

CapacityReservationSpecification

Information about the Capacity Reservation targeting option. If you do not specify this parameter, the instance's Capacity Reservation preference defaults to open, which enables it to run in any open Capacity Reservation that has matching attributes (instance type, platform, Availability Zone).

Type: CapacityReservationSpecification object

Required: No

ClientToken

Unique, case-sensitive identifier you provide to ensure the idempotency of the request. If you do not specify a client token, a randomly generated token is used for the request to ensure idempotency.

For more information, see Ensuring Idempotency.

Constraints: Maximum 64 ASCII characters

Type: String

Required: No

CpuOptions

The CPU options for the instance. For more information, see Optimize CPU options in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Type: CpuOptionsRequest object

Required: No

CreditSpecification

The credit option for CPU usage of the burstable performance instance. Valid values are standard and unlimited. To change this attribute after launch, use ModifyInstanceCreditSpecification. For more information, see Burstable performance instances in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Default: standard (T2 instances) or unlimited (T3/T3a/T4g instances)

For T3 instances with host tenancy, only standard is supported.

Type: CreditSpecificationRequest object

Required: No

DisableApiStop

Indicates whether an instance is enabled for stop protection. For more information, see Stop protection.

Type: Boolean

Required: No

DisableApiTermination

If you set this parameter to true, you can't terminate the instance using the Amazon EC2 console, CLI, or API; otherwise, you can. To change this attribute after launch, use ModifyInstanceAttribute. Alternatively, if you set InstanceInitiatedShutdownBehavior to terminate, you can terminate the instance by running the shutdown command from the instance.

Default: false

Type: Boolean

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

EbsOptimized

Indicates whether the instance is optimized for Amazon EBS I/O. This optimization provides dedicated throughput to Amazon EBS and an optimized configuration stack to provide optimal Amazon EBS I/O performance. This optimization isn't available with all instance types. Additional usage charges apply when using an EBS-optimized instance.

Default: false

Type: Boolean

Required: No

ElasticGpuSpecification.N

An elastic GPU to associate with the instance. An Elastic GPU is a GPU resource that you can attach to your Windows instance to accelerate the graphics performance of your applications. For more information, see Amazon EC2 Elastic GPUs in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Type: Array of ElasticGpuSpecification objects

Required: No

ElasticInferenceAccelerator.N

An elastic inference accelerator to associate with the instance. Elastic inference accelerators are a resource you can attach to your Amazon EC2 instances to accelerate your Deep Learning (DL) inference workloads.

You cannot specify accelerators from different generations in the same request.

Note

Starting April 15, 2023, Amazon will not onboard new customers to Amazon Elastic Inference (EI), and will help current customers migrate their workloads to options that offer better price and performance. After April 15, 2023, new customers will not be able to launch instances with Amazon EI accelerators in Amazon SageMaker, Amazon ECS, or Amazon EC2. However, customers who have used Amazon EI at least once during the past 30-day period are considered current customers and will be able to continue using the service.

Type: Array of ElasticInferenceAccelerator objects

Required: No

EnclaveOptions

Indicates whether the instance is enabled for Amazon Nitro Enclaves. For more information, see What is Amazon Nitro Enclaves? in the Amazon Nitro Enclaves User Guide.

You can't enable Amazon Nitro Enclaves and hibernation on the same instance.

Type: EnclaveOptionsRequest object

Required: No

HibernationOptions

Indicates whether an instance is enabled for hibernation. For more information, see Hibernate your instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

You can't enable hibernation and Amazon Nitro Enclaves on the same instance.

Type: HibernationOptionsRequest object

Required: No

IamInstanceProfile

The name or Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of an IAM instance profile.

Type: IamInstanceProfileSpecification object

Required: No

ImageId

The ID of the AMI. An AMI ID is required to launch an instance and must be specified here or in a launch template.

Type: String

Required: No

InstanceInitiatedShutdownBehavior

Indicates whether an instance stops or terminates when you initiate shutdown from the instance (using the operating system command for system shutdown).

