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  • Amazon EC 2 Cloud Automation: Scheduled Startup/Shutdown of Amazon EC2 Instances

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    Jason Alloway
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    One of the obvious benefits of cloud computing is the pay as you go model; and only paying for what you use. Amazon EC2 Cloud images offer users great flexibility in this regard by allowing instances to be easily turned off or terminated when not in-use. Since Amazon instance usage is metered you may have large chunks of time where you do not wish to “leave the clock running”, and prefer to bring the instance down (which will stop the billing). This document provides step by step directions for scheduling automated instance stops and starts, so you can easily reduce the overall cost of the instance. Although the focus of this document was initiating scheduled stop and start actions from a Windows Workstation. Unix cron commands can also be utilized to achieve the same result.

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    One of the obvious benefits of cloud computing is the pay as you go model; and only paying for what you use. Amazon EC2 Cloud images offer users great flexibility in this regard by allowing instances to be easily turned off or terminated when not in-use. Since Amazon instance usage is metered you may have large chunks of time where you do not wish to “leave the clock running”, and prefer to bring the instance down (which will stop the billing). This document provides step by step directions for scheduling automated instance stops and starts, so you can easily reduce the overall cost of the instance. Although the focus of this document was initiating scheduled stop and start actions from a Windows Workstation. Unix cron commands can also be utilized to achieve the same result.

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    595 views16 pages

    Amazon EC 2 Cloud Automation: Scheduled Startup/Shutdown of Amazon EC2 Instances

    Uploaded by

    Jason Alloway
    One of the obvious benefits of cloud computing is the pay as you go model; and only paying for what you use. Amazon EC2 Cloud images offer users great flexibility in this regard by allowing instances to be easily turned off or terminated when not in-use. Since Amazon instance usage is metered you may have large chunks of time where you do not wish to “leave the clock running”, and prefer to bring the instance down (which will stop the billing). This document provides step by step directions for scheduling automated instance stops and starts, so you can easily reduce the overall cost of the instance. Although the focus of this document was initiating scheduled stop and start actions from a Windows Workstation. Unix cron commands can also be utilized to achieve the same result.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 16

    Automating Amazon EC2 Cloud

    Scheduled Startup/Shutdown of Amazon EC2 Instances

    Author:JasonAlloway Company:AllTechSolutionsLLC

    Table of Contents
    Introduction ManuallychangingtheImagerunningstate AutomatingtheImagerunningstate ObtainandConfigureasupportedJAVAJRE ObtainandConfiguretheAmazonEC2APITools SchedulingaStopInstanceTaskinWindowsTaskScheduler Appendix

    Introduction
    Oneoftheobviousbenefitsofcloudcomputingisthepayasyougomodelandonlypayingfor whatyouuse.AmazonEC2Cloudimagesofferusersgreatflexibilityinthisregardbyallowing instancestobeeasilyturnedofforterminatedwhennotinuse.SinceAmazoninstanceusage ismeteredyoumayhavelargechunksoftimewhereyoudonotwishtoleavetheclock running,andprefertobringtheinstancedown(whichwillstopthebilling).Thisdocument providesstepbystepdirectionsforschedulingautomatedinstancestopsandstarts,soyoucan easilyreducetheoverallcostoftheinstance.Althoughthefocusofthisdocumentwasinitiating scheduledstopandstartactionsfromaWindowsWorkstation.Unixcroncommandscanalso beutilizedtoachievethesameresult.

    Manually changing the Image running state


    TheTheAmazonEC2dashboardallowsausertoeasilyinitiatestop,start,andterminate instanceactionsfromawebbrowsersessionbynavigatingtoINSTANCES,selectingthe checkboxnexttotheinstance,andthenselectingtheACTIONSdropdownmenu.Theoptions toTerminate,Reboot,Stop,andStartappearinthemenu:

    Automating the Image running state


    Itmaybeimpracticalforausertomanuallystop,andstarttheAmazonEC2imagesmanually foravarietyofreasons.FortunatelyAmazonmakesavailableasetofCLI(CommandLine Interface)commandsthatwhencombinedwithaschedulereasilyautomatesstopandstart actionsatfixeddates&times.AsofwritingtheCLIToolsareasubsetoftheAmazonEC2API Toolsv1.6.7.3.Thedownloadlocationisintheappendixsectionofthisdocument. Thefollowingtechnologiesareusedinthisdocument: AmazonEC2APIToolsv1.6.7.3 AmazonEC2MachineImageamid0f89fb9(ubuntu-precise-12.04-amd64-server) MicrosoftTaskScheduler1.0 JAVAJREv1.7.0_17 Windowsv7Professionalworkstation

    Obtain and Configure a supported JAVA JRE


    IfyouneedtodetermineifyoualreadyhaveaJREinstalledusetheWindowsControlPanelto notethelocationwhereitisinstalled

    Create2newSystemEnvironmentVariableentriesontheworkstationthatwillbeusedtorun thescheduledAmazonCLIcommands.FirstcreateanewSystemVariablecalled JAVA_HOME.ThevaluewillbethedirectorycontainingyourJAVAJREbinaries.Forexample:

