cfn-amazon-linux-ami-template.json

{
  "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",

  "Description" : "",

  "Parameters" : {
    "InstanceType" : {
      "Description" : "",
      "Type" : "String",
      "Default" : "t2.micro",
      "AllowedValues" : [ "t1.micro", "t2.micro", "t2.small", "t2.medium", "m1.small", "m1.medium", "m1.large", "m1.xlarge", "m2.xlarge", "m2.2xlarge", "m2.4xlarge", "m3.medium", "m3.large", "m3.xlarge", "m3.2xlarge", "c1.medium", "c1.xlarge", "c3.large", "c3.xlarge", "c3.2xlarge", "c3.4xlarge", "c3.8xlarge", "c4.large", "c4.xlarge", "c4.2xlarge", "c4.4xlarge", "c4.8xlarge", "g2.2xlarge", "r3.large", "r3.xlarge", "r3.2xlarge", "r3.4xlarge", "r3.8xlarge", "i2.xlarge", "i2.2xlarge", "i2.4xlarge", "i2.8xlarge", "hi1.4xlarge", "hs1.8xlarge", "cr1.8xlarge", "cc2.8xlarge", "cg1.4xlarge"],
      "ConstraintDescription" : "must be a valid EC2 instance type."
    }
  },

  "Mappings" : {
    "AWSInstanceType2Arch" : {
      "t1.micro"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "t2.micro"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "t2.small"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "t2.medium"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m1.small"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.medium"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.large"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m3.medium"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c1.medium"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "c1.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "c3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "g2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVMG2"  },
      "r3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "hi1.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "hs1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "cr1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "cc2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  }
    },
    "AWSRegionArch2AMI" : {
      "us-east-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-14d18a7c", "HVM64" : "ami-16d18a7e", "HVMG2" : "ami-7200461a"},
      "us-west-2"        : {"PV64" : "ami-0fe7c43f", "HVM64" : "ami-73e7c443", "HVMG2" : "ami-0b78203b"},
      "us-west-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-d342a697", "HVM64" : "ami-f342a6b7", "HVMG2" : "ami-244b5361"},
      "eu-west-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-039e0d74", "HVM64" : "ami-ff9e0d88", "HVMG2" : "ami-4d7cf03a"},
      "eu-central-1"     : {"PV64" : "ami-34ab9929", "HVM64" : "ami-2eab9933", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
      "ap-northeast-1"   : {"PV64" : "ami-17df3617", "HVM64" : "ami-51df3651", "HVMG2" : "ami-2e90892f"},
      "ap-southeast-1"   : {"PV64" : "ami-4e596f1c", "HVM64" : "ami-76596f24", "HVMG2" : "ami-3e78526c"},
      "ap-southeast-2"   : {"PV64" : "ami-a3b8c999", "HVM64" : "ami-99b8c9a3", "HVMG2" : "ami-315e2a0b"},
      "sa-east-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-f94af3e4", "HVM64" : "ami-ef4af3f2", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
      "cn-north-1"       : {"PV64" : "ami-c036a4f9", "HVM64" : "ami-c636a4ff", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"}
    }
  },

  "Resources" : {
    "DummyResource" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::WaitConditionHandle"
    }
  },

  "Outputs" : {
    "AMI" : {
      "Value" : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSRegionArch2AMI", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" },
                  { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSInstanceType2Arch", { "Ref" : "InstanceType" }, "Arch" ] } ] }
    }
  }
}

cfn-sample-template.json

{
  "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",

  "Description" : "",

  "Parameters" : {
    "InstanceType" : {
      "Description" : "",
      "Type" : "String",
      "Default" : "t2.micro",
      "AllowedValues" : [ "t1.micro", "t2.micro", "t2.small", "t2.medium", "m1.small", "m1.medium", "m1.large", "m1.xlarge", "m2.xlarge", "m2.2xlarge", "m2.4xlarge", "m3.medium", "m3.large", "m3.xlarge", "m3.2xlarge", "c1.medium", "c1.xlarge", "c3.large", "c3.xlarge", "c3.2xlarge", "c3.4xlarge", "c3.8xlarge", "c4.large", "c4.xlarge", "c4.2xlarge", "c4.4xlarge", "c4.8xlarge", "g2.2xlarge", "r3.large", "r3.xlarge", "r3.2xlarge", "r3.4xlarge", "r3.8xlarge", "i2.xlarge", "i2.2xlarge", "i2.4xlarge", "i2.8xlarge", "hi1.4xlarge", "hs1.8xlarge", "cr1.8xlarge", "cc2.8xlarge", "cg1.4xlarge"],
      "ConstraintDescription" : "must be a valid EC2 instance type."
    }
  },

  "Resources" : {
    "GetAMI" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
      "Metadata" : {
          "Comment" : "Get latest Amazon Linux AMI from separat CFN stack."
      },
      "Properties" : {
        "TemplateURL" : "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/muhqu/5ba2de0bc5878a15eaa7/raw/cfn-amazon-linux-ami-template.json",
        "Parameters" : {
          "InstanceType" : { "Ref" : "InstanceType"}
        }
      }
    }
  },

  "Outputs" : {
    "AMI" : {
      "Value" : { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "GetAMI", "Outputs.AMI" ] }
    }
  }
}