How can I install AWS CloudFormation helper scripts on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or RHEL 7 AMIs?
Last updated: 2019-08-09
How can I install AWS CloudFormation helper scripts on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or RHEL 7 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)?
Short Description
You must install helper scripts for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or RHEL 7 AMIs during the boot process. Use the UserData property to automatically download and install the AMIs. Then, start the cfn-hup service automatically at launch.
Resolution
1. Add the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS script or the RHEL 7 script to the UserData property of your instance.
2. Create a service in systemd to allow the cfn-hup helper daemon to start automatically at boot.
Important: You must make systemd a dependency of an existing boot target. Use multi-user.target to create the dependency.
3. Set the instructions in the files key to create the cfn-hup configuration file, cfn-hup hook, and systemd file for cfn-hup /lib/systemd/systemcfn-hup.service.
4. Use the commands key to enable the service in systemd, and then start the service.
5. To confirm that the cfn-hup service started after launching the stack, run the following command:
systemctl status cfn-hup
If cfn-hup is running, you receive output similar to the following:
cfn-hup.service - cfn-hup daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cfn-hup.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2016-10-12 08:10:26 EDT; 1min 11s ago
Main
PID: 4852 (cfn-hup)
CGroup: /system.slice/cfn-hup.service
└─4852 /usr/bin/python /opt/aws/bin/cfn-hup
Oct 12 08:10:26 ip-172-31-44-180.ec2.internal systemd[1]: Started cfn-hup daemon.
Oct 12 08:10:26 ip-172-31-44-180.ec2.internal systemd[1]: Starting cfn-hup daemon...
Note: If you're using systemd, the cfn-init helper script doesn't support the services key. Instead, use the commands key as in the preceding example.
Related Information
Did this article help you?
Anything we could improve?
Need more help?