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Automating EC2 Start/Stop with Lambda and CloudWatch

Introduction

This project automates the starting and stopping of EC2 instances using AWS Lambda and CloudWatch. We will create two Lambda functions: one to start the instances and another to stop them, triggered by CloudWatch EventBridge on a defined schedule.

Prerequisites

  • An AWS account with administrative access.
  • Basic understanding of IAM, Lambda, and EC2.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Creating IAM Policies and Roles

a. Create IAM Policy for Starting Instances

  1. Navigate to the IAM console in AWS.

  2. Go to Policies and click Create policy.

  3. Choose the JSON tab and enter the following code:

    {
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "ec2:StartInstances",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:region:account-id:instance/instance-id"
        }
    ]
}

  4. Review and name the policy EC2StartPolicy.

b. Create IAM Policy for Stopping Instances

  1. Follow the same steps as above, but use this JSON:

    {
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "ec2:StopInstances",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:region:account-id:instance/instance-id"
        }
    ]
}

  2. Name this policy EC2StopPolicy.

c. Create IAM Roles

  1. Go to Roles and click Create role.
  2. Choose AWS service and select Lambda.
  3. Attach the EC2StartPolicy to the role. Name the role LambdaEC2StartRole.
  4. Repeat the process for EC2StopPolicy, naming the role LambdaEC2StopRole.

2. Lambda Functions

a. Create the StartEC2 Function

  1. Navigate to the Lambda console and click Create function.

  2. Choose Author from scratch, name the function StartEC2.

  3. Choose Python 3.x as the runtime.

  4. Attach the LambdaEC2StartRole created earlier.

  5. In the code editor, replace the existing code with the following:

    import boto3

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    ec2 = boto3.client('ec2')
    response = ec2.start_instances(
        InstanceIds=['instance-id'],
    )
    print(f'Started EC2 instances: {response}')

  6. Click Deploy.

b. Create the StopEC2 Function

  1. Repeat the steps above, but name the function StopEC2.

  2. Attach the LambdaEC2StopRole.

  3. Replace the code with:

    import boto3

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    ec2 = boto3.client('ec2')
    response = ec2.stop_instances(
        InstanceIds=['instance-id'],
    )
    print(f'Stopped EC2 instances: {response}')

  4. Click Deploy.

3. Setting Up CloudWatch EventBridge Rules

a. Create a Rule for Starting Instances

  1. Navigate to the CloudWatch console and go to Rules under Events.
  2. Click Create rule.
  3. Under Event Source, choose EventBridge (CloudWatch Events) and select Schedule.
  4. Define the schedule using a cron expression, e.g., cron(0 8 * * ? *) for 8 AM UTC every day.
  5. Choose the StartEC2 Lambda function as the target.
  6. Click Create.

b. Create a Rule for Stopping Instances

  1. Repeat the steps above, but use a different cron expression, e.g., cron(0 20 * * ? *) for 8 PM UTC every day.
  2. Choose the StopEC2 Lambda function as the target.
  3. Click Create.

4. Testing and Validation

a. Manual Testing

  1. Go to the Lambda console and select StartEC2.
  2. Click Test and create a new test event. The EC2 instance should start.
  3. Repeat the process with StopEC2 to stop the instance.

b. Scheduled Testing

  1. Wait for the scheduled time or adjust the cron expression for testing purposes.
  2. Verify that the EC2 instance starts and stops according to the schedule.

Conclusion

This project demonstrates how to automate EC2 instance management using Lambda and CloudWatch. You can expand on this by adding more instances, custom schedules, or additional AWS services.