Use IAM service-linked roles for EC2 Image Builder
EC2 Image Builder uses Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked roles. A service-linked role is a unique type of IAM role that is linked directly to Image Builder. Service-linked roles are predefined by Image Builder and include all of the permissions that the service requires to call other Amazon Web Services on your behalf.
A service-linked role makes setting up Image Builder more efficient, because you don’t have to add the necessary permissions manually. Image Builder defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only Image Builder can assume its roles. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy. The permissions policy cannot be attached to any other IAM entity.
For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see Amazon Web Services That Work with IAM and look for the services that have Yes in the Service-Linked Role column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.
Service-linked role permissions for Image Builder
Image Builder uses the AWSServiceRoleForImageBuilder service-linked role to allow EC2 Image Builder to access Amazon resources on your behalf. The service-linked role trusts the imagebuilder.amazonaws.com service to assume the role.
You don't need to manually create this service-linked role. When you create your first Image Builder image in the Amazon Management Console, the Amazon CLI, or the Amazon API, Image Builder creates the service-linked role for you.
The following actions create a new image:
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Run the pipeline wizard in the Image Builder console to create a custom image.
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Use one of the following API actions, or its corresponding Amazon CLI command:
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The CreateImage API action (create-image
in the Amazon CLI). -
The ImportVmImage API action (import-vm-image
in the Amazon CLI). -
The StartImagePipelineExecution API action (start-image-pipeline-execution
in the Amazon CLI).
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Important
If the service-linked role is deleted from your account, you can use the same process to create it again. When you create your first EC2 Image Builder resource, Image Builder creates the service-linked role for you again.
To see permissions for the AWSServiceRoleForImageBuilder, see the AWSServiceRoleForImageBuilder policy page. To learn more about configuring permissions for a service-linked role, see Service-Linked Role Permissions in the IAM User Guide.
Removing an Image Builder service-linked role from your account
You can use the IAM console, the Amazon CLI, or the Amazon API to manually remove the service-linked role for Image Builder from your account. However, before you do this, you must ensure that there are no Image Builder resources enabled that refer to it.
Note
If the Image Builder service is using the role when you try to delete the resources, the deletion might fail. If that happens, wait for a few minutes and try the operation again.
Clean up Image Builder resources used by the AWSServiceRoleForImageBuilder role
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Verify that no pipeline builds are running before you start. To cancel a running build, use the
cancel-image-creationcommand from the Amazon CLI.aws imagebuilder cancel-image-creation --image-build-version-arnarn:aws:imagebuilder:us-east-1:123456789012:image-pipeline/sample-pipeline -
Change all pipeline schedules to use a manual build process, or delete them if you won't be using them again. For more information about deleting resources, see Delete EC2 Image Builder resources.
Delete the service-linked role using IAM
You can use the IAM console, the Amazon CLI, or the Amazon API to delete the
AWSServiceRoleForImageBuilder role from your account. For more
information, see Deleting a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide.
Supported Regions for EC2 Image Builder service-linked roles
Image Builder supports using service-linked roles in all of the Amazon Regions where the service is available. For the list of supported Amazon Regions, see Amazon Regions and Endpoints.