AWS Outposts AMIs can now keep their snapshots local!

Hey, it's Shii! I found some great news today for everyone running AWS Outposts!

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

In AWS's What's New, Amazon EC2 announced that you can now create Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) using local snapshots from instances running on AWS Outposts. You can now choose whether the snapshot behind an AMI is stored on the Outpost itself or in the parent AWS Region. It's meant to make it easier to create AMIs while still meeting data residency requirements that call for keeping data on-premises.

The story so far

The original post says that when you choose local storage, "EC2 automatically determines the target Outpost from the instance's location," which implies that this used to be a manual step. Specifically, it sounds like you previously had to specify the target Outpost's ARN yourself. If you were trying to automate backup or lifecycle workflows, that manual step was probably a small but real bit of friction.

What changes

With this update, there's more you can do when creating an AMI from an instance on Outposts.

• You can now choose where the snapshot is stored: on the Outpost itself, or in the parent AWS Region
• When you choose local storage, EC2 automatically determines the target Outpost from the instance's location, so you don't need to specify the Outpost ARN yourself
• You can plug AMI creation straight into your existing backup and lifecycle workflows for Outposts instances while still meeting data residency requirements

If your work involves constraints on where data can physically live while running on Outposts, this is a small but genuinely useful improvement.

Dive Deep

The original post didn't go into a lot of technical depth, but it was specific about availability.

This feature is available in all AWS Regions in which AWS Outposts supports local snapshot storage.

So the feature is available anywhere Outposts already supports local snapshot storage. For the detailed setup steps and AMI creation API parameters, the AWS documentation is the place to check before you use this in practice.

Wrap-up

• You can now choose where AMI snapshots from Outposts instances are stored: on the Outpost itself or in the parent Region
• Choosing local storage means EC2 auto-detects the target Outpost, so you no longer need to specify the ARN manually
• It fits right into your existing backup and lifecycle management workflows
• Great for anyone running AWS Outposts who wants to automate AMI operations while meeting data residency requirements!