Use RequestSpotInstances with an Amazon SDK or CLI

To request Spot Instances

This example command creates a one-time Spot Instance request for five instances in the specified Availability Zone. If your account supports EC2-VPC only, Amazon EC2 launches the instances in the default subnet of the specified Availability Zone. If your account supports EC2-Classic, Amazon EC2 launches the instances in EC2-Classic in the specified Availability Zone.

Command:

aws ec2 request-spot-instances --spot-price "0.03" --instance-count 5 --type "one-time" --launch-specification file://specification.json

Specification.json:

{
  "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d",
  "KeyName": "my-key-pair",
  "SecurityGroupIds": [ "sg-1a2b3c4d" ],
  "InstanceType": "m3.medium",
  "Placement": {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a"
  },
  "IamInstanceProfile": {
      "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role"
  }
}

Output:

{
  "SpotInstanceRequests": [
      {
          "Status": {
              "UpdateTime": "2014-03-25T20:54:21.000Z",
              "Code": "pending-evaluation",
              "Message": "Your Spot request has been submitted for review, and is pending evaluation."
          },
          "ProductDescription": "Linux/UNIX",
          "SpotInstanceRequestId": "sir-df6f405d",
          "State": "open",
          "LaunchSpecification": {
              "Placement": {
                  "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a"
              },
              "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d",
              "KeyName": "my-key-pair",
              "SecurityGroups": [
                  {
                      "GroupName": "my-security-group",
                      "GroupId": "sg-1a2b3c4d"
                  }
              ],
              "Monitoring": {
                  "Enabled": false
              },
              "IamInstanceProfile": {
                  "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role"
              },
              "InstanceType": "m3.medium"
          },
          "Type": "one-time",
          "CreateTime": "2014-03-25T20:54:20.000Z",
          "SpotPrice": "0.050000"
      },
      ...
  ]
}

This example command creates a one-time Spot Instance request for five instances in the specified subnet. Amazon EC2 launches the instances in the specified subnet. If the VPC is a nondefault VPC, the instances do not receive a public IP address by default.

Command:

aws ec2 request-spot-instances --spot-price "0.050" --instance-count 5 --type "one-time" --launch-specification file://specification.json

Specification.json:

{
  "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d",
  "SecurityGroupIds": [ "sg-1a2b3c4d" ],
  "InstanceType": "m3.medium",
  "SubnetId": "subnet-1a2b3c4d",
  "IamInstanceProfile": {
      "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role"
  }
}

Output:

{
  "SpotInstanceRequests": [
      {
          "Status": {
             "UpdateTime": "2014-03-25T22:21:58.000Z",
             "Code": "pending-evaluation",
             "Message": "Your Spot request has been submitted for review, and is pending evaluation."
          },
          "ProductDescription": "Linux/UNIX",
          "SpotInstanceRequestId": "sir-df6f405d",
          "State": "open",
          "LaunchSpecification": {
             "Placement": {
                 "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a"
             }
             "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d"
             "SecurityGroups": [
                 {
                     "GroupName": "my-security-group",
                     "GroupID": "sg-1a2b3c4d"
                 }
             ]
             "SubnetId": "subnet-1a2b3c4d",
             "Monitoring": {
                 "Enabled": false
             },
             "IamInstanceProfile": {
                 "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role"
             },
             "InstanceType": "m3.medium",
         },
         "Type": "one-time",
         "CreateTime": "2014-03-25T22:21:58.000Z",
         "SpotPrice": "0.050000"
      },
      ...
  ]
}

This example assigns a public IP address to the Spot Instances that you launch in a nondefault VPC. Note that when you specify a network interface, you must include the subnet ID and security group ID using the network interface.

Command:

aws ec2 request-spot-instances --spot-price "0.050" --instance-count 1 --type "one-time" --launch-specification file://specification.json

Specification.json:

{
  "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d",
  "KeyName": "my-key-pair",
  "InstanceType": "m3.medium",
  "NetworkInterfaces": [
    {
      "DeviceIndex": 0,
      "SubnetId": "subnet-1a2b3c4d",
      "Groups": [ "sg-1a2b3c4d" ],
      "AssociatePublicIpAddress": true
    }
  ],
  "IamInstanceProfile": {
      "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role"
  }
}

Example 1: This example requests a one-time Spot instance in the specified subnet. Note that the security group must be created for the VPC that contains the specified subnet, and it must be specified by ID using the network interface. When you specify a network interface, you must include the subnet ID using the network interface.

$n = New-Object Amazon.EC2.Model.InstanceNetworkInterfaceSpecification
$n.DeviceIndex = 0
$n.SubnetId = "subnet-12345678"
$n.Groups.Add("sg-12345678")
Request-EC2SpotInstance -InstanceCount 1 -SpotPrice 0.050 -Type one-time `
-IamInstanceProfile_Arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:instance-profile/my-iam-role `
-LaunchSpecification_ImageId ami-12345678 `
-LaunchSpecification_InstanceType m3.medium `
-LaunchSpecification_NetworkInterface $n

Output:

ActualBlockHourlyPrice   :
AvailabilityZoneGroup    :
BlockDurationMinutes     : 0
CreateTime               : 12/26/2015 7:44:10 AM
Fault                    :
InstanceId               :
LaunchedAvailabilityZone :
LaunchGroup              :
LaunchSpecification      : Amazon.EC2.Model.LaunchSpecification
ProductDescription       : Linux/UNIX
SpotInstanceRequestId    : sir-12345678
SpotPrice                : 0.050000
State                    : open
Status                   : Amazon.EC2.Model.SpotInstanceStatus
Tags                     : {}
Type                     : one-time