    Note:Ifyouhavespacesinthepaththenenclosethevalueindoublequotationmarks Note:Donotincludethebindirectory.TheAmazonCLIToolswillnotworkifbinisincluded Testtheentrybyopeninganewcommandpromptandissuingthecommand: %JAVA_HOME%\bin\javaversion YoushouldseetheJAVAVersiondisplayed

    Next,editthePATHSystemVariablebyadding:%JAVA_HOME%\bin

    Note:EnsuretheentryappearsbeforeanymentionofotherJREsonthesystemPath

    TesttheconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand:javaversion YoushouldseetheJAVAversiondisplayed

    Obtain and Configure the Amazon EC2 API Tools


    TheAmazonEC2APIToolsarecurrentlymadeavailableasaZIParchive.Afterdownloading themfromAmazon,simplyextractthearchivetoadestinationfolderonyourworkstation. SeveralmoreSystemEnvironmentVariableswillneedtobecreated.FirstcreateanewSystem VariablecalledEC2_HOME.ThevaluewillbethedirectorythatcontainstheAmazonEC2 supportinglibrariesthatwerejustunarchivedForexample:

    TestthenewconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand: dir%EC2_HOME% YoushouldseethecontentsoftheAmazonEC2APIToolsoutputtothescreen:

    Next,edittheSystemEnvironmentVariablePathandaddthevalue:%EC2_HOME%\bin TestthenewconfigurationbyopeninganewCMDpromptandissuingthecommand: ec2describeregions YoushouldseetheAmazonEC2Cloudregionsoutputtothescreen:

    Next,definetheAWS_ACCESS_KEYandAWS_SECRET_KEYSystemEnvironmentVariables. Thevaluesforthese2variablescanberetrievedfromtheAmazonEC2WebServicessiteat http://aws.amazon.com,clickMYACCOUNT/CONSOLE,andselectSECURITY CREDENTIALS:

    ExpandtheAccessKeyssectiononthefollowingscreen:

    HereyoucannoteyourAccessKeyID,butasofthetimeofwritingyoumustfollowthelinkin thelowerrighttoobtaintheSecretAccessKey:

    Usethese2valuestoaddtheSystemEnvironmentVariables:

    Finally,bydefaulttheAmazonEC2CLIToolsusetheuseast1AmazonCloudregionwiththe serviceendpointurl:ec2.useast1.amazonaws.com.Ifyourinstance(s)resideinadifferent regiondefinetheSystemEnvironmentVariableEC2_URL.Forexample:

    AtthispointtheAmazonEC2CLIToolsareinstalledandcommandscanbeissuedfromthe CMDpromptinanydirectory.

    Scheduling a Stop Instance Task in Windows Task Scheduler


    LaunchtheWindowsTaskScheduler,andchooseCREATEBASICTASK:

    TheCreateBasicTaskWizardwillLaunchandguideyouthroughcreatingthetaskcreationand scheduling.WhenpromptedenteranameanddescriptionandclickNEXT:

    SelectyourtriggerfrequencyandclickNEXT,forthisexamplewearechoosingDaily:

    Youwillbepromptedtoprovidemoredetailonthethedates,time,andfrequencyyouwantthe tasktorun.ClickNEXT:

    ChoosetoStartaprogram,andclickNEXT:

    ProvidetheAmazonEC2CLIcommandthatwillstoparunninginstanceintheProgram/Script field,andtheAmazonEC2instanceIDoftheinstancethatwillbetargetedintheAddarguments (optional)field.Thecommandis: ec2stopinstances ClickNEXT

    Note:TheInstanceIDcanberetrievedfromtheAmazonEC2Dashboard ReviewthedetailsofthetaskandclickFINISH:

    Congratulations,theconfigurationneededtostoparunninginstanceofanAmazonEC2Cloud imageisnowcomplete,andthenewtaskwillappearintheTaskSchedulerLibrary.Tovalidate theconfiguration,thetaskcanbeexecutedimmediatelywhilestillintheTaskSchedulerUI. Rightclickthenewtask,andselectRUN:

    ReturntotheAmazonEC2Dashboardandverifythestatushaschangedfromrunningto stoppedbyrefreshingthescreen:

    Atasktoscheduleatasktostartastoppedinstancecanbecreatedusingthesamesteps. Simplyreplacethecommandec2stopinstanceswithec2startinstances. Note:InorderfortheAmazonEC2commandstoexecutesuccessfullyfromtheWindows workstation,TheAmazonCloudmustbereachableviaafunctioninginternetconnection.Ifyou areoperatingbehindaproxy,thereareadditionalstepsneededtocompletenotcoveredinthis document.

    Appendix
    ThedownloadlocationfortheAmazonEC2APIToolsasofwritingishere: http://aws.amazon.com/developertools/351 ThemostrecentfulllistofallAmazonCLICommandsislocatedhere: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/CommandLineReference/commandreference.ht ml TheOracleJAVAJREDownloadsiteishere: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

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