import-key-pair¶

Description¶

Imports the public key from an RSA key pair that you created with a third-party tool. Compare this with CreateKeyPair , in which AWS creates the key pair and gives the keys to you (AWS keeps a copy of the public key). With ImportKeyPair, you create the key pair and give AWS just the public key. The private key is never transferred between you and AWS.

For more information about key pairs, see Key Pairs in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide .

Synopsis¶

  import-key-pair
[--dry-run | --no-dry-run]
--key-name <value>
--public-key-material <value>
[--tag-specifications <value>]
[--cli-input-json | --cli-input-yaml]
[--generate-cli-skeleton <value>]
[--cli-auto-prompt <value>]

Options¶

--dry-run | --no-dry-run (boolean)

Checks whether you have the required permissions for the action, without actually making the request, and provides an error response. If you have the required permissions, the error response is DryRunOperation . Otherwise, it is UnauthorizedOperation .

--key-name (string)

A unique name for the key pair.

--public-key-material (blob)

The public key. For API calls, the text must be base64-encoded. For command line tools, base64 encoding is performed for you.

--tag-specifications (list)

The tags to apply to the imported key pair.

(structure)

The tags to apply to a resource when the resource is being created.

ResourceType -> (string)

The type of resource to tag. Currently, the resource types that support tagging on creation are: capacity-reservation | client-vpn-endpoint | dedicated-host | dhcp-options | export-image-task | export-instance-task | fleet | fpga-image | host-reservation | import-image-task | import-snapshot-task | instance | internet-gateway | ipv4pool-ec2 | ipv6pool-ec2 | key-pair | launch-template | placement-group | prefix-list | natgateway | network-acl | security-group | spot-fleet-request | spot-instances-request | snapshot | subnet | traffic-mirror-filter | traffic-mirror-session | traffic-mirror-target | transit-gateway | transit-gateway-attachment | transit-gateway-route-table | volume |vpc | vpc-endpoint (for interface and gateway endpoints) | vpc-endpoint-service (for AWS PrivateLink) | vpc-flow-log .

To tag a resource after it has been created, see CreateTags .

Tags -> (list)

The tags to apply to the resource.

(structure)

Describes a tag.

Key -> (string)

The key of the tag.

Constraints: Tag keys are case-sensitive and accept a maximum of 127 Unicode characters. May not begin with aws: .

Value -> (string)

The value of the tag.

Constraints: Tag values are case-sensitive and accept a maximum of 255 Unicode characters.

Shorthand Syntax:

ResourceType=string,Tags=[{Key=string,Value=string},{Key=string,Value=string}] ...

JSON Syntax:

[
  {
    "ResourceType": "client-vpn-endpoint"|"customer-gateway"|"dedicated-host"|"dhcp-options"|"elastic-ip"|"elastic-gpu"|"export-image-task"|"export-instance-task"|"fleet"|"fpga-image"|"host-reservation"|"image"|"import-image-task"|"import-snapshot-task"|"instance"|"internet-gateway"|"key-pair"|"launch-template"|"local-gateway-route-table-vpc-association"|"natgateway"|"network-acl"|"network-interface"|"placement-group"|"reserved-instances"|"route-table"|"security-group"|"snapshot"|"spot-fleet-request"|"spot-instances-request"|"subnet"|"traffic-mirror-filter"|"traffic-mirror-session"|"traffic-mirror-target"|"transit-gateway"|"transit-gateway-attachment"|"transit-gateway-multicast-domain"|"transit-gateway-route-table"|"volume"|"vpc"|"vpc-peering-connection"|"vpn-connection"|"vpn-gateway"|"vpc-flow-log",
    "Tags": [
      {
        "Key": "string",
        "Value": "string"
      }
      ...
    ]
  }
  ...
]

--cli-input-json | --cli-input-yaml (string) Reads arguments from the JSON string provided. The JSON string follows the format provided by --generate-cli-skeleton. If other arguments are provided on the command line, those values will override the JSON-provided values. It is not possible to pass arbitrary binary values using a JSON-provided value as the string will be taken literally. This may not be specified along with --cli-input-yaml.

--generate-cli-skeleton (string) Prints a JSON skeleton to standard output without sending an API request. If provided with no value or the value input, prints a sample input JSON that can be used as an argument for --cli-input-json. Similarly, if provided yaml-input it will print a sample input YAML that can be used with --cli-input-yaml. If provided with the value output, it validates the command inputs and returns a sample output JSON for that command.

--cli-auto-prompt (boolean) Automatically prompt for CLI input parameters.

See ‘aws help’ for descriptions of global parameters.

Examples¶

To import a public key

First, generate a key pair with the tool of your choice. For example, use this ssh-keygen command:

Command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "my-key" -f ~/.ssh/my-key

Output:

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/ec2-user/.ssh/my-key.
Your public key has been saved in /home/ec2-user/.ssh/my-key.pub.
...

This example command imports the specified public key.

Command:

aws ec2 import-key-pair --key-name "my-key" --public-key-material fileb://~/.ssh/my-key.pub

Output:

{
  "KeyName": "my-key",
  "KeyFingerprint": "1f:51:ae:28:bf:89:e9:d8:1f:25:5d:37:2d:7d:b8:ca"
}

Output¶

KeyFingerprint -> (string)

The MD5 public key fingerprint as specified in section 4 of RFC 4716.

KeyName -> (string)

The key pair name you provided.

KeyPairId -> (string)

The ID of the resulting key pair.

Tags -> (list)

The tags applied to the imported key pair.

(structure)

Describes a tag.

Key -> (string)

The key of the tag.

Constraints: Tag keys are case-sensitive and accept a maximum of 127 Unicode characters. May not begin with aws: .

Value -> (string)

The value of the tag.

Constraints: Tag values are case-sensitive and accept a maximum of 255 Unicode characters.

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