AWS instance meta data service

Reference: AWS User Guide - Instance data retrieval

Contents:

• Versions
• Options
• Amazon machine image (AMI) ID
• Amazon machine image (AMI) launch index value
• Amazon manifest path
• Block device mapping
• Events
• Hostname
• IAM
• Instance action
• Instance ID
• Instance life cycle
• Instance type
• Local hostname
• Local IP4
• MAC address
• Metrics
• Network
• Placement
• Profile
• Public hostname
• Public IP4
• Public keys
• Reservation ID
• Security groups
• Services

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Versions

According to the AWS documentation, "the earlier versions are available to you in case you have scripts that rely on the structure and information present in a previous version."

curl http://169.254.169.254/

1.0
2007-01-19
2007-03-01
2007-08-29
2007-10-10
2007-12-15
2008-02-01
2008-09-01
2009-04-04
2011-01-01
2011-05-01
2012-01-12
2014-02-25
2014-11-05
2015-10-20
2016-04-19
2016-06-30
2016-09-02
2018-03-28
2018-08-17
2018-09-24
2019-10-01
2020-10-27
2021-01-03

The way that this would be used.

For the latest:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/

For a specific version (e.g. 2021-01-03):

curl http://169.254.169.254/2021-01-03/meta-data/

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Options

Using latest version:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/

ami-id
ami-launch-index
ami-manifest-path
block-device-mapping/
events/
hostname
iam/
identity-credentials/
instance-action
instance-id
instance-life-cycle
instance-type
local-hostname
local-ipv4
mac
metrics/
network/
placement/
profile
public-hostname
public-ipv4
public-keys/
reservation-id
security-groups

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Amazon machine image (AMI) ID

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ami-id

ami-07f990e4e7551b774

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Amazon machine image (AMI) launch index value

When running up new instances (aws ec2 run-instances) and running up multiple instances of the same AMI (using the count option).

Each instance will be launched with a unique index started from a zero-index (0) and incrementing by 1 for each additional instance.

Reference: AWS User Guide - Amazon Launch Index

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ami-launch-index

0

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Amazon manifest path

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ami-manifest-path

(unknown)

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Block device mapping

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/block-device-mapping/

ami

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/block-device-mapping/ami

xvda(python3)

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Events

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/events/

maintenance/(python3)

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/events/maintenance

history

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/events/maintenance/history

[](python3)

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Hostname

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/hostname

ip-123-45-67-89.us-east-1.compute.internal(python3)

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IAM

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam

security-credentials/(python3)

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials

example_iam_role(python3)

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Instance action

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-action

none(python3)

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Instance ID

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-id

i-1234d5bf6f789b123(python3)

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Instance life cycle

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-life-cycle

on-demand(python3)

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Instance type

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-type

t3.micro(python3)

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Local hostname

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/local-hostname

ip-172-12-34-56.us-east-1.compute.internal(python3)

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Local IP4

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/local-ipv4

172.12.34.56(python3)

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MAC address

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/mac

12:3a:c4:a5:c6:d7(python3)

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Metrics

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/metrics/

vhostmd(python3)

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/metrics/vhostmd

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>(python3) 

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Network

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/network/

interfaces/(python3)

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/network/interfaces

macs/(python3)

One level deeper:

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/network/interfaces/macs

12:3a:c4:a5:c6:d7(python3)

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Placement

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/

availability-zone
region(python3)

One level deeper (availability-zone):

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/availability-zone

us-east-1a(python3)

One level deeper (region):

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/region

us-east-1(python3)

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Profile

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/profile

default-hvm(python3)

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Public hostname

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-hostname

ec2-123-234-123-234.us-east-1.compute.amazonaws.com(python3)

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Public IP4

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-ipv4

123.234.123.234(python3)

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Public keys

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-keys/

0=example_public_key(python3)

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Reservation ID

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/reservation-id/

r-1d23bb4567f89e1c2(python3)

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Security groups

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/security-groups

example_security_group

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Services

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/services/

domain
partition(python3) 

One level deeper (domain):

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/services/domain

amazonaws.com(python3) 

One level deeper (partition):

curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/services/partition

aws(python3)

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