amazon.aws.ec2_key module – Create or delete an EC2 key pair

Note

This module is part of the amazon.aws collection (version 9.0.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: amazon.aws.ec2_key.

New in amazon.aws 1.0.0

Synopsis

  • Create or delete an EC2 key pair.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 3.6

  • boto3 >= 1.28.0

  • botocore >= 1.31.0

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

access_key

aliases: aws_access_key_id, aws_access_key, ec2_access_key

string

AWS access key ID.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_ACCESS_KEY or EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The aws_access_key and profile options are mutually exclusive.

The aws_access_key_id alias was added in release 5.1.0 for consistency with the AWS botocore SDK.

The ec2_access_key alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

aws_ca_bundle

path

The location of a CA Bundle to use when validating SSL certificates.

The AWS_CA_BUNDLE environment variable may also be used.

aws_config

dictionary

A dictionary to modify the botocore configuration.

Parameters can be found in the AWS documentation https://botocore.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/reference/config.html#botocore.config.Config.

debug_botocore_endpoint_logs

boolean

Use a botocore.endpoint logger to parse the unique (rather than total) "resource:action" API calls made during a task, outputing the set to the resource_actions key in the task results. Use the aws_resource_action callback to output to total list made during a playbook.

The ANSIBLE_DEBUG_BOTOCORE_LOGS environment variable may also be used.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

endpoint_url

aliases: ec2_url, aws_endpoint_url, s3_url

string

URL to connect to instead of the default AWS endpoints. While this can be used to connection to other AWS-compatible services the amazon.aws and community.aws collections are only tested against AWS.

The AWS_URL or EC2_URL environment variables may also be used, in decreasing order of preference.

The ec2_url and s3_url aliases have been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_URL environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

file_name

path

added in amazon.aws 6.4.0

Name of the file where the generated private key will be saved.

When provided, the key.private_key attribute will be removed from the return value.

The file is written out on the ‘host’ side rather than the ‘controller’ side.

Ignored when state=absent or key_material is provided.

force

boolean

Force overwrite of already existing key pair if key has changed.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

key_material

string

Public key material.

key_type

string

added in amazon.aws 3.1.0

The type of key pair to create.

Note that ED25519 keys are not supported for Windows instances, EC2 Instance Connect, and EC2 Serial Console.

By default Amazon will create an RSA key.

Mutually exclusive with parameter key_material.

Choices:

  • "rsa"

  • "ed25519"

name

string / required

Name of the key pair.

profile

aliases: aws_profile

string

A named AWS profile to use for authentication.

See the AWS documentation for more information about named profiles https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-configure-profiles.html.

The AWS_PROFILE environment variable may also be used.

The profile option is mutually exclusive with the aws_access_key, aws_secret_key and security_token options.

purge_tags

boolean

If purge_tags=true and tags is set, existing tags will be purged from the resource to match exactly what is defined by tags parameter.

If the tags parameter is not set then tags will not be modified, even if purge_tags=True.

Tag keys beginning with aws: are reserved by Amazon and can not be modified. As such they will be ignored for the purposes of the purge_tags parameter. See the Amazon documentation for more information https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws_tagging.html#tag-conventions.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

region

aliases: aws_region, ec2_region

string

The AWS region to use.

For global services such as IAM, Route53 and CloudFront, region is ignored.

The AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION environment variables may also be used.

See the Amazon AWS documentation for more information http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region.

The ec2_region alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01

Support for the EC2_REGION environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

secret_key

aliases: aws_secret_access_key, aws_secret_key, ec2_secret_key

string

AWS secret access key.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_KEY, or EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The secret_key and profile options are mutually exclusive.

The aws_secret_access_key alias was added in release 5.1.0 for consistency with the AWS botocore SDK.

The ec2_secret_key alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

session_token

aliases: aws_session_token, security_token, aws_security_token, access_token

string

AWS STS session token for use with temporary credentials.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_SESSION_TOKEN, AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN or EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The security_token and profile options are mutually exclusive.

Aliases aws_session_token and session_token were added in release 3.2.0, with the parameter being renamed from security_token to session_token in release 6.0.0.

The security_token, aws_security_token, and access_token aliases have been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_SECRET_KEY and AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variables has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

state

string

Create or delete keypair.

Choices:

  • "present" ← (default)

  • "absent"

tags

aliases: resource_tags

dictionary

A dictionary representing the tags to be applied to the resource.

If the tags parameter is not set then tags will not be modified.

validate_certs

boolean

When set to false, SSL certificates will not be validated for communication with the AWS APIs.

Setting validate_certs=false is strongly discouraged, as an alternative, consider setting aws_ca_bundle instead.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Notes

Note

  • Support for tags and purge_tags was added in release 2.1.0.

  • For security reasons, this module should be used with no_log=true and (register) functionalities when creating new key pair without providing key_material.

  • Caution: For modules, environment variables and configuration files are read from the Ansible ‘host’ context and not the ‘controller’ context. As such, files may need to be explicitly copied to the ‘host’. For lookup and connection plugins, environment variables and configuration files are read from the Ansible ‘controller’ context and not the ‘host’ context.

  • The AWS SDK (boto3) that Ansible uses may also read defaults for credentials and other settings, such as the region, from its configuration files in the Ansible ‘host’ context (typically ~/.aws/credentials). See https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/guide/credentials.html for more information.

Examples

# Note: These examples do not set authentication details, see the AWS Guide for details.

- name: create a new EC2 key pair, returns generated private key
  # use no_log to avoid private key being displayed into output
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_keypair
  no_log: true
  register: aws_ec2_key_pair

- name: create key pair using provided key_material
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_keypair
    key_material: 'ssh-rsa AAAAxyz...== me@example.com'

- name: create key pair using key_material obtained using 'file' lookup plugin
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_keypair
    key_material: "{{ lookup('file', '/path/to/public_key/id_rsa.pub') }}"

- name: Create ED25519 key pair and save private key into a file
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_keypair
    key_type: ed25519
    file_name: /tmp/aws_ssh_rsa

# try creating a key pair with the name of an already existing keypair
# but don't overwrite it even if the key is different (force=false)
- name: try creating a key pair with name of an already existing keypair
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_existing_keypair
    key_material: 'ssh-rsa AAAAxyz...== me@example.com'
    force: false

- name: remove key pair from AWS by name
  amazon.aws.ec2_key:
    name: my_keypair
    state: absent

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

changed

boolean

Whether a keypair was created/deleted.

Returned: always

Sample: true

key

complex

Details of the keypair (this is set to null when state is absent).

Returned: always

fingerprint

string

Fingerprint of the key.

Returned: when state=present

Sample: "b0:22:49:61:d9:44:9d:0c:7e:ac:8a:32:93:21:6c:e8:fb:59:62:43"

id

string

Id of the keypair.

Returned: when state=present

Sample: "key-123456789abc"

name

string

Name of the keypair.

Returned: when state=present

Sample: "my_keypair"

private_key

string

Private key of a newly created keypair.

Returned: when a new keypair is created by AWS (key_material is not provided) and file_name is not provided.

Sample: "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- MIIEowIBAAKC... -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"

tags

dictionary

A dictionary representing the tags attached to the key pair.

Returned: when state=present

Sample: {"my_key": "my value"}

type

string

added in amazon.aws 3.1.0

Type of a newly created keypair.

Returned: when a new keypair is created by AWS

Sample: "rsa"

msg

string

Short message describing the action taken.

Returned: always

Sample: "key pair created"

Authors

  • Vincent Viallet (@zbal)

  • Prasad Katti (@prasadkatti)