**To launch an instance in EC2-Classic**

This example launches a single instance of type ``c3.large``.

The key pair and security group, named ``MyKeyPair`` and ``MySecurityGroup``, must exist.

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-1a2b3c4d --count 1 --instance-type c3.large --key-name MyKeyPair --security-groups MySecurityGroup

Output::

  {
      "OwnerId": "123456789012",
      "ReservationId": "r-08626e73c547023b1",
      "Groups": [
          {
              "GroupName": "MySecurityGroup",
              "GroupId": "sg-903004f8"
          }
      ],
      "Instances": [
          {
              "Monitoring": {
                  "State": "disabled"
              },
              "PublicDnsName": null,
              "RootDeviceType": "ebs",
              "State": {
                  "Code": 0,
                  "Name": "pending"
              },
              "EbsOptimized": false,
              "LaunchTime": "2013-07-19T02:42:39.000Z",
              "ProductCodes": [],
              "StateTransitionReason": null, 
              "InstanceId": "i-1234567890abcdef0",
              "ImageId": "ami-1a2b3c4d",
              "PrivateDnsName": null,
              "KeyName": "MyKeyPair",
              "SecurityGroups": [
                  {
                      "GroupName": "MySecurityGroup",
                      "GroupId": "sg-903004f8"
                  }
              ],
              "ClientToken": null,
              "InstanceType": "c3.large",
              "NetworkInterfaces": [],
              "Placement": {
                  "Tenancy": "default",
                  "GroupName": null,
                  "AvailabilityZone": "us-east-1b"
              },
              "Hypervisor": "xen",
              "BlockDeviceMappings": [],
              "Architecture": "x86_64",
              "StateReason": {
                  "Message": "pending",
                  "Code": "pending"
              },
              "RootDeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
              "VirtualizationType": "hvm",
              "AmiLaunchIndex": 0
          }
      ]
  }

**To launch an instance in EC2-VPC**

This example launches a single instance of type ``t2.micro`` into the specified subnet.

The key pair named ``MyKeyPair`` and the security group sg-903004f8 must exist.

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-abc12345 --count 1 --instance-type t2.micro --key-name MyKeyPair --security-group-ids sg-903004f8 --subnet-id subnet-6e7f829e

Output::

  {
      "OwnerId": "123456789012",
      "ReservationId": "r-08626e73c547023b2",
      "Groups": [],
      "Instances": [
          {
              "Monitoring": {
                  "State": "disabled"
              },
              "PublicDnsName": null,
              "RootDeviceType": "ebs",
              "State": {
                  "Code": 0,
                  "Name": "pending"
              },
              "EbsOptimized": false,
              "LaunchTime": "2013-07-19T02:42:39.000Z",
              "PrivateIpAddress": "10.0.1.114",
              "ProductCodes": [],
              "VpcId": "vpc-1a2b3c4d",
              "InstanceId": "i-1234567890abcdef5",
              "ImageId": "ami-abc12345",
              "PrivateDnsName": "ip-10-0-1-114.ec2.internal",
              "KeyName": "MyKeyPair",
              "SecurityGroups": [
                  {
                      "GroupName": "MySecurityGroup",
                      "GroupId": "sg-903004f8"
                  }
              ],
              "ClientToken": null,
              "SubnetId": "subnet-6e7f829e",
              "InstanceType": "t2.micro",
              "NetworkInterfaces": [
                  {
                      "Status": "in-use",
                      "MacAddress": "0e:ad:05:3b:60:52",
                      "SourceDestCheck": true,
                      "VpcId": "vpc-1a2b3c4d",
                      "Description": "null",
                      "NetworkInterfaceId": "eni-a7edb1c9",
                      "PrivateIpAddresses": [
                          {
                              "PrivateDnsName": "ip-10-0-1-114.ec2.internal",
                              "Primary": true,
                              "PrivateIpAddress": "10.0.1.114"
                          }
                      ],
                      "Ipv6Addresses": [],
                      "PrivateDnsName": "ip-10-0-1-114.ec2.internal",
                      "Attachment": {
                          "Status": "attached",
                          "DeviceIndex": 0,
                          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
                          "AttachmentId": "eni-attach-52193138",
                          "AttachTime": "2013-07-19T02:42:39.000Z"
                      },
                      "Groups": [
                          {
                              "GroupName": "MySecurityGroup",
                              "GroupId": "sg-903004f8"
                          }
                      ],
                      "SubnetId": "subnet-6e7f829e",
                      "OwnerId": "123456789012",
                      "PrivateIpAddress": "10.0.1.114"
                  }
              ],
              "SourceDestCheck": true,
              "Placement": {
                  "Tenancy": "default",
                  "GroupName": null,
                  "AvailabilityZone": "us-east-1b"
              },
              "Hypervisor": "xen",
              "BlockDeviceMappings": [],
              "Architecture": "x86_64",
              "StateReason": {
                  "Message": "pending",
                  "Code": "pending"
              },
              "RootDeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
              "VirtualizationType": "hvm",
              "AmiLaunchIndex": 0
          }
      ]
  }

The following example requests a public IP address for an instance that you're launching into a nondefault subnet:

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-c3b8d6aa --count 1 --instance-type t2.medium --key-name MyKeyPair --security-group-ids sg-903004f8 --subnet-id subnet-6e7f829e --associate-public-ip-address

**To launch an instance using a block device mapping**

Add the following parameter to your ``run-instances`` command to specify block devices::

  --block-device-mappings file://mapping.json

To add an Amazon EBS volume with the device name ``/dev/sdh`` and a volume size of 100, specify the following in mapping.json::

  [
    {
      "DeviceName": "/dev/sdh",
      "Ebs": {
        "VolumeSize": 100
      }
    }
  ]

To add ``ephemeral1`` as an instance store volume with the device name ``/dev/sdc``, specify the following in mapping.json::

  [
    {
      "DeviceName": "/dev/sdc",
      "VirtualName": "ephemeral1"
    }
  ]

To omit a device specified by the AMI used to launch the instance (for example, ``/dev/sdf``), specify the following in mapping.json::

  [
    {
      "DeviceName": "/dev/sdf",
      "NoDevice": ""
    }
  ]

You can view only the Amazon EBS volumes in your block device mapping using the console or the ``describe-instances`` command. To view all volumes, including the instance store volumes, use the following command.

Command::

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

Output::

  ami
  ephemeral1

Note that ``ami`` represents the root volume. To get details about the instance store volume ``ephemeral1``, use the following command.

Command::

  curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/block-device-mapping/ephemeral1

Output::

  sdc

**To launch an instance with a modified block device mapping**

You can change individual characteristics of existing AMI block device mappings to suit your needs. Perhaps you want to use an existing AMI, but you want a larger root volume than the usual 8 GiB. Or, you would like to use a General Purpose (SSD) volume for an AMI that currently uses a Magnetic volume.

Use the ``describe-images`` command with the image ID of the AMI you want to use to find its existing block device mapping. You should see a block device mapping in the output::

  {
    "DeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
    "Ebs": {
      "DeleteOnTermination": true,
      "SnapshotId": "snap-1234567890abcdef0",
      "VolumeSize": 8,
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "Encrypted": false
    }
  }

You can modify the above mapping by changing the individual parameters. For example, to launch an instance with a modified block device mapping, add the following parameter to your ``run-instances`` command to change the above mapping's volume size and type::

  --block-device-mappings file://mapping.json

Where mapping.json contains the following::

  [
    {
      "DeviceName": "/dev/sda1",
      "Ebs": {
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "SnapshotId": "snap-1234567890abcdef0", 
        "VolumeSize": 100,
        "VolumeType": "gp2"
      }
    }
  ]

**To launch an instance with user data**

You can launch an instance and specify user data that performs instance configuration, or that runs a script. The user data needs to be passed as normal string, base64 encoding is handled internally. The following example passes user data in a file called ``my_script.txt`` that contains a configuration script for your instance. The script runs at launch.

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-abc1234 --count 1 --instance-type m4.large --key-name keypair --user-data file://my_script.txt --subnet-id subnet-abcd1234 --security-group-ids sg-abcd1234 

For more information about launching instances, see `Using Amazon EC2 Instances`_ in the *AWS Command Line Interface User Guide*.

.. _`Using Amazon EC2 Instances`: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-ec2-launch.html

**To launch an instance with an instance profile**

This example shows the use of the ``iam-instance-profile`` option to specify an `IAM instance profile`_ by name.

.. _`IAM instance profile`: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/iam-roles-for-amazon-ec2.html

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --iam-instance-profile Name=MyInstanceProfile --image-id ami-1a2b3c4d --count 1 --instance-type t2.micro --key-name MyKeyPair --security-groups MySecurityGroup

**To launch an instance with tags**

You can launch an instance and specify tags for the instance, volumes, or both. The following example applies a tag with a key of ``webserver`` and value of ``production`` to the instance. The command also applies a tag with a key of ``cost-center`` and a value of ``cc123`` to any EBS volume that's created (in this case, the root volume).

Command::

  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-abc12345 --count 1 --instance-type t2.micro --key-name MyKeyPair --subnet-id subnet-6e7f829e --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=webserver,Value=production}]' 'ResourceType=volume,Tags=[{Key=cost-center,Value=cc123}]' 
  
**To launch an instance with the credit option for CPU usage of "unlimited"**
  
You can launch an instance and specify the credit option for CPU usage for the instance. If you do not specify the credit option, the instance launches with the default "standard" credit option. The following example launches a t2.micro instance with the "unlimited" credit option.
  
Command::
  
  aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-abc12345 --count 1 --instance-type t2.micro --key-name MyKeyPair --credit-specification CpuCredits=unlimited