How to get the list of Nitro system based EC2 instance type by CLI?

Question

I know this page lists up the instance types which based on Nitro system but I would like to know the list in a dynamic way with CLI. (for example, using aws ec2 describe-instances). Is it possible to get Nitro based instance type other than parsing the static page? If so, could you tell me the how?

Answer 1

You'd have to write a bit of additional code to get that information. aws ec2 describe-instances will give you InstanceType property. You should use a programming language to parse the JSON, extract InstanceType and then call describe-instances like so: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ec2/describe-instance-types.html?highlight=nitro

From the JSON you get back, extract hypervisor. That'll give you Nitro if the instance is Nitro.

Here's a Python code that might work. I have not tested it fully but you can tweak this to get the results you want.

"""List all EC2 instances"""
import boto3

def ec2_connection():
    """Connect to AWS using API"""

    region = 'us-east-2'

    aws_key = 'xxx'
    aws_secret = 'xxx'

    session = boto3.Session(
        aws_access_key_id = aws_key,
        aws_secret_access_key = aws_secret
    )

    ec2 = session.client('ec2', region_name = region)

    return ec2


def get_reservations(ec2):
    """Get a list of instances as a dictionary"""

    response = ec2.describe_instances()

    return response['Reservations']


def process_instances(reservations, ec2):
    """Print a colorful list of IPs and instances"""

    if len(reservations) == 0:
        print('No instance found. Quitting')
        return

    for reservation in reservations:
        for instance in reservation['Instances']:

            # get friendly name of the server
            # only try this for mysql1.local server
            friendly_name = get_friendly_name(instance)
            if friendly_name.lower() != 'mysql1.local':
                continue

            # get the hypervisor based on the instance type
            instance_type = get_instance_info(instance['InstanceType'], ec2)

            # print findings
            print(f'{friendly_name} // {instance["InstanceType"]} is {instance_type}')
            break


def get_instance_info(instance_type, ec2):
    """Get hypervisor from the instance type"""

    response = ec2.describe_instance_types(
        InstanceTypes=[instance_type]
    )

    return response['InstanceTypes'][0]['Hypervisor']


def get_friendly_name(instance):
    """Get friendly name of the instance"""

    tags = instance['Tags']
    for tag in tags:
        if tag['Key'] == 'Name':
            return tag['Value']

    return 'Unknown'


def run():
    """Main method to call"""

    ec2 = ec2_connection()
    reservations = get_reservations(ec2)
    process_instances(reservations, ec2)


if __name__ == '__main__':

    run()
    print('Done')