RunCommand - Elastic Compute Service - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Runs a shell, PowerShell, or batch command on one or more Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances.

Description

Unlike the CreateCommand and InvokeCommand operation, RunCommand can be used to create and run a command in a single request.

When you call this operation, take note of the following items:

The ECS instances on which you want to run a command must be instances that are deployed in virtual private clouds (VPCs).
The instances must be in the Running state.
The Cloud Assistant client must be installed on the instances. For more information, see InstallCloudAssistant.
Before you run a PowerShell command on a Windows instance, make sure that the PowerShell module is installed on the instance.
If you want to specify a schedule by using a cron expression, you can set a time zone based on your requirements. If you do not set a time zone, the schedule is based on the system time of the instance. Make sure that the time or time zone of the instance meets your business needs. For information about time zones, see Configure the NTP service for ECS instances that run CentOS 6 or Configure the NTP service for Windows instances.
You can specify the TimeOut parameter to set the timeout period for executions of the command on ECS instances. If an execution times out, the Cloud Assistant client forcefully terminates the command process.
- When the one-time execution of a command times out, the execution state (InvokeRecordStatus) of the command becomes Failed.
- For scheduled tasks, the timeout period takes effect on each execution of the command. The timeout of one execution does not affect the subsequent executions of the command. When a scheduled execution of a command times out, the execution state (InvokeRecordStatus) of the command becomes Failed.
  
  To ensure that scheduled tasks can run as expected, make sure that the version of the Cloud Assistant client is not earlier than the following ones. A scheduled task can run a command at a specified interval, only once at a specified time, or at designated times based on a cron expression with a specified year or time zone. If the ClientNeedUpgrade error code is returned, you must upgrade the Cloud Assistant client to the latest version. For more information, see Update or disable updates for the Cloud Assistant client.
  - Linux: 2.2.3.282
  - Windows: 2.1.3.282
Command executions may fail due to instance status exceptions, network exceptions, or exceptions on the Cloud Assistant client. If an execution fails, no execution information is generated.
When EnableParameter is set to true, the custom parameter feature is enabled. When you set the CommandContent parameter, you can define custom parameters in the {{parameter}} format. Then, when the command is run, the key-value pairs of the custom parameters are passed in.
You can retain up to 500 to 10,000 Cloud Assistant commands in each region based on your ECS usage. You can call the DescribeAccountAttribute operation to query quotas.

Debugging

OpenAPI Explorer automatically calculates the signature value. For your convenience, we recommend that you call this operation in OpenAPI Explorer. OpenAPI Explorer dynamically generates the sample code of the operation for different SDKs.

