Issue
I need to create AWS CentOS 7 instance images for a customer, and need it to automatically send the ip and instance id to our AWS server every time the instance boots. For example, this is the very basic test version of the script I need to run:
#!/bin/bash
$serverIP=""
curl "https://$serverIP"/myphp.php?id='sentid'&ip='sentip'"
If the script is run directly, it works fine and is received by the server and processed there. But I can't get it to run at boot. I cannot put the script in the "User Data" directly due to security concerns as the customer can then see it easily, it needs to be in a script in the filesystem of the image.
I've tried several things that work fine on a physical Linux server, but not on AWS. I know profile.d runs every time someone logs in but over-sending like that is fine.
/etc/profile.d/myscript.sh This stops the AWS instance from booting. Even just
#!/bin/bash/
echo "hello world"
prevents it from booting. The instance starts, but when you go to ssh into it you get 'Network Error: connection timed out', which is the standard error if you put a wrong ip in, or upset it by leaving a service like httpd enabled.
However, a blank bash script with just #!/bin/bash will allow the instance to start. Removing the script via user data usually makes it boot, sometimes it just dies.
The first thing I tried was crontab. I did:
crontab -e
@reboot /var/ook/myscript.sh
systemctl enable crond.service
But the instance wouldn't start. So I put "systemctl disable crond.service" in the User Data and one booted, but another still stayed dead. Myscript.sh was just another echo "doob" >> file which worked fine when run directly.
I tried putting in /etc/systemd/system/my-startup.service:
[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/var/ook/writedood.sh
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
then:
systemctl enable my-startup.service
But this did nothing. My script "writedood.sh" was just echo "doob" >> ./file.txt ensuring file.txt was chmod 777. At least it didn't prevent the instance from starting.
To give context, an instance won't start if httpd is left enabled on shutdown, but will if you disable it in User Data.
I wanted to have a go at putting something in init.d but I'm not sure how to simply tell it to run a script once in the background, and given the plethora of success I've had so far with the instance not restarting, I'm not holding out much hope that that would work.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT::: I realised that sometimes AWS EC2 Instances Console is causing the problem where I can't ssh in after stopping and starting. It blanks the public ipv4 address when I click stop, but when I start, it puts the old address up and hangs. If I refresh the page, or uncheck/check the instance; the ip changes to the new address. This has caused much consternation.
Solution
Crontab worked if I placed the scripts and output file in different folders. It's very finicky; any errors, such as it not being able to write to the output file, and the instance won't start. I put startscript.sh in /usr/local/src, and output.out to /tmp/ to ensure there were no permissions problems, and now the instance starts and runs the script on boot.
I then realised that sometimes AWS EC2 Instances Console is causing the problem where I can't ssh in after stopping and starting. It blanks the public ipv4 address when I click stop, but when I start, it puts the old address up and hangs. If I refresh the page, or uncheck/check the instance; the ip changes to the new address. This has caused much consternation.
Answered By - Phoenix Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (WPSolving Admin)
