Find Ubuntu images on AWS¶

On AWS, cloud images are referred to as Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Canonical produces a wide variety of images to support numerous features found on AWS:

Generally, all images use Elastic Block Storage (EBS) and hardware virtual machine (HVM) virtualisation types. Older releases may also support paravirtual (PV) and instance-store, but users benefit from the newer storage and virtualisation technologies.
Standard and minimal server images are available for both amd64 and arm64.
Daily (untested) and release versions of the images are published regularly.

All images mentioned below are also available in AWS Outposts.

Finding images with SSM¶

The SSM Parameter Store is a hierarchical data service provided by AWS for configuration management. It can be used to store passwords, license codes, configuration strings, Amazon Machine Image (AMI) IDs, and more. Canonical provides a set of publicly available parameters in the parameter store under the hierarchy /aws/service/canonical. One useful set of parameters available under that hierarchy is the set of latest AMI IDs for Ubuntu images. These IDs can be found programmatically using the AWS CLI.

Images for EC2 and EKS¶

Find the latest AMI ID using:

aws ssm get-parameters --names \
   /aws/service/canonical/ubuntu/server/24.04/stable/current/amd64/hvm/ebs-gp3/ami-id

The format for the parameter is:

ubuntu/$PRODUCT/$RELEASE/stable/current/$ARCH/$VIRT_TYPE/$VOL_TYPE/ami-id

PRODUCT: server, server-minimal, pro-server or pro-minimal
RELEASE: noble, 24.04, jammy, 22.04, focal, 20.04, bionic, 18.04, xenial, or 16.04
ARCH: amd64 or arm64
VIRT_TYPE: pv or hvm
VOL_TYPE: ebs-gp3 (for >=23.10), ebs-gp2 (for <=23.04), ebs-io1, ebs-standard, or instance-store

In place of current, the serial number given to an image can also be used (e.g., 20210222):

ubuntu/$PRODUCT/$RELEASE/stable/$SERIAL/$ARCH/$VIRT_TYPE/$VOL_TYPE/ami-id

The latest EKS AMI ID for each supported EKS version can be found in the SSM parameter store using:

aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/canonical/ubuntu/eks/22.04/1.31/stable/current/amd64/hvm/ebs-gp2/ami-id

The format for the parameter is:

ubuntu/$EKS_PRODUCT/$RELEASE/$K8S_VERSION/stable/current/$ARCH/hvm/ebs-gp2/ami-id

EKS_PRODUCT: eks or eks-pro
RELEASE: jammy, 22.04 (for EKS 1.29 or greater, or EKS Pro); focal, 20.04 (for EKS <= 1.29)
K8S_VERSION: one of the supported EKS versions (e.g. 1.31)
ARCH: amd64 or arm64

In the generated output, the “Value” field will have the required AMI ID. It can be used to instantiate the corresponding image using the ec2 run-instances command as explained here.

If you don’t want to save the AMI ID before instantiating the image, you can use the resolve:ssm option and directly pass the required parameter to it in your ec2 run-instances call:

aws ec2 run-instances \
   --image-id resolve:ssm:/aws/service/canonical/ubuntu/server/24.04/stable/current/amd64/hvm/ebs-gp3/ami-id \
   --key-name TestKeyPair \
   --instance-type t3.medium

Ownership verification¶

By checking the OwnerId field of an image, you can verify that an AMI was published by Canonical. To do this, use the describe-images command against an AMI ID and check the returned OwnerId field:

aws ec2 describe-images --image-ids $AMI_ID

The expected value of OwnerId for Canonical is one of the following:

099720109477 (in the default partition)
513442679011 (in the GovCloud partition)
837727238323 (in the China partition)

Note that listings on the AWS Marketplace will always show the OwnerId as Amazon (e.g. 679593333241). In these cases, users can verify the Amazon ID and look for aws-marketplace/ubuntu in the ImageLocation field.

Images in the AWS Marketplace¶

AWS Marketplace is a digital catalogue with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS. Canonical maintains image listings for recent Ubuntu releases and special flavours (e.g. Anbox, Pro, Pro FIPS, EKS) on this marketplace.

Customers can also use the AWS Marketplace to launch and subscribe to official Ubuntu Pro images that allow users to pay for additional support.

All the above mentioned Marketplace images can also be found in the SSM parameter store:

aws ssm get-parameter --name /aws/service/marketplace/$IDENTIFIER/latest

IDENTIFIER: use one of the following identifiers (starting with prod-)

AWS Marketplace identifiers

Name	Architecture	Identifier	GovCloud
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-x7h6cigkuiul6`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-gprrntd234sfc`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-df2jln3gjtwps`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-emtsb6upxf6us`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-lfutkwiaknxsk`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-amd2rg3s3i7tc`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-smq32swynllqw`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-zvdejcufto6ps`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-ax3nm4x43w4za`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-rp5bzjdqcbrq2`	✓
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-ib2w5aw4ynhey`	✓
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-uovi4c667gqya`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-u7oazfncxktmo`	✓
Minimal Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	arm64	`prod-umggziwlkgulc`	✓
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-hykkbajyverq4`	✓
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-7izp2xqnddwdc`	✓
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-k6fgbnayirmrc`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS	amd64	`prod-7u42cjnp5pcuo`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS with Real-time Kernel	arm64	`prod-ezodmjvranjew`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.23	amd64	`prod-d6nvbzhhqtsnc`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.23	arm64	`prod-w4kdatfulcfk2`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.24	amd64	`prod-q56ww7nfnmv72`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.24	arm64	`prod-pikds4f276lq6`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.25	amd64	`prod-h232pdamfnj5w`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.25	arm64	`prod-exeixbb2fbrog`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.26	amd64	`prod-paebp5ekgg6uu`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.26	arm64	`prod-lrqczh7vqe7ve`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.27	amd64	`prod-ldmift6l2jtbk`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.27	arm64	`prod-rmbj4hjbxq3s4`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.28	amd64	`prod-liwkeak7e3q7e`	✓
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for EKS 1.28	arm64	`prod-lnp3hmtlqxkes`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.29	amd64	`prod-lg73jq6vy35h2`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.29	arm64	`prod-htjgvopsb6wo2`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.30	amd64	`prod-ju4oliv6acvmu`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.30	arm64	`prod-ju4oliv6acvmu`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.31	amd64	`prod-6cgarsgfcf6pw`	✓
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.31	arm64	`prod-37lry2b6efnve`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.29	amd64	`prod-zhspprfykjuvy`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.29	arm64	`prod-ixonrj2zphe7a`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.30	amd64	`prod-osdss3jl4ihci`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.30	arm64	`prod-osdss3jl4ihci`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.31	amd64	`prod-mtxapxlqfrxhk`	✓
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS for EKS 1.31	arm64	`prod-v64fpuhgxrpgm`	✓