Request parameters


Parameter	Type	Required	Example	Description
Action	String	Yes	RunCommand	The operation that you want to perform. Set the value to RunCommand.
RegionId	String	Yes	cn-hangzhou	The region ID of the command. You can call the DescribeRegions operation to query the most recent region list.
Name	String	No	testName	The name of the command. The name supports all character sets and can be up to 128 characters in length.
Description	String	No	testDescription	The description of the command. The description supports all character sets and can be up to 512 characters in length.
Type	String	Yes	RunShellScript	The language type of the command. Valid values: RunBatScript: batch command (applicable to Windows instances). RunPowerShellScript: PowerShell command (applicable to Windows instances). RunShellScript: shell command (applicable to Linux instances).
CommandContent	String	Yes	ZWNobyAxMjM=	The content of the command. The command content can be plaintext or Base64-encoded. Take note of the following items: If you want to retain the command, make sure that the Base64-encoded command content does not exceed 18 KB in size. If you do not want to retain the command, make sure that the Base64-encoded command content does not exceed 24 KB in size. You can set `KeepCommand` to specify whether to retain the command. If the command content is Base64-encoded, set `ContentEncoding` to Base64. When `EnableParameter` is set to true, the custom parameter feature is enabled and you can configure custom parameters based on the following rules: Define custom parameters in the `{{}}` format. Within `{{}}`, the spaces and line feeds before and after the parameter names are ignored. The number of custom parameters cannot exceed 20. A custom parameter name can contain only letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-). The name is case-insensitive. Each custom parameter name cannot exceed 64 bytes in length. You can specify built-in environment parameters as custom parameters. Then, when you run the command, the parameters are automatically specified by Cloud Assistant. You can specify the following built-in environment parameters: `{{ACS::RegionId}}`: the ID of the region. `{{ACS::AccountId}}`: the UID of the Alibaba Cloud account. `{{ACS::InstanceId}}`: the ID of the instance. If you want to run the command on multiple instances and specify `{{ACS::InstanceId}}` as a built-in environment parameter, make sure that the Cloud Assistant client is not earlier than the following version: Linux: 2.2.3.309 Windows: 2.1.3.309 `{{ACS::InvokeId}}`: the ID of the task. If you want to specify `{{ACS::InvokeId}}` as a built-in environment parameter, make sure that the Cloud Assistant client is not earlier than the following version: Linux: 2.2.3.309 Windows: 2.1.3.309 `{{ACS::CommandId}}`: the ID of the command. If you want to specify `{{ACS::CommandId}}` as a built-in environment parameter, make sure that the version of the Cloud Assistant client is not earlier than the following ones: Linux: 2.2.3.309 Windows: 2.1.3.309
WorkingDir	String	No	/home/	The working directory of the command on the ECS instance. Default value: Linux instances: the home directory of the administrator (the root user), which is `/root`. Windows instances: the directory where the Cloud Assistant client process resides, such as `C:\Windows\System32`.
Timeout	Long	No	3600	The timeout period for the command execution. Unit: seconds. A timeout error occurs when a command cannot be run because the process slows down or because a specific module or the Cloud Assistant client does not exist. When an execution times out, the command process is forcefully terminated. Default value: 60.
EnableParameter	Boolean	No	false	Specifies whether to include custom parameters in the command. Default value: false.
RepeatMode	String	No	Once	Specifies how to run the command. Valid values: Once: immediately runs the command. Period: runs the command on a schedule. If you set this parameter to `Period`, you must set `Timed` to true and specify `Frequency`. NextRebootOnly: automatically runs the command the next time the instance starts. EveryReboot: automatically runs the command every time the instance starts. Default value: When `Timed` is set to false and `Frequency` is not specified, the default value of RepeatMode is `Once`. When `Timed` is set to true and `Frequency` is specified, `Period` is used as the value of RepeatMode regardless of whether RepeatMode is specified. Take note of the following items: When this parameter is set to `Period`, `NextRebootOnly`, or `EveryReboot`, you can call the StopInvocation operation to stop the pending or scheduled executions of the command. When this parameter is set to `Period` or `EveryReboot`, you can call the DescribeInvocationResults operation and set `IncludeHistory` to true to view the results of historical scheduled executions.
Timed	Boolean	No	true	Specifies whether to run the command on a schedule. Valid values: true: runs the command on the schedule specified by `Frequency`. The results of each execution of a command do not affect the next execution of the command. false: runs the command only once. Default value: false.
