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AWS EC2 ​

Automate Amazon EC2 server and volume snapshots on a custom schedule.

SimpleBackups connects to your AWS account through IAM credentials to create and manage EC2 snapshots automatically. This guide walks you through creating a least-privilege IAM policy, generating access keys, and linking your AWS account to SimpleBackups.

Create a custom EC2 policy for snapshots ​

  1. Connect to your AWS Console
  2. Head to the IAM/Policies management page
  3. Click Create policy
  4. Click JSON and paste the custom policy below:

AWS EC2 - Create policy JSON editor

json
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "SimpleBackupsEc2Snapshots",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:CreateImage",
        "ec2:CreateSnapshot",
        "ec2:CreateSnapshots",
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:DescribeInstances",
        "ec2:DescribeSnapshots",
        "ec2:DescribeVolumes",
        "ec2:DescribeImages",
        "ec2:DeregisterImage",
        "ec2:DeleteSnapshot"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
  1. Give the policy a name (for example, Ec2SnapshotsPolicy) and click Create policy

AWS EC2 - Name and create the policy

Create an EC2 user for snapshots ​

  1. Head to the IAM/Users management page
  2. Click Add users

Step 1: Set user access ​

Define a name for your user, for example Ec2SnapshotsUser.

AWS EC2 - Set user name

Step 2: Attach policy to user ​

Select Attach policies directly and choose the Ec2SnapshotsPolicy you created earlier.

AWS EC2 - Attach policy

Step 3: Finalize user creation ​

Review the details and create the user.

AWS EC2 - Review and create user

Step 4: Create access credentials ​

After the user is created, click View user (or search for the user and select it).

AWS EC2 - View user

Click Security credentials, then Create access key.

AWS EC2 - Security credentials tab

Choose Application running outside AWS, then click Next.

AWS EC2 - Select use case

Click Create access key and copy both the access key and secret key.

AWS EC2 - Copy access keys

Connect your AWS account to SimpleBackups ​

  1. Log in to your SimpleBackups account
  2. Head to the Snapshots/Create page
  3. Click Connect a new provider

SimpleBackups - Connect a new provider

Fill in the provider form:

  • Provider: Select AWS EC2
  • Name: An internal name for this connection
  • Access Key and Secret: The credentials generated in the previous step
  • Region: The AWS region where your resources are located. If you use multiple regions, repeat these steps for each region

Click Save.

SimpleBackups - AWS EC2 provider form