DescribeInstances

The DescribeInstances operation returns information about instances that you own.

If you specify one or more instance IDs, Amazon EC2 returns information for those instances. If you do not specify instance IDs, Amazon EC2 returns information for all relevant instances. If you specify an invalid instance ID, a fault is returned. If you specify an instance that you do not own, it will not be included in the returned results.

Recently terminated instances might appear in the returned results. This interval is usually less than one hour.

The following table describes the request parameters for DescribeInstances. Parameter names are case sensitive.

NameDescriptionRequired

InstanceId.n

Set of instances IDs to get the status of.

Type: String

No

The following table describes the default response tags included in DescribeInstances responses.

NameDescription

reservationSet

A list of structures describing the status of all requested instances.

Type: ec2:ReservationInfoType

https://ec2.amazonaws.com/
?Action=DescribeInstances
&InstanceId.1=i-28a64341
&...auth parameters...
<DescribeInstancesResponse xmlns="http://ec2.amazonaws.com/doc/2007-08-29">
  <reservationSet>
    <item>
      <reservationId>r-44a5402d</reservationId>
      <ownerId>UYY3TLBUXIEON5NQVUUX6OMPWBZIQNFM</ownerId>
      <groupSet>
        <item>
          <groupId>default</groupId>
        </item>
      </groupSet>
      <instancesSet>
        <item>
          <instanceId>i-28a64341</instanceId>
          <imageId>ami-6ea54007</imageId>
          <instanceState>
            <code>0</code>
            <name>running</name>
          </instanceState>
	  <privateDnsName>domU-12-31-35-00-1E-01.compute-1.internal</privateDnsName>
	  <dnsName>ec2-72-44-33-4.compute-1.amazonaws.com</dnsName>
          <keyName>example-key-name</keyName>
          <productCodesSet>
            <item><productCode>774F4FF8</productCode></item>
          </productCodesSet>
          <InstanceType>m1.small</InstanceType>
	  <launchTime>2007-08-07T11:54:42.000Z</launchTime>             
        </item>
      </instancesSet>
    </item>
  </reservationSet>
</DescribeInstancesResponse>