AWSSupport-StartEC2RescueWorkflow - Amazon Systems Manager Automation runbook reference
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AWSSupport-StartEC2RescueWorkflow

Description

The AWSSupport-StartEC2RescueWorkflow runbook runs the provided base64 encoded script (Bash or Powershell) on a helper instance created to rescue your instance. The root volume of your instance is attached and mounted to the helper instance, also known as the EC2Rescue instance. If your instance is Windows, provide a Powershell script. Otherwise, use Bash. The runbook sets some environment variables which you can use in your script. The environment variables contain information about the input you provided, as well as information about the offline root volume. The offline volume is already mounted and ready to use. For example, you can save a Desired State Configuration file to an offline Windows root volume, or chroot to an offline Linux root volume and perform an offline remediation.

Run this Automation (console)

Important

Amazon EC2 instances created from Marketplace Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are not supported by this automation.

Additional Information

To base64 encode a script, you can use either Powershell or Bash. Powershell:

[System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('PATH_TO_FILE')))

Bash:

base64 PATH_TO_FILE

Here is a list of environment variables you can use in your offline scripts, depending on the target OS

Windows:

Variable Description Example value

$env:EC2RESCUE_ACCOUNT_ID

{{ global:ACCOUNT_ID }}

123456789012

$env:EC2RESCUE_DATE

{{ global:DATE }}

2018-09-07

$env:EC2RESCUE_DATE_TIME

{{ global:DATE_TIME }}

2018-09-07_18.09.59

$env:EC2RESCUE_EC2RW_DIR

EC2Rescue for Windows installation path

C:\Program Files\Amazon\EC2Rescue

$env:EC2RESCUE_EC2RW_DIR

EC2Rescue for Windows installation path

C:\Program Files\Amazon\EC2Rescue

$env:EC2RESCUE_EXECUTION_ID

{{ automation:EXECUTION_ID }}

7ef8008e-219b-4aca-8bb5-65e2e898e20b

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_CURRENT_CONTROL_SET

Offline Windows Current Control Set path

HKLM:\AWSTempSystem\ControlSet001

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_DRIVE

Offline Windows drive letter

D:\

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_EBS_DEVICE

Offline root volume EBS device

xvdf

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_KERNEL_VER

Offline Windows Kernel version

6.1.7601.24214

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_OS_ARCHITECTURE

Offline Windows architecture

AMD64

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_OS_CAPTION

Offline Windows caption

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_OS_TYPE

Offline Windows OS type

Server

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_PROGRAM_FILES_DIR

Offline Windows Program files directory path

D:\Program Files

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_PROGRAM_FILES_X86_DIR

Offline Windows Program files x86 directory path

D:\Program Files (x86)

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_REGISTRY_DIR

Offline Windows registry directory path

D:\Windows\System32\config

$env:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_SYSTEM_ROOT

Offline Windows system root directory path

D:\Windows

$env:EC2RESCUE_REGION

{{ global:REGION }}

us-west-1

$env:EC2RESCUE_S3_BUCKET

{{ S3BucketName }}

mybucket

$env:EC2RESCUE_S3_PREFIX

{{ S3Prefix }}

myprefix/

$env:EC2RESCUE_SOURCE_INSTANCE

{{ InstanceId }}

i-abcdefgh123456789

$script:EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_WINDOWS_INSTALL

Offline Windows Installation metadata

Customer Powershell Object

Linux:

Variable Description Example value

EC2RESCUE_ACCOUNT_ID

{{ global:ACCOUNT_ID }}

123456789012

EC2RESCUE_DATE

{{ global:DATE }}

2018-09-07

EC2RESCUE_DATE_TIME

{{ global:DATE_TIME }}

2018-09-07_18.09.59

EC2RESCUE_EC2RL_DIR

EC2Rescue for Linux installation path

/usr/local/ec2rl-1.1.3

EC2RESCUE_EXECUTION_ID

{{ automation:EXECUTION_ID }}

7ef8008e-219b-4aca-8bb5-65e2e898e20b

EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_DEVICE

Offline device name

/dev/xvdf1

EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_EBS_DEVICE

Offline root volume EBS device

/dev/sdf

EC2RESCUE_OFFLINE_SYSTEM_ROOT

Offline root volume mount point

/mnt/mount

EC2RESCUE_PYTHON

Python version

python2.7

EC2RESCUE_REGION

{{ global:REGION }}

us-west-1

EC2RESCUE_S3_BUCKET

{{ S3BucketName }}

mybucket

EC2RESCUE_S3_PREFIX

{{ S3Prefix }}

myprefix/

EC2RESCUE_SOURCE_INSTANCE

{{ InstanceId }}

i-abcdefgh123456789

Document type

Automation

Owner

Amazon

Platforms

Linux, macOS, Windows

Parameters

  • AMIPrefix

    Type: String

    Default: AWSSupport-EC2Rescue

    Description: (Optional) A prefix for the backup AMI name.

  • AutomationAssumeRole

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) role that allows Systems Manager Automation to perform the actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation uses the permissions of the user that starts this runbook.

  • CreatePostEC2RescueBackup

    Type: String

    Valid values: true | false

    Default: false

    Description: (Optional) Set it to true to create an AMI of InstanceId after running the script, before starting it. The AMI will persist after the automation completes. It is your responsibility to secure access to the AMI, or to delete it.

  • CreatePreEC2RescueBackup

    Type: String

    Valid values: true | false

    Default: false

    Description: (Optional) Set it to true to create an AMI of InstanceId before running the script. The AMI will persist after the automation completes. It is your responsibility to secure access to the AMI, or to delete it.

  • EC2RescueInstanceType

    Type: String

    Valid values: t2.small | t2.medium | t2.large

    Default: t2.small

    Description: (Optional) The EC2 instance type for the EC2Rescue instance.

  • InstanceId

    Type: String

    Description: (Required) ID of your EC2 instance. IMPORTANT: Amazon Systems Manager Automation stops this instance. Data stored in instance store volumes will be lost. The public IP address will change if you are not using an Elastic IP.

  • OfflineScript

    Type: String

    Description: (Required) Base64 encoded script to run against the helper instance. Use Bash if your source instance is Linux, and PowerShell if it is Windows.

  • S3BucketName

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) S3 bucket name in your account where you want to upload the troubleshooting logs. Make sure the bucket policy does not grant unnecessary read/write permissions to parties that do not need access to the collected logs.

  • S3Prefix

    Type: String

    Default: AWSSupport-EC2Rescue

    Description: (Optional) A prefix for the S3 logs.

  • SubnetId

    Type: String

    Default: SelectedInstanceSubnet

    Description: (Optional) The subnet ID for the EC2Rescue instance. By default, the same subnet where the provided instance resides is used. IMPORTANT: If you provide a custom subnet, it must be in the same Availability Zone as InstanceId, and it must allow access to the SSM endpoints.

  • UniqueId

    Type: String

    Default: {{ automation:EXECUTION_ID }}

    Description: (Optional) A unique identifier for the automation.

Required IAM permissions

The AutomationAssumeRole parameter requires the following actions to use the runbook successfully.

It is recommended the user who runs the automation have the AmazonSSMAutomationRole IAM managed policy attached. In addition to that policy, the user must have:

{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Action": [ "lambda:InvokeFunction", "lambda:DeleteFunction", "lambda:GetFunction" ], "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:*:An-AWS-Account-ID:function:AWSSupport-EC2Rescue-*", "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "s3:GetObject", "s3:GetObjectVersion" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:s3:::awssupport-ssm.*/*.template", "arn:aws:s3:::awssupport-ssm.*/*.zip" ], "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "iam:CreateRole", "iam:CreateInstanceProfile", "iam:GetRole", "iam:GetInstanceProfile", "iam:PutRolePolicy", "iam:DetachRolePolicy", "iam:AttachRolePolicy", "iam:PassRole", "iam:AddRoleToInstanceProfile", "iam:RemoveRoleFromInstanceProfile", "iam:DeleteRole", "iam:DeleteRolePolicy", "iam:DeleteInstanceProfile" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:iam::An-AWS-Account-ID:role/AWSSupport-EC2Rescue-*", "arn:aws:iam::An-AWS-Account-ID:instance-profile/AWSSupport-EC2Rescue-*" ], "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "lambda:CreateFunction", "ec2:CreateVpc", "ec2:ModifyVpcAttribute", "ec2:DeleteVpc", "ec2:CreateInternetGateway", "ec2:AttachInternetGateway", "ec2:DetachInternetGateway", "ec2:DeleteInternetGateway", "ec2:CreateSubnet", "ec2:DeleteSubnet", "ec2:CreateRoute", "ec2:DeleteRoute", "ec2:CreateRouteTable", "ec2:AssociateRouteTable", "ec2:DisassociateRouteTable", "ec2:DeleteRouteTable", "ec2:CreateVpcEndpoint", "ec2:DeleteVpcEndpoints", "ec2:ModifyVpcEndpoint", "ec2:Describe*" ], "Resource": "*", "Effect": "Allow" } ] }

Document Steps

  1. aws:executeAwsApi - Describe the provided instance

  2. aws:executeAwsApi - Describe the provided instance's root volume

  3. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the root volume device type is EBS

  4. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the root volume is not encrypted

  5. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the provide subnet ID

    1. (Use current instance subnet) - If *SubnetId = SelectedInstanceSubnet* then run aws:createStack to deploy the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack

    2. (Create new VPC) - If *SubnetId = CreateNewVPC* then run aws:createStack to deploy the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack

    3. (Use custom subnet) - In all other cases:

      aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the provided subnet is in the same Availability Zone as the provided instance

      aws:createStack - Deploy the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack

  6. aws:invokeLambdaFunction - Perform additional input validation

  7. aws:executeAwsApi - Update the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack to create the EC2Rescue helper instance

  8. aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty - Wait for the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack update to complete

  9. aws:executeAwsApi - Describe the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack output to obtain the EC2Rescue helper instance ID

  10. aws:waitForAwsResourceProperty - Wait for the EC2Rescue helper instance to become a managed instance

  11. aws:changeInstanceState - Stop the provided instance

  12. aws:changeInstanceState - Stop the provided instance

  13. aws:changeInstanceState - Force stop the provided instance

  14. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the CreatePreEC2RescueBackup input value

    1. (Create pre-EC2Rescue backup) - If *CreatePreEC2RescueBackup = true*

    2. aws:executeAwsApi - Create an AMI backup of the provided instance

    3. aws:createTags - Tag the AMI backup

  15. aws:runCommand - Install EC2Rescue on the EC2Rescue helper instance

  16. aws:executeAwsApi - Detach the root volume from the provided instance

  17. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the provided instance platform

    1. (Instance is Windows):

      aws:executeAwsApi - Attach the root volume to the EC2Rescue helper instance as *xvdf*

      aws:sleep - Sleep 10 seconds

      aws:runCommand - Run the provided offline script in Powershell

    2. (Instance is Linux):

      aws:executeAwsApi - Attach the root volume to the EC2Rescue helper instance as */dev/sdf*

      aws:sleep - Sleep 10 seconds

      aws:runCommand - Run the provided offline script in Bash

  18. aws:changeInstanceState - Stop the EC2Rescue helper instance

  19. aws:changeInstanceState - Force stop the EC2Rescue helper instance

  20. aws:executeAwsApi - Detach the root volume from the EC2Rescue helper instance

  21. aws:executeAwsApi - Attach the root volume back to the provided instance

  22. aws:assertAwsResourceProperty - Check the CreatePostEC2RescueBackup input value

    1. (Create post-EC2Rescue backup) - If *CreatePostEC2RescueBackup = true*

    2. aws:executeAwsApi - Create an AMI backup of the provided instance

    3. aws:createTags - Tag the AMI backup

  23. aws:executeAwsApi - Restore the initial delete on termination state for the root volume of the provided instance

  24. aws:changeInstanceState - Restore the initial state of the provided instance (running/stopped)

  25. aws:deleteStack - Delete the EC2Rescue CloudFormation stack

Outputs

runScriptForLinux.Output

runScriptForWindows.Output

preScriptBackup.ImageId

postScriptBackup.ImageId