Add an AWS AMI to Kion

AMIs are used to create EC2 instances via a disk snapshot, which can be shared to AWS accounts. Kion can be used to facilitate sharing AMIs between AWS accounts. Once an AMI is shared with an AWS account through Kion, users of the AWS account can launch an EC2 based on the AMI.

Note: An AMI must already exist in an AWS account before it can be shared in Kion. This process does not create new AMIs.

To add an AWS AMI to Kion:

1. Navigate to Automation > Cloud Rules > AWS AMIs.

2. Click Add New.

3. Enter a name to identify the AWS AMI throughout the application. This field must be unique among AWS AMIs.

4. Enable Sync Tags to duplicate all tags on the source AMI across all accounts where the AMI is shared, providing accurate tagging from the source without duplicating effort. This will override any tags set in the AMI locally.

5. (Optional) Enter a description for the AMI.

6. Select the account where the AMI is located.

7. Select the region where the AMI exists. AMIs cannot be shared across regions.

8. Select the AMI you want to share. The list automatically populates based on the account and region values.

9. Select at least one user or user group to have ownership of the AMI.

10. (Optional) Select Set a date to stop sharing AMIs with accounts via cloud rules and choose the date. When sharing expires, the AMI remains on the cloud rule but is no longer deployed. If this option is enabled, you can also select Specify deprecation date in AWS console, notify project owners (with an in-app and email notification) when sharing expires or is about to expire, and display an alert when sharing is about to expire.

11. Click Manage AMI.

Once you have added an AWS AMI to Kion, you can use cloud rules to make it available to OUs, projects, and accounts. For more information, see Create a Cloud Rule.