Default: stop

Type: String

Valid Values: stop | terminate

Required: No

InstanceMarketOptions

The market (purchasing) option for the instances.

Type: InstanceMarketOptionsRequest object

Required: No

InstanceType

The instance type. For more information, see Instance types in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Default: m1.small

Type: String

Required: No

Ipv6Address.N

The IPv6 addresses from the range of the subnet to associate with the primary network interface. You cannot specify this option and the option to assign a number of IPv6 addresses in the same request. You cannot specify this option if you've specified a minimum number of instances to launch.

You cannot specify this option and the network interfaces option in the same request.

Type: Array of InstanceIpv6Address objects

Required: No

Ipv6AddressCount

The number of IPv6 addresses to associate with the primary network interface. Amazon EC2 chooses the IPv6 addresses from the range of your subnet. You cannot specify this option and the option to assign specific IPv6 addresses in the same request. You can specify this option if you've specified a minimum number of instances to launch.

You cannot specify this option and the network interfaces option in the same request.

Type: Integer

Required: No

KernelId

The ID of the kernel.

Important

We recommend that you use PV-GRUB instead of kernels and RAM disks. For more information, see PV-GRUB in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Type: String

Required: No

KeyName

The name of the key pair. You can create a key pair using CreateKeyPair or ImportKeyPair.

Important

If you do not specify a key pair, you can't connect to the instance unless you choose an AMI that is configured to allow users another way to log in.

Type: String

Required: No

LaunchTemplate

The launch template to use to launch the instances. Any parameters that you specify in RunInstances override the same parameters in the launch template. You can specify either the name or ID of a launch template, but not both.

Type: LaunchTemplateSpecification object

Required: No

LicenseSpecification.N

The license configurations.

Type: Array of LicenseConfigurationRequest objects

Required: No

MaintenanceOptions

The maintenance and recovery options for the instance.

Type: InstanceMaintenanceOptionsRequest object

Required: No

MaxCount

The maximum number of instances to launch. If you specify more instances than Amazon EC2 can launch in the target Availability Zone, Amazon EC2 launches the largest possible number of instances above MinCount.

Constraints: Between 1 and the maximum number you're allowed for the specified instance type. For more information about the default limits, and how to request an increase, see How many instances can I run in Amazon EC2 in the Amazon EC2 FAQ.

Type: Integer

Required: Yes

MetadataOptions

The metadata options for the instance. For more information, see Instance metadata and user data.

Type: InstanceMetadataOptionsRequest object

Required: No

MinCount

The minimum number of instances to launch. If you specify a minimum that is more instances than Amazon EC2 can launch in the target Availability Zone, Amazon EC2 launches no instances.

Type: Integer

Required: Yes

Monitoring

Specifies whether detailed monitoring is enabled for the instance.

Type: RunInstancesMonitoringEnabled object

Required: No

NetworkInterface.N

The network interfaces to associate with the instance. If you specify a network interface, you must specify any security groups and subnets as part of the network interface.

Type: Array of InstanceNetworkInterfaceSpecification objects

Required: No

Placement

The placement for the instance.

Type: Placement object

Required: No

PrivateDnsNameOptions

The options for the instance hostname. The default values are inherited from the subnet.

Type: PrivateDnsNameOptionsRequest object

Required: No

PrivateIpAddress

The primary IPv4 address. You must specify a value from the IPv4 address range of the subnet.

Only one private IP address can be designated as primary. You can't specify this option if you've specified the option to designate a private IP address as the primary IP address in a network interface specification. You cannot specify this option if you're launching more than one instance in the request.

You cannot specify this option and the network interfaces option in the same request.

Type: String

Required: No

RamdiskId

The ID of the RAM disk to select. Some kernels require additional drivers at launch. Check the kernel requirements for information about whether you need to specify a RAM disk. To find kernel requirements, go to the Amazon Resource Center and search for the kernel ID.

