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Copy EBS Snapshots Actions
Matt Houser avatar
Written by Matt Houser
Updated over 6 years ago

Description

The Copy EBS Snapshot action will copy one or more snapshots within a single region, or from one region to another. For example, using this action, all snapshots newer than 3 days can be copied from Oregon to Ireland.

Settings

Please see Common Action Settings for a description of settings common to all action types.

Snapshot Identification Method

Indicates the method with which to identify which EBS snapshot is to be copied. Valid options are:

  • By Snapshot ID - Copies a single snapshot by it's ID

  • By Volume ID - Copies all snapshots created from a single EBS volume

  • By EC2 Tag - Copies all snapshots that match an EC2 tag value

  • All - Copies all snapshots

EBS Snapshot Id

Required if Snapshot Identification Method is "By Snapshot Id". Indicates the ID of the EBS snapshot to be copied. The EBS snapshot must reside in the source region.

EBS Volume Id

Required if Snapshot Identification Method is "By Volume Id". Indicates the ID of the EBS volume whose snapshots will be copied. The EBS volume must reside in the source region.

EC2 Tag Name

Required if Snapshot Identification Method is "By EC2 Tag". Indicates the name of the EC2 tag used to compare.

EC2 Tag Value

Required if Snapshot Identification Method is "By EC2 Tag". Indicates the value of the EC2 tag used to compare.

Newer Than

Indicates the number of days back from the execution time of the action in which any snapshots created will be copied.

Target Region

Indicates the region in which a new EBS snapshot should be created which is a copy of the original.

Description

When copying the snapshot, the new snapshot will have a new description applied. Specify the new description in this field. Macros can be used to include run-time data. See below.

Copy EC2 Tags

When enabled, any EC2 resource tags associated with the source EBS snapshot will be copied to the new EBS snapshot.

Extra EC2 Tags

Optional. Extra EC2 tags can be assigned to the new snapshot. Click "Add Tag" to add a tag and fill the tag data. Any number of tags can be set, although Amazon EC2 has a limit of 10 (including the Name tag). Macros can be used in the tag values to include run-time data. See below.

Prevent Duplicates

When enabled, new target snapshots will be tagged with the originating snapshot. During subsequent copy attempts, these tags will be compared to determine if the original snapshot has already been copied. If a snapshot is found to have the appropriate tag, the original snapshot will not be re-copied.

Macros

The following macros can be used to include some run-time information.

$(DATE)

Date of snapshot in year-month-day format

$(TIME)

Time of snapshot in 24-hour format

$(DOW)

Day of the week, as a short name.

  • Sun

  • Mon

  • Tue

  • Wed

  • Thu

  • Fri

  • Sat

$(DAYOFWEEK)

Day of the week, as a long name.

  • Sunday

  • Monday

  • Tuesday

  • Wednesday

  • Thursday

  • Friday

  • Saturday

$(DAYOFMONTH)

Day of the month.

$(WEEKOFMONTH)

Week of the month, starting at day 1 of the month.

  • Day 1 - 7 is week 1

  • Day 8 - 14 is week 2

  • Day 15 - 21 is week 3

  • Day 22 - 28 is week 4

  • Day 29 - 31 is week 5

$(INVWEEKOFMONTH)

Week to the end of the month, ending at the last day of the month. For example, for a 31-day month:

  • Day 25 - 31 is week 1

  • Day 18 - 24 is week 2

  • Day 11 - 17 is week 3

  • Day 4 - 10 is week 4

  • Day 1 - 3 is week 5

$(MOY)

Month of the year, as a short name.

  • Jan

  • Feb

  • Mar

  • Apr

  • May

  • Jun

  • Jul

  • Aug

  • Sep

  • Oct

  • Nov

  • Dec

$(MONTHOFYEAR)

Month of the year, as a long name.

  • January

  • February

  • March

  • April

  • May

  • June

  • July

  • August

  • September

  • October

  • November

  • December

$(SNAPSHOTID)

ID of the original snapshot.

$(DESCRIPTION)

Description of the original snapshot.

$(REGION)

Region of the original snapshot.

Macros are case-sensitive. For example, $(Time) is not valid. $(TIME) must be used.

Amazon Commands Used

The following Amazon AWS commands are used. The access key should have permission to execute all of them.

  • ec2:CopySnapshot

  • ec2:DescribeSnapshots

  • ec2:CreateTags

  • ec2:DescribeTags

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