AWS EC2 automated snapshot backup using Python script called from AWS lambda

README.md

AWS automated backups of AWS EC2 instances using AWS lambda.

Create a Python-based AWS lambda script like aws_ec2_snapshot.py

Configure an event source so that it runs daily thus giving you a reliable automated EC2 backup solution which has no other dependacies, although you'll need to manage cleaning down old backups, which is an obvious extra to add to the script, as is using the SES API to send email confirmations.

The Lambda will need to have appropriate privileges under IAM see iam.json example

aws_ec2_snapshot.py

import boto3

BACKUP_VOLUMES = [
  'vol-xxxxxxxx'
]

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    ec2 = boto3.resource('ec2')
    for volume in BACKUP_VOLUMES:
        ec2.create_snapshot(VolumeId=volume, Description='Automated backup')

iam.json

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "logs:CreateLogGroup",
                "logs:CreateLogStream",
                "logs:PutLogEvents",
                "ec2:CreateSnapshot",
                "ec2:DeleteSnapshot",
                "ec2:DescribeSnapshots"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}