The instance type is a required parameter when building EC2 instances. While the AWS documentation provides a list of allowed values, it’s not presented in a format that can be easily consumed by your own CloudFormation templates.
In this post, you learn how to build a parameter with a complete list of instance types as allowed values, to copy and paste into your own templates.
Getting started
The script requires jq.
The jq download page includes instructions for installing the tool for major Linux distributions.
The lookup script
The script below returns a YAML block defining a CloudFormation parameter with a sorted list of all available instance types:
echo "Parameters:"
echo " InstanceTypeParameter:"
echo " Type: String"
echo " Default: t3.micro"
echo " AllowedValues:"
instances=$(aws ec2 describe-instance-types | jq -r '.InstanceTypes |= sort_by(.InstanceType) | .InstanceTypes[].InstanceType')
for row in $instances; do
echo " - $row"
doneSave the script to a file called instancetypes.sh and make it executable with the command:
chmod +x instancetypes.shRun the script with the command:
./instancetypes.shThe output looks something like this:
Parameters:
InstanceTypeParameter:
Type: String
Default: t3.micro
AllowedValues:
- c1.medium
- c1.xlarge
- c3.2xlarge
- c3.4xlarge
- c3.8xlarge
- c3.large
- c3.xlarge
- c4.2xlarge
- c4.4xlarge
- c4.8xlarge
- c4.large
- c4.xlarge
- c5.12xlarge
- c5.18xlarge
- c5.24xlarge
- c5.2xlarge
- c5.4xlarge
- c5.9xlarge
- c5.large
- c5.metal
- c5.xlarge
- c5a.12xlarge
- c5a.16xlarge
- c5a.24xlarge
- c5a.2xlarge
- c5a.4xlarge
- c5a.8xlarge
- c5a.large
- c5a.xlarge
- c5d.12xlarge
- c5d.18xlarge
- c5d.24xlarge
- c5d.2xlarge
- c5d.4xlarge
- c5d.9xlarge
- c5d.large
- c5d.metal
- c5d.xlarge
- c5n.18xlarge
- c5n.2xlarge
- c5n.4xlarge
- c5n.9xlarge
- c5n.large
- c5n.metal
- c5n.xlarge
- c6g.12xlarge
- c6g.16xlarge
- c6g.2xlarge
- c6g.4xlarge
- c6g.8xlarge
- c6g.large
- c6g.medium
- c6g.metal
- c6g.xlarge
- c6gd.12xlarge
- c6gd.16xlarge
- c6gd.2xlarge
- c6gd.4xlarge
- c6gd.8xlarge
- c6gd.large
- c6gd.medium
- c6gd.metal
- c6gd.xlarge
- d2.2xlarge
- d2.4xlarge
- d2.8xlarge
- d2.xlarge
- g2.2xlarge
- g2.8xlarge
- g3.16xlarge
- g3.4xlarge
- g3.8xlarge
- g4dn.12xlarge
- g4dn.16xlarge
- g4dn.2xlarge
- g4dn.4xlarge
- g4dn.8xlarge
- g4dn.metal
- g4dn.xlarge
- i2.2xlarge
- i2.4xlarge
- i2.8xlarge
- i2.xlarge
- i3.16xlarge
- i3.2xlarge
- i3.4xlarge
- i3.8xlarge
- i3.large
- i3.metal
- i3.xlarge
- i3en.12xlarge
- i3en.24xlarge
- i3en.2xlarge
- i3en.3xlarge
- i3en.6xlarge
- i3en.large
- i3en.metal
- i3en.xlarge
- inf1.24xlarge
- inf1.2xlarge
- inf1.6xlarge
- inf1.xlarge
- m1.large
- m1.medium
- m1.small
- m1.xlarge
- m2.2xlarge
- m2.4xlarge
- m2.xlarge
- m3.2xlarge
- m3.large
- m3.medium
- m3.xlarge
- m4.10xlarge
- m4.16xlarge
- m4.2xlarge
- m4.4xlarge
- m4.large
- m4.xlarge
- m5.12xlarge
- m5.16xlarge
- m5.24xlarge
- m5.2xlarge
- m5.4xlarge
- m5.8xlarge
- m5.large
- m5.metal
- m5.xlarge
- m5a.12xlarge
- m5a.16xlarge
- m5a.24xlarge
- m5a.2xlarge
- m5a.4xlarge
- m5a.8xlarge
- m5a.large
- m5a.xlarge
- m5ad.12xlarge
- m5ad.16xlarge
- m5ad.24xlarge
- m5ad.2xlarge
- m5ad.4xlarge
- m5ad.8xlarge
- m5ad.large
- m5ad.xlarge
- m5d.12xlarge
- m5d.16xlarge
- m5d.24xlarge
- m5d.2xlarge
- m5d.4xlarge
- m5d.8xlarge
- m5d.large
- m5d.metal
- m5d.xlarge
- m5zn.12xlarge
- m5zn.2xlarge
- m5zn.3xlarge
- m5zn.6xlarge
- m5zn.large
- m5zn.metal
- m5zn.xlarge
- m6g.12xlarge
- m6g.16xlarge
- m6g.2xlarge
- m6g.4xlarge
- m6g.8xlarge
- m6g.large
- m6g.medium
- m6g.metal
- m6g.xlarge
- m6gd.12xlarge
- m6gd.16xlarge
- m6gd.2xlarge
- m6gd.4xlarge
- m6gd.8xlarge
- m6gd.large
- m6gd.medium
- m6gd.metal
- m6gd.xlarge
- m6i.12xlarge
- m6i.16xlarge
- m6i.24xlarge
- m6i.2xlarge
- m6i.32xlarge
- m6i.4xlarge
- m6i.8xlarge
- m6i.large
- m6i.metal
- m6i.xlarge
- r3.2xlarge
- r3.4xlarge
- r3.8xlarge
- r3.large
- r3.xlarge
- r4.16xlarge
- r4.2xlarge
- r4.4xlarge
- r4.8xlarge
- r4.large
- r4.xlarge
- r5.12xlarge
- r5.16xlarge
- r5.24xlarge
- r5.2xlarge
- r5.4xlarge
- r5.8xlarge
- r5.large
- r5.metal
- r5.xlarge
- r5a.12xlarge
- r5a.16xlarge
- r5a.24xlarge
- r5a.2xlarge
- r5a.4xlarge
- r5a.8xlarge
- r5a.large
- r5a.xlarge
- r5ad.12xlarge
- r5ad.16xlarge
- r5ad.24xlarge
- r5ad.2xlarge
- r5ad.4xlarge
- r5ad.8xlarge
- r5ad.large
- r5ad.xlarge
- r5d.12xlarge
- r5d.16xlarge
- r5d.24xlarge
- r5d.2xlarge
- r5d.4xlarge
- r5d.8xlarge
- r5d.large
- r5d.metal
- r5d.xlarge
- r5n.12xlarge
- r5n.16xlarge
- r5n.24xlarge
- r5n.2xlarge
- r5n.4xlarge
- r5n.8xlarge
- r5n.large
- r5n.metal
- r5n.xlarge
- r6g.12xlarge
- r6g.16xlarge
- r6g.2xlarge
- r6g.4xlarge
- r6g.8xlarge
- r6g.large
- r6g.medium
- r6g.metal
- r6g.xlarge
- r6gd.12xlarge
- r6gd.16xlarge
- r6gd.2xlarge
- r6gd.4xlarge
- r6gd.8xlarge
- r6gd.large
- r6gd.medium
- r6gd.metal
- r6gd.xlarge
- t1.micro
- t2.2xlarge
- t2.large
- t2.medium
- t2.micro
- t2.nano
- t2.small
- t2.xlarge
- t3.2xlarge
- t3.large
- t3.medium
- t3.micro
- t3.nano
- t3.small
- t3.xlarge
- t3a.2xlarge
- t3a.large
- t3a.medium
- t3a.micro
- t3a.nano
- t3a.small
- t3a.xlarge
- t4g.2xlarge
- t4g.large
- t4g.medium
- t4g.micro
- t4g.nano
- t4g.small
- t4g.xlarge
- z1d.12xlarge
- z1d.2xlarge
- z1d.3xlarge
- z1d.6xlarge
- z1d.large
- z1d.metal
- z1d.xlargeWhen this parameter is included in a template deployed by Octopus, the list of available options is displayed in a drop down list:
Conclusion
EC2s have dozens of instance types, and providing a list of options to those deploying a CloudFormation template removes the need to refer to external documentation.
In this post, you learned how to build a CloudFormation parameter in YAML with a complete list of instance types, ready to be copied into your CloudFormation templates.
We have other posts about CloudFormation you might find helpful too.
Read the rest of our Runbooks series.
Happy deployments!
Related posts
The State of GitOps report: Exploring effective GitOps
Key insights from the first State of GitOps report based on 660 survey responses. Learn how high-performing teams achieve better software delivery, increased reliability, and stronger security through 6 essential GitOps practices.
Inside DevOps with Oluwateniola Olubowale from United Capital
A series where we share lessons learned from those on the frontlines of DevOps. This post features Oluwateniola Olubowale, DevOps Engineer at United Capital.
Beyond skeleton pipelines: who owns your software pipeline?
Most teams have basic CI/CD pipelines that work but never improve. Without clear ownership, these 'skeleton pipelines' become bottlenecks instead of enablers.