Frequency	String	No	0 /20 * * ?	The schedule on which to run the command. You must specify this parameter when you set `Timed` to `true`. You can specify a schedule to run the command at a fixed interval based on a rate expression, only once at a specified time, or at designated times based on a cron expression. Run at Fixed Interval: To run the command at a fixed interval, use a rate expression to specify the interval. You can specify the interval in seconds, minutes, hours, or days. This option is applicable when tasks need to be executed at a fixed interval. Specify the interval in the following format: `rate(<Execution interval value> <Execution interval unit>)`. For example, specify `rate(5m)` to run the command every 5 minutes. Take note of the following limits when you set an interval: The specified interval can be anywhere from 60 seconds to 7 days and must be longer than the timeout period of the scheduled task. The interval is the duration between two consecutive executions. The interval is irrelevant to the amount of time required to run the command once. For example, assume that you set the interval to 5 minutes and that it takes 2 minutes to run the command each time. Each time the command is run, the system waits 3 minutes before it runs the command again. A task is not executed immediately after it is created. For example, assume that you set the interval to 5 minutes for a task. The task begins to be executed 5 minutes after it is created. Run Only Once at Specified Time: To run the command only once at a specified time, specify a point in time and a time zone. Specify the time in the following format: `at(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss <Time zone>)`, which indicates `at(Year-Month-Day Hour:Minute:Second <Time zone>)`. If you do not specify a time zone, the UTC time zone is used by default. The time zone supports the following forms: The time zone name. Example: `Asia/Shanghai` and `America/Los_Angeles`. The time offset from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Example: `GMT+8:00` (UTC+8) and `GMT-7:00` (UTC-7). If you use the GMT format, do not pad leading zeros to the hour value. The time zone abbreviation: Only UTC is supported. To specify a command to run only once at 13:15:30 on June 06, 2022 (Shanghai time), set the time to `at(2022-06-06 13:15:30 Asia/Shanghai)`. To specify a command to run only once at 13:15:30 on June 06, 2022 (UTC-7), set the time to `at(2022-06-06 13:15:30 GMT-7:00)`. Run on Clock-based Schedule: To run the command at designated times, specify a cron expression. Specify the time in the following format: `<Cron expression> <Time zone>`, where the cron expression is in the format of `<seconds> <minutes> <hours> <day of the month> <month> <day of the week> <year (optional)> <time zone>`. The system calculates the execution times of the command based on the specified cron expression and time zone and runs the command as scheduled. If you do not specify a time zone, the system time zone of the instance on which to run the command is used by default. For more information about cron expressions, see Cron expressions. The time zone supports the following forms: The time zone name. Example: `Asia/Shanghai` and `America/Los_Angeles`. The time offset from GMT. Example: `GMT+8:00` (UTC+8) and `GMT-7:00` (UTC-7). If you use the GMT format, do not pad leading zeros to the hour value. The time zone abbreviation: Only UTC is supported. For example, to specify a command to run at 10:15:00 every day in 2022 (Shanghai time), set the time to `0 15 10 ? * * 2022 Asia/Shanghai`. To specify a command to run every half an hour from 10:00:00 to 11:30:00 every day in 2022 (UTC+8), set the time to `0 0/30 10-11 * ? 2022 GMT +8:00`. To specify a command to run every 5 minutes from 14:00:00 to 14:55:00 every October every two years since 2022 (UTC), set the time to `0 0/5 14 * 10 ? 2022/2 UTC`. Note The minimum interval must be 10 seconds or more and cannot be shorter than the timeout period of scheduled executions.
Parameters	Map	No	{"name":"Jack", "accessKey":"LTAIdyvdIqaRY****"}	The key-value pairs of custom parameters to be passed in when the command includes custom parameters. For example, assume that the command content is `echo {{name}}`. You can use the `Parameter` parameter to pass in the `{"name":"Jack"}` key-value pair. The `name` key of the custom parameter is automatically replaced by the paired Jack value to generate a new command. As a result, the `echo Jack` command is actually run. Number of custom parameters: 0 to 10. Take note of the following items: The key cannot be an empty string and can be up to 64 characters in length. The value can be an empty string. If you want to retain the command, make sure that the size of the command (including custom parameters and original command content) after Base64 encoding does not exceed 18 KB. If you do not want to retain the command, make sure that the size of the command after Base64-encoding does not exceed 24 KB. You can set `KeepCommand` to specify whether to retain the command. The custom parameter names specified in the value of Parameters must all be included in the custom parameters specified when you created the command. You can use empty strings to represent the parameters that are not specified. This parameter is empty by default. You can leave this parameter empty to disable the custom parameter feature.
KeepCommand	Boolean	No	false	Specifies whether to retain the command after it is run. Valid values: true: The command is retained. You can call the InvokeCommand operation to run the command again. The retained command command counts against the quota of Cloud Assistant commands. false: The command is not retained. The command is automatically deleted after it is run and does not count against the quota of Cloud Assistant commands. Default value: false.
ContentEncoding	String	No	Base64	The encoding mode of command content (`CommandContent`). The valid values are case-insensitive. Valid values: PlainText: The command content is not encoded. Base64: The command content is Base64-encoded. Default value: PlainText. If the specified value of this parameter is invalid, PlainText is used by default.
Username	String	No	root	The username used to run the command on ECS instances. For Linux instances, the root user is used. For Windows instances, the System user is used. You can also specify other usernames that already exist in the ECS instance to run the command. For security purposes, we recommend that you run Cloud Assistant commands as a regular user. For more information, see Configure a regular user to run Cloud Assistant commands.
WindowsPasswordName	String	No	axtSecretPassword	The name of the password used to run the command on a Windows instance. If you want to use a username other than the default System username to run the command on the Windows instance, you must specify both the WindowsPasswordName and `Username` parameter. The password is hosted in plaintext in the