How to create AWS spot instance via AWS CLI

Question

I am using AWS CLI to create AWS spot instance but each time I am getting the below error. "An error occurred (UnauthorizedOperation) when calling the RequestSpotInstances operation: You are not authorized to perform this operation."

Note :- I am able to create spot instance from EC2 console(GUI) successfully. below mention is aws cli

aws ec2 request-spot-instances --spot-price "0.003" --instance-count 1 --type "persistent" --launch-specification file://param.json --instance-interruption-behavior "stop" --profile ""

content for param.json

{
  "ImageId": "ami-0123456",
  "UserData":"file:://my_script.txt"
  "KeyName": "gistdev_default_rsa",
  "SecurityGroupIds": [ "sg-0123456" ],
  "InstanceType": "t2.medium",
  "Placement": {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a"
  },

  "NetworkInterfaces": [
    {
      "DeviceIndex": 0,
      "SubnetId": "subnet-0123456",
      "Groups": [ "sg-0123456" ],
      "AssociatePublicIpAddress": true
    }
  ]
}

I have not specified "IamInstanceProfile" parameter in json file. Is this mandatory to have it?

~Ashish

Using your own admin access to do something inside AWS console is totally different than using an API/SDK user access. An API access key doesn't have all the rights to do things compare to your primary "superuser". — mootmoot

helloV helloV · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-23T15:13:31

Just because you can create spot instances using console (GUI) does not mean you can create them using CLI. What can go wrong?

Is API/SDK access enabled for the user?
How is the credentials supplied to the CLI? using access/secret or using metadata server (IAMProfile)
Is the credentials supplied to the CLI different from the one for the IAM user using the console/GUI? (most likely reason)
Is the CLI getting credentials in some other way? See: Configuration Settings and Precedence

How to create AWS spot instance via AWS CLI

3 Answers