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Track AMI lineage with watermarks - EC2 Image Builder
Watermark constraintsPrerequisitesAdd watermarks to an image recipeView watermarks on an existing recipeConsiderations

Track AMI lineage with watermarks

AMI watermarks are simple text labels that track the history of your machine images. You add watermark names to your image recipe, and Image Builder attaches them to the output AMI during the build process.

When you copy or distribute an AMI to other Regions or accounts, the watermarks copy automatically. All copies of your AMI carry the same watermarks. This helps you trace the history of your images.

You cannot make watermarked AMIs public. If your recipe includes watermarks or your source AMI has watermarks, Image Builder rejects distribution configurations that set launch permissions to public.

Key characteristics of AMI watermarks:

  • Purpose – Track AMI lineage across copies and distributions.

  • Scope – Metadata only. Watermarks do not affect instance performance or runtime behavior.

  • Visibility restriction – Watermarked AMIs cannot be made public.

Watermark constraints

The following constraints apply to AMI watermarks in Image Builder image recipes.

Constraint

Value

Watermarks per recipe

1 to 5

Name length

3 to 128 characters

Allowed characters

Letters, numbers, spaces, and the following special characters: ( ) [ ] . / - ' @ _

Edge characters

Names cannot begin or end with a space

Case sensitivity

Watermark names are case-sensitive

Duplicates

Duplicate names within the same recipe are not permitted

Total per output AMI

Source AMI watermarks plus recipe watermarks cannot exceed 5

Prerequisites

Before you use AMI watermarks, verify the following requirements.

  • AMI watermarks are supported only for image recipes, not container recipes.

  • Your Image Builder execution role must include the ec2:AttachImageWatermark permission on arn:aws:ec2:*::image/*. If you use the Image Builder service-linked role, this permission is included automatically.

Add watermarks to an image recipe

You can add watermarks when you create an image recipe or a new version of an existing recipe. Choose one of the following tabs for instructions.

Console
To add watermarks to an image recipe

  1. When you create or version an image recipe, in the recipe configuration section, expand AMI watermarks.

  2. Enter a watermark name (3 to 128 characters). Choose Add watermark to add more names (up to 5 total).

  3. Complete the remaining recipe creation steps, and then choose Create recipe.

AWS CLI

To add watermarks with the AWS CLI, include the amiWatermarks parameter in your JSON input file for the create-image-recipe command.

The following example shows a recipe JSON file with watermarks configured:

{
    "name": "my-watermarked-recipe",
    "description": "Recipe with AMI watermarks for lineage tracking.",
    "parentImage": "ami-1234567890abcdef1",
    "semanticVersion": "1.0.0",
    "components": [
        {
            "componentArn": "arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:111122223333:component/my-component/1.0.0/1"
        }
    ],
    "amiWatermarks": [
        "production-v1",
        "team-alpha"
    ]
}

To create the recipe, run the following command:

aws imagebuilder create-image-recipe --cli-input-json file://create-watermarked-recipe.json

The following list describes the amiWatermarks parameter:

  • amiWatermarks (array of strings, optional) – A list of watermark names to attach to output AMIs built from this recipe. Specify 1 to 5 names. Each name must be 3 to 128 characters, and can include letters, numbers, spaces, and the following special characters: ( ) [ ] . / - ' @ _

PowerShell

To add watermarks with Tools for PowerShell, include the AmiWatermark parameter when you run the New-EC2IBImageRecipe cmdlet. The following example creates a recipe with the same settings as the AWS CLI example:

Import-Module AWS.Tools.Imagebuilder

$component = [Amazon.Imagebuilder.Model.ComponentConfiguration]@{
    ComponentArn = "arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:111122223333:component/my-component/1.0.0/1"
}

New-EC2IBImageRecipe -Name my-watermarked-recipe `
    -Description "Recipe with AMI watermarks for lineage tracking." `
    -ParentImage ami-1234567890abcdef1 `
    -SemanticVersion 1.0.0 `
    -Component $component `
    -AmiWatermark "production-v1", "team-alpha"

The following list describes the AmiWatermark parameter:

  • AmiWatermark (string array, optional) – A comma-separated list of watermark names to attach to output AMIs built from this recipe. Specify 1 to 5 names. Each name must be 3 to 128 characters, and can include letters, numbers, spaces, and the following special characters: ( ) [ ] . / - ' @ _

CloudFormation

You can specify AMI watermarks in an AWS::ImageBuilder::ImageRecipe resource by using the AmiWatermarks property.

The following example shows a minimal image recipe template with watermarks configured:

Resources:
  WatermarkedRecipe:
    Type: AWS::ImageBuilder::ImageRecipe
    Properties:
      Name: my-watermarked-recipe
      Version: 1.0.0
      ParentImage: arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:aws:image/amazon-linux-2023-x86/x.x.x
      Components:
        - ComponentArn: arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:111122223333:component/my-component/1.0.0/1
      AmiWatermarks:
        - production-v1
        - team-alpha

You can set the AmiWatermarks property only at creation time. Because image recipes are immutable, changing watermarks requires a new recipe version.

For more information about the AmiWatermarks property, see AWS::ImageBuilder::ImageRecipe in the AWS CloudFormation Template Reference.

View watermarks on an existing recipe

AWS CLI

The following example shows how to use the get-image-recipe command in the AWS CLI to view the watermarks configured for a recipe:

aws imagebuilder get-image-recipe --image-recipe-arn arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:111122223333:image-recipe/my-watermarked-recipe/1.0.0

The response includes the amiWatermarks array if watermarks were configured for that recipe version.

PowerShell

The following example shows how to use the Get-EC2IBImageRecipe cmdlet to view the watermarks configured for a recipe:

Get-EC2IBImageRecipe -ImageRecipeArn arn:aws:imagebuilder:us-west-2:111122223333:image-recipe/my-watermarked-recipe/1.0.0

The response includes the AmiWatermarks property if watermarks were configured for that recipe version.

Considerations

Keep the following points in mind when you use AMI watermarks.

  • Watermarks from a source AMI plus watermarks defined in the recipe combine on the output AMI. The total cannot exceed 5. If the combined count exceeds 5, the build fails.

  • If you distribute a watermarked AMI to other Regions or accounts, the watermarks propagate automatically.

  • Image Builder validates that watermarked AMIs are not set to public at image creation time. If your recipe has watermarks (or the source AMI has watermarks) and the distribution configuration sets launch permissions to public, Image Builder returns an InvalidParameterCombinationException error.