# Register EC2 alarm during instance creation

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-ec2-alarm-during-instance-creation/17553>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 18, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-ec2-alarm-during-instance-creation/17553 "2015-02-18T15:41:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Toby\_Hobson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Toby\_Hobson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Toby_Hobson)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/register-ec2-alarm-during-instance-creation/17553/1 "2015-02-18T15:41:24Z")

</div>

I am able to create an ec2 cloudwatch alarm for existing instances by using the ec2 dynamic inventory script ie.

hosts: tag\_Name\_Build

- name: Create CPU utilization metric alarm  
sudo: false  
local\_action:  
ec2\_metric\_alarm  
dimensions=“InstanceId”=“{{ec2\_id}}”  
…

and running it as $ansible-playbook -i ec2-inventory.py add\_alarms.yml

However I would really like to be able to attach these alarms when I initially create the instance. The problem I have run into is what value to use for the dimension attribute because {{ec2\_id}} is not available. I’m looking for something similar to this:

- name: Provision EC2 instances  
hosts: localhost  
connection: local  
gather\_facts: False  
tasks:
- name: Provision a set of instances  
ec2:  
…  
count\_tag:  
Name: Build  
instance\_tags:  
Name: Build  
register: ec2

# Attach alarms for new instances

- name: Create CPU utilization metric alarm  
sudo: false  
local\_action:  
ec2\_metric\_alarm  
dimensions=“InstanceId”=“{{ec2\_id}}”

Has anyone found a solution for attaching alarms to newly created instances?

Many thanks

Toby