AMI lookup data source example in Terraform - Mini Project: Build & Apply

AMI lookup data source example

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a cloud server and need to find the latest Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for Ubuntu 22.04 in the AWS region you are working in.

🎯 Goal: Create a Terraform configuration that uses the aws_ami data source to look up the latest Ubuntu 22.04 AMI and then launch an EC2 instance using that AMI.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use the aws_ami data source to find the latest Ubuntu 22.04 AMI

Filter the AMI by owner 099720109477 (official Ubuntu owner)

Launch an EC2 instance using the found AMI

Use the aws_instance resource with a simple instance type

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Finding the latest AMI ensures your cloud servers use up-to-date and secure operating system images.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers often use data sources in Terraform to dynamically find resources like AMIs, making infrastructure code reusable and reliable.

1

Set up AWS provider

Write a Terraform block to configure the AWS provider with the region us-east-1. Create a variable called region and set it to "us-east-1". Then configure the provider to use this variable.

Terraform

variable "region" {
  default = "us-east-1"
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a variable block to define region and then use it inside the provider block.

2

Add AMI lookup data source

Add a Terraform data block named ubuntu using the aws_ami data source. Filter for the latest Ubuntu 22.04 AMI by setting most_recent = true, owners = ["099720109477"], and a filter with name = "name" and values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"].

Terraform

variable "region" {
  default = "us-east-1"
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

# Your code here to add aws_ami data source named ubuntu

Need a hint?

Use the aws_ami data source with filters to find the latest Ubuntu 22.04 AMI.

3

Create EC2 instance resource

Add an aws_instance resource named web. Use the AMI ID from the data source data.aws_ami.ubuntu.id. Set the instance type to t2.micro.

Terraform

variable "region" {
  default = "us-east-1"
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

data "aws_ami" "ubuntu" {
  most_recent = true
  owners      = ["099720109477"]

  filter {
    name   = "name"
    values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"]
  }
}

# Your code here to add aws_instance resource named web

Need a hint?

Use the AMI ID from the data source to launch the EC2 instance.

4

Add tags to EC2 instance

Add a tags block inside the aws_instance.web resource. Set the tag Name to "UbuntuServer".

Terraform

variable "region" {
  default = "us-east-1"
}

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

data "aws_ami" "ubuntu" {
  most_recent = true
  owners      = ["099720109477"]

  filter {
    name   = "name"
    values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"]
  }
}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = data.aws_ami.ubuntu.id
  instance_type = "t2.micro"

  # Your code here to add tags block
}

Need a hint?

Add a tags block with the Name key inside the EC2 instance resource.