specifying VirtualizationType when launching aws ec2 instances with boto3

Question

Does anyone know how to set VirtualizationType when launching aws ec2 instance using boto3? I've tried with

session = boto3.session.Session(
            aws_access_key_id=self.access_key_id,
            aws_secret_access_key=self.secret_access_key,
            region_name=self.region)
ec2resource = session.resource('ec2')
ec2resource.create_instances(
            ImageId=ami_id, MinCount=1, MaxCount=count, KeyName=key_name,
            InstanceType=type, SecurityGroups=security_groups, 
            VirtualizationType='paravirtual')

but got

[2016-01-15 10:54:18 CST] INFO Calling ec2:run_instances with {'VirtualizationType': 'paravirtual', 'KeyName': 'common', 'SecurityGroups': ['default'], 'MaxCount': 2, 'MinCount': 1, 'InstanceType': 'm1.small', 'ImageId': 'ami-d05e75b8'}
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "suites/ec2.py", line 21, in <module>
    print ec2.launch(count=2, VirtualizationType='paravirtual')
  File "/Users/bchung/Dropbox/PycharmProjects/perf/lib/aws/ec2.py", line 183, in launch
    InstanceType=type, SecurityGroups=security_groups, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/boto3/resources/factory.py", line 455, in do_action
    response = action(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/boto3/resources/action.py", line 79, in __call__
    response = getattr(parent.meta.client, operation_name)(**params)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 310, in _api_call
    return self._make_api_call(operation_name, kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 383, in _make_api_call
    api_params, operation_model, context=request_context)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 425, in _convert_to_request_dict
    api_params, operation_model)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/validate.py", line 273, in serialize_to_request
    raise ParamValidationError(report=report.generate_report())
botocore.exceptions.ParamValidationError: 
    Parameter validation failed:
    Unknown parameter in input: "VirtualizationType", must be one of: 
    DryRun, ImageId, MinCount, MaxCount, KeyName, SecurityGroups, 
    SecurityGroupIds, UserData, InstanceType, Placement, KernelId,
    RamdiskId, BlockDeviceMappings, Monitoring, SubnetId, 
    DisableApiTermination, InstanceInitiatedShutdownBehavior, 
    PrivateIpAddress, ClientToken, AdditionalInfo, NetworkInterfaces, 
    IamInstanceProfile, EbsOptimized

I need to set VirtualizationType because I'll need some old instance types (m1.small) that only allows paravirtual instead of hvm, and it seems boto3 uses hvm by default :

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "suites/ec2.py", line 21, in <module>
    print ec2.launch(count=2)
  File "/Users/bchung/Dropbox/PycharmProjects/perf/lib/aws/ec2.py", line 183, in launch
    InstanceType=type, SecurityGroups=security_groups, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/boto3/resources/factory.py", line 455, in do_action
    response = action(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/boto3/resources/action.py", line 79, in __call__
    response = getattr(parent.meta.client, operation_name)(**params)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 310, in _api_call
    return self._make_api_call(operation_name, kwargs)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 396, in _make_api_call
    raise ClientError(parsed_response, operation_name)
botocore.exceptions.ClientError: An error occurred 
(InvalidParameterCombination) when calling the RunInstances operation:
 Non-Windows instances with a virtualization type of 'hvm' are currently not supported for this instance type.

I checked: http://boto3.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/services/ec2.html#EC2.ServiceResource.create_instances and http://boto3.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/services/ec2.html#EC2.Client.run_instances

and there's no VirtualizationType in params, so I'm wondering if there's way to set or since it's going to be deprecated so boto3 just not allowing to specify this?

Any hint or suggestions are welcome, and thanks in advance!

What is your reason for requiring an instance type of m1.small? — Matt Houser
For backward compatibility, we have some existing scripts that uses m1.small, and we're doing benchmarks so need to be exactly the same specs. — Bill Chung

Matt Houser Matt Houser · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-15T04:17:47

It is not possible to launch a Paravirtual EC2 instance from an HVM AMI image. It's not just a boto3 thing, it's an AWS limit. A Paravirtual EC2 instance can only be launched from a Paravirtual AMI.

This is because of differences in how the PV EC2 instance boots compared to an HVM EC2 instance.

In order to launch an Linux m1.small instance, you'll need to find and/or create a Paravirtual AMI image.

specifying VirtualizationType when launching aws ec2 instances with boto3

1 Answers