Use python to shut down instance script runs on

Question

I am running machine learning scripts that take a long time to finish. I want to run them on AWS on a faster processor and stop the instance when it finishes.

Can boto be used within the running script to stop its own instance? Is there a simpler way?

You can use boto, here is the documentation for EC2 management http://docs.pythonboto.org/en/latest/ec2_tut.html. — reticentroot, Nov 21 '16 at 20:26
Yes. Boto can be used. Boto3 is better. When do you mean by `close down`? stop or terminate? — helloV, Nov 21 '16 at 20:27
Stop. So it can even close down the instance that is running the boto script? — goose, Nov 21 '16 at 20:29

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 21 '16 at 20:49

2

If your EC2 instance is running Linux, you can simply issue a halt or shutdown command to stop your EC2 instance. This allows you to shutdown your EC2 instance without requiring IAM permissions.

answered Nov 21 '16 at 20:49

Matt Houser

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Take a look here on executing a shell command from Python: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/89228/calling-an-external-command-in-python – Matt Houser Nov 21 '16 at 20:54
Also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14764126/how-to-make-a-python-script-which-can-logoff-shutdown-and-restart-a-computer – Matt Houser Nov 21 '16 at 20:55
`import subprocess` followed by `subprocess.call(["halt"])`. – shahar_m Feb 19 '18 at 05:55
@shahar_m did you try this out? It looks a little less elegant but a lot simpler. – Victor 'Chris' Cabral May 03 '19 at 17:16

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 21 '16 at 20:45

See Creating a Connection on how to create a connection. Never tried this one before, so use caution. Also make sure the instance is EBS backed. Otherwise the instance will be terminated when you stop it.

import boto.ec2
import boto.utils

conn = boto.ec2.connect_to_region("us-east-1") # or your region

# Get the current instance's id
my_id = boto.utils.get_instance_metadata()['instance-id']

conn.stop_instances(instance_ids=[my_id])

Use python to shut down instance script runs on

2 Answers2