Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
API Reference (API Version 2011-12-15)
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Document History

This documentation is associated with the 2011-12-15 release of Amazon EC2. This guide was last updated on 30 December 2011.

The following table describes the important changes since the last release of the Amazon EC2 documentation set.

ChangeDescriptionRelease Date

Instance Status Checks

Starting with API version 2011-12-15, you can use the DescribeInstanceStatus action to retrieve results of automated checks performed by Amazon EC2. These status checks detect problems that may impair an instance’s ability to run your applications. You can use ReportInstanceStatus to send us feedback or report an inaccurate instance status.

30 December 2011

Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) for Amazon EC2 Instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Starting with API version 2011-12-01, you can attach an elastic network interface (ENI) to an EC2 instance in a VPC. For more information, see:

21 December 2011

New Offering Types for Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances

Starting with API version 2011-11-01, you can use the new offering-type parameter of DescribeReservedInstancesOfferings to identify the Reserved Instance offerings that address your projected use: Heavy Utilization, Medium Utilization, and Light Utilization. See DescribeReservedInstancesOfferings.

01 December 2011

Support for Amazon EC2 Instance Status

The Request Parameters API action allows you to view the status of your instances and any upcoming scheduled events.

14 November 2011

Support for Amazon EC2 Spot Instances in Amazon VPC

The RequestSpotInstances action is updated with the subnet option, which enables you to specify an Amazon VPC subnet into which to launch your Spot Instances.

11 October 2011

Support for VHD file format added to the 2011-07-15 API version

We've added VHD as one of the VM file formats supported for import into Amazon EC2. See the API actions ImportInstance and ImportVolume, and the CLI commands ec2-import-instance and ec2-import-volume.

24 August 2011

Updates for the 2011-07-15 API version

We've added one new data type, VpnTunnelTelemetryType, for the 2011-07-15 API release.

03 August 2011

Temporary Security Credentials

We've added one new common request parameter, SecurityToken, that supports temporary security credentials. For more information, see Common Query Parameters or go to Using Temporary Security Credentials in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

03 August 2011

Spot Instances Availability Zone pricing changes

We've updated several actions that explain API changes for the Spot Instances Availability Zone pricing feature. We've also added new Availability Zone pricing options as part of the information returned by Spot Instance Requests and Spot Price History API calls.

26 May 2011

Updates for the 2011-05-15 API Version

We've updated several existing actions for the 2011-05-15 API release.

26 May 2011

Dedicated Instances

As part of the Dedicated Instances feature release, we've added new options related to the tenancy attribute of instances, and the instance tenancy attribute of VPCs.

27 March 2011

Updates for the 2011-02-28 API version

We've updated several existing actions for the 2011-02-28 API release.

27 March 2011

Updates for the 2011-01-01 API version

We've added new actions and updated several existing actions for the 2011-01-01 API release. The new and updated actions are related to these Amazon VPC objects: Internet gateways, route tables, network ACLs, VPC security groups, and VPC Elastic IP addresses.

11 March 2011

Merged Amazon VPC Documentation

We've merged the Amazon VPC actions into this guide.

11 March 2011

VM Import

Added the following new actions, which allow you to import a virtual machine or volume into Amazon EC2:

15 December 2010

Consolidated Documentation

We've consolidated the Query and SOAP API topics. See Actions.

06 December 2010

Parameters for ModifyImageAttribute and ModifyInstanceAttribute

Updated the list of Query parameters for ModifyImageAttribute and for ModifyInstanceAttribute.

20 November 2010

Modifying Block Device Mapping

Removed information from ModifyInstanceAttribute about modifying an instance's block device mapping attribute. You currently can't modify an instance's block device mapping with this action.

20 November 2010

Filters and Tags

Added information about filters to many of the describe actions.

Added information about creating, describing, and deleting tags.

For more information about the API actions for tags, see CreateTags, DeleteTags, and DescribeTags.

19 September 2010

Idempotent Instance Launch

Updated RunInstances to include a ClientToken parameter to ensure idempotency.

For more information about the change to RunInstances, see RunInstances.

19 September 2010

Import Key Pair

Added ImportKeyPair .

For more information, see ImportKeyPair.

19 September 2010

Placement Groups for Cluster Compute Instances

Added information about placement groups, which you use with cluster compute instances.

For more information about the API actions for placement groups, see CreatePlacementGroup, DescribePlacementGroups, and DeletePlacementGroup.

12 July 2010

Amazon VPC IP Address Designation

Amazon VPC users can now specify the IP address to assign an instance launched in a VPC.

For information about using the PrivateIpAddress parameter with the RunInstances action, see RunInstances.

12 July 2010

Error List Update

Updated the list of errors to include Client.Blocked, Client.InsufficientInstanceCapacity, Client.PendingVerification, and Client.Unsupported. For more information, see Error Codes.

21 May 2010

Security Group Permissions

Clarified the information about authorizing security group permissions. For more information, see AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress.

28 April 2010

New Region

Amazon EC2 now supports the Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region. The new endpoint for requests to this Region is ec2.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com.

28 April 2010

Clarification about Spot Instances

Clarified that you can't stop and start Spot Instances that use an Amazon EBS root device. For more information about stopping instances, see StopInstances.

1 February 2010

Spot Instances

To support customers that use Amazon EC2 instances, but have more flexible usage requirements (e.g., when instances run, how long they run, or whether usage completes within a specific timeframe), Amazon EC2 now provides Spot Instances. A Spot Instance is an instance that Amazon EC2 automatically runs for you when its maximum price is greater than the Spot Price. For conceptual information about Spot Instances, go to the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.

14 December 2009