Important

We recommend that you use PV-GRUB instead of kernels and RAM disks. For more information, see PV-GRUB in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Type: String

Required: No

SecurityGroup.N

[Default VPC] The names of the security groups.

If you specify a network interface, you must specify any security groups as part of the network interface.

Default: Amazon EC2 uses the default security group.

Type: Array of strings

Required: No

SecurityGroupId.N

The IDs of the security groups. You can create a security group using CreateSecurityGroup.

If you specify a network interface, you must specify any security groups as part of the network interface.

Type: Array of strings

Required: No

SubnetId

The ID of the subnet to launch the instance into.

If you specify a network interface, you must specify any subnets as part of the network interface.

Type: String

Required: No

TagSpecification.N

The tags to apply to the resources that are created during instance launch.

You can specify tags for the following resources only:

Instances
Volumes
Elastic graphics
Spot Instance requests
Network interfaces

To tag a resource after it has been created, see CreateTags.

Type: Array of TagSpecification objects

Required: No

UserData

The user data script to make available to the instance. For more information, see Run commands on your Linux instance at launch and Run commands on your Windows instance at launch. If you are using a command line tool, base64-encoding is performed for you, and you can load the text from a file. Otherwise, you must provide base64-encoded text. User data is limited to 16 KB.

Type: String

Required: No

Response Elements

The following elements are returned by the service.

groupSet

Not supported.

Type: Array of GroupIdentifier objects

instancesSet

The instances.

Type: Array of Instance objects

ownerId

The ID of the Amazon Web Services account that owns the reservation.

Type: String

requesterId

The ID of the requester that launched the instances on your behalf (for example, Amazon Web Services Management Console or Auto Scaling).

Type: String

requestId

The ID of the request.

Type: String

reservationId

The ID of the reservation.

Type: String

Errors

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

Examples

Example 1

This example launches three instances using the AMI with the ID ami-60a54009.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-60a54009
&MaxCount=3
&MinCount=1
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&Placement.AvailabilityZone=us-east-1d
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 2

This example launches an m1.small instance into a subnet. Because no network interface is specified, a new network interface is created.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-31814f58
&InstanceType=m1.small
&MaxCount=1
&MinCount=1
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&SubnetId=subnet-b2a249da
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 3

This example launches an m1.large instance into a subnet. The network interface specifies a primary private IPv4 address of 10.0.2.106 and two secondary private IPv4 addresses (10.0.2.107 and 10.0.2.108).

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-beb0caec
&InstanceType=m1.large
&MaxCount=1
&MinCount=1
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&NetworkInterface.1.DeviceIndex=0
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.1.Primary=true
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.1.PrivateIpAddress=10.0.2.106
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.2.Primary=false
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.2.PrivateIpAddress=10.0.2.107
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.3.Primary=false
&NetworkInterface.1.PrivateIpAddresses.3.PrivateIpAddress=10.0.2.108
&NetworkInterface.1.SubnetId=subnet-a61dafcf
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 4

This example launches a Dedicated Instance into the specified subnet.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-2a1fec43
&MaxCount=1
&MinCount=1
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&SubnetId=subnet-dea63cb7
&Placement.Tenancy=dedicated
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 5

This request launches an instance into a nondefault subnet, and requests a public IPv4 address for a new network interface with the device index of 0.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-1a2b3c4d
&MaxCount=1
&MinCount=1
&NetworkInterface.1.DeviceIndex=0
&NetworkInterface.1.AssociatePublicIpAddress=true
&NetworkInterface.1.SubnetId=subnet-1a2b3c4d
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 6

This request launches an m1.large instance with a block device mapping. There are two instance store volumes mapped to /dev/sdc and /dev/sdd, and a 100-GB EBS volume mapped to /dev/sdf. The EBS volume attached to the instance is encrypted by a customer managed CMK.

For more information about block device mappings, see EbsBlockDevice and Modifying block device mappings during launch.

For more information, see Amazon EBS encryption.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-1a2b3c4d
&InstanceType=m1.large
&BlockDeviceMapping.1.DeviceName=%2Fdev%2Fsdc
&BlockDeviceMapping.1.VirtualName=ephemeral0
&BlockDeviceMapping.2.DeviceName=%2Fdev%2Fsdd
&BlockDeviceMapping.2.VirtualName=ephemeral1
&BlockDeviceMapping.3.DeviceName=%2Fdev%2Fsdf
&BlockDeviceMapping.3.Ebs.DeleteOnTermination=false
&BlockDeviceMapping.3.Ebs.VolumeSize=100
&BlockDeviceMapping.3.Ebs.Encrypted=true
&BlockDeviceMapping.3.Ebs.KmsKeyId=arn%3Aaws%3Akms%3Aus-east-1%3A009400881653%3Akey%2Fa48a521f-3aff-4b34-a159-376ac5d37812
&EbsOptimized=false
&MinCount=1
&MaxCount=1
&DisableApiTermination=false
&Monitoring.Enabled=false
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 7

This request launches two instances and applies a tag with a key of webserver and a value of production to the instances. The request also applies a tag with a key of cost-center and a value of cc123 to the volumes that are created (in this case, the root volume for each instance).

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-31814f58
&InstanceType=t2.large
&MaxCount=2
&MinCount=1
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&SubnetId=subnet-b2a249da
&TagSpecification.1.ResourceType=instance
&TagSpecification.1.Tag.1.Key=webserver
&TagSpecification.1.Tag.1.Value=production
&TagSpecification.2.ResourceType=volume
&TagSpecification.2.Tag.1.Key=cost-center
&TagSpecification.2.Tag.1.Value=cc123
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 8

This request launches a t2.micro instance with the credit option for CPU usage set to unlimited.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-31814f58
&Count=1
&InstanceType=t2.micro
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&CreditSpecification.CpuCredits=unlimited
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 9

This request launches an instance into the specified partition placement group but does not specify the partition.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-31814f58
&Count=1
&InstanceType=t3.large
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&Placement=HDFS-Group-A
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 10

This request launches an instance into the specified partition placement group and into the specified partition.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-31814f58
&Count=1
&InstanceType=t3.large
&KeyName=my-key-pair
&Placement=HDFS-Group-A
&Partition=2
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 11

This example launches a single instance of type c3.large with a metadata type requiring a session token for metadata retrieval requests.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-1a2b3c4d 
&Count=1
&InstanceType=c3.large
&KeyName=MyKeyPair
&SecurityGroups=MySecurityGroup
&MetadataOptions.HttpTokens=required
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 12

This example launches a single instance of type c3.large with instance metadata access turned off.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-1a2b3c4d 
&Count=1
&InstanceType=c3.large
&KeyName=MyKeyPair
&SecurityGroups=MySecurityGroup
&MetadataOptions.HttpEndpoint=disabled
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 13

This example launches a single instance of type c3.large with a metadata type requiring a session token for metadata retrieval requests and a metadata hop limit of 3.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-1a2b3c4d 
&Count=1
&InstanceType=c3.large
&KeyName=MyKeyPair
&SecurityGroups=MySecurityGroup
&MetadataOptions.HttpTokens=required
&MetadataOptions.HttpPutResponseHopLimit=3
&AUTHPARAMS

Example 14

This example launches a single instance and assigns two security groups and an IPv6 address to the primary network interface.

Sample Request


https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?Action=RunInstances
&ImageId=ami-00112233445566aab
&InstanceType=t2.micro
&MinCount=1
&MaxCount=1
&NetworkInterface.1.DeviceIndex=0
&NetworkInterface.1.SecurityGroupId.1=sg-444455556666cccdd
&NetworkInterface.1.SecurityGroupId.2=sg-111122223333aaabb
&NetworkInterface.1.Ipv6Addresses.1.Ipv6Address=2001:db8:1234:1a00::123
&NetworkInterface.1.SubnetId=subnet-aabbccdd112233445
&AUTHPARAMS