How can I install CloudFormation helper scripts on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS/Ubuntu 18.04 LTS/Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or RHEL 7/RHEL 8 AMIs?

Last updated: 2021-09-21

I want to install AWS CloudFormation helper scripts on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, RHEL 7, or RHEL 8 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).

Short description

You must install helper scripts for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, RHEL 7, or RHEL 8 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, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS script, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS script, RHEL 7 script, or RHEL 8 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.    Confirm that the cfn-hup service started after launching the stack:

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, then the cfn-init helper script doesn't support the services key. Instead, use the commands key as in the preceding example.

CFNhelpernonAMZNAMIs

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