EC2 Instance Metadata Query Tool

Prerequisites

• You must run this from within an EC2 instance running on linux/unix platform
• Curl

Using the tool

• Download the tool from http://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2metadata/ec2-metadata
  
  

  $ wget http://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2metadata/ec2-metadata
  

  
  
• Check file permissions and make sure that it is executable
  
  

  $ls -l ec2-metadata
  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10912 2008-10-23 19:07 ec2-metadata
  

  
  
• If not, change the file premissions and make it executable
  
  

  $ chmod u+x ec2-metadata
  

  
  
• Cool, now run help:
  
  

  $ ec2-metadata --help
  Usage: ec2-metadata 
  Options:
  --all                     Show all metadata information for this host (also default).
  -a/--ami-id               The AMI ID used to launch this instance
  -l/--ami-launch-index     The index of this instance in the reservation (per AMI).
  -m/--ami-manifest-path    The manifest path of the AMI with which the instance was launched.
  -n/--ancestor-ami-ids     The AMI IDs of any instances that were rebundled to create this AMI.
  -b/--block-device-mapping Defines native device names to use when exposing virtual devices.
  -i/--instance-id          The ID of this instance
  -t/--instance-type        The type of instance to launch. For more information, see Instance Types.
  -h/--local-hostname       The local hostname of the instance.
  -o/--local-ipv4           Public IP address if launched with direct addressing; private IP address if launched with public addressing.
  -k/--kernel-id            The ID of the kernel launched with this instance, if applicable.
  -z/--availability-zone    The availability zone in which the instance launched. Same as placement
  -c/--product-codes        Product codes associated with this instance.
  -p/--public-hostname      The public hostname of the instance.
  -v/--public-ipv4          NATted public IP Address
  -u/--public-keys          Public keys. Only available if supplied at instance launch time
  -r/--ramdisk-id           The ID of the RAM disk launched with this instance, if applicable.
  -e/--reservation-id       ID of the reservation.
  -s/--security-groups      Names of the security groups the instance is launched in. Only available if supplied at instance launch time
  -d/--user-data            User-supplied data.Only available if supplied at instance launch time.
  

  
  

Examples

• To get the ami-id of the instance, run
  
  

  $ec2-metadata -a
  ami-id: ami-xxxxxxx
  

  
  
• To get the public hostname, run
  
  

  $ec2-metadata -p
  public-hostname: ec2-x-x-x-x.compute-1.amazonaws.com
  

  
  
• To get the local ipv4, run
  
  

  $ec2-metadata -o
  local-ipv4: 10.x.x.x
  

  
  
and so on ...

You can copy this script to your /usr/bin folder.

For more information on EC2 metadata, consult the Amazon EC2 documentation at http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/2008-08-08/DeveloperGuide/AESDG-chapter-instancedata.html