Creating an instance from a manual snapshot in Amazon Lightsail

Last updated: November 14, 2017

After you create a snapshot in Lightsail, you can create a new instance from that snapshot. The new instance will include the system disk and any attached block storage disks you added.

You must have a snapshot of an instance before you can create another instance from a snapshot. For more information, see Creating a snapshot of your Linux or Unix instance in Amazon Lightsail or Creating a snapshot of your Windows Server instance in Amazon Lightsail.

1. On the Lightsail home page, choose the name of your instance for which you want to create a new instance from a snapshot.

2. Choose the Snapshots tab.

3. Under the Manual snapshots section of the page, choose the actions menu icon (⋮) next to the snapshot from which you want to create a new instance, and choose Create new instance.

   

4. On the Create an instance from a snapshot page, you have a few optional settings to decide on at the top. For example, you can change the Availability Zone, add a launch script, or change the way you connect to your instance.

   You can accept all the defaults and move on to the next step.

5. Choose the plan (or bundle) for your new instance. At this point, you can choose to create an instance that uses a larger bundle size than the original instance.

   Note

   You cannot create a an instance that uses a smaller bundle size than the original instance. Smaller bundle size options will be unavailable for selection.

6. Enter a name for your instance.

   Resource names:

   • Must be unique within each AWS Region in your Lightsail account.

   • Must contain 2 to 255 characters.

   • Must start and end with an alphanumeric character or number.

   • Can include alphanumeric characters, numbers, periods, dashes, and underscores.

7. Choose one of the following options to add tags to your instance:

   • Add key-only tags or Edit key-only tags (if tags have already been added). Enter your new tag into the tag key text box, and press Enter. Choose Save when you’re done entering your tags to add them, or choose Cancel to not add them.

     

   • Create a key-value tag, then enter a key into the Key text box, and a value into the Value text box. Choose Save when you’re done entering your tags, or choose Cancel to not add them.

     Key-value tags can only be added one at a time before saving. To add more than one key-value tag, repeat the previous steps.

     

   Note

   For more information about key-only and key-value tags, see Tags in Amazon Lightsail.

8. Choose Create instance.

   Lightsail takes you to the management page for your new instance, and you can start managing your new instance.

   Important

   Custom firewall rules that were created on the original instance are not re-created on your new instance created from a snapshot. Only the default rules are created. For more information, see Default instance firewall rules.