ec2-describe-instances

ec2-describe-instances [instance_id|availability-zone ...]

Describes the current state of the specified instance(s). If you do not specify instances, all your instances are included in the output.

OptionDescriptionRequired

instance_id

Instance identifier that was generated when the instance launched.

Example: r-15a4417c

No

availability-zone

Returns instances within the specified availability zone.

Example: us-east-1a

No

Amazon EC2 returns a table that contains the following information:

Amazon EC2 displays errors on stderr.

This example describes the current state of the instances (currently one) owned by this user.

$ ec2-describe-instances

RESERVATION r-15a4417c 495219933132 

INSTANCE i-3ea74257 ami-6ba54002 ec2-72-44-33-4.compute-1.amazonaws.com 10-251-50-154.ec2.internal running 0 774F4FF8 m1.small 2007-07-11T16:40:44+0000   aki-ba3adfd3   ari-badbad00   us-east-1a

INSTANCE i-31a74258 ami-6ba54002 ec2-72-44-34-23.compute-1.amazonaws.com 10-251-50-156.ec2.internal running 1 m1.small 2007-07-11T16:40:44+0000   aki-ba3adfd3   ari-badbad00   us-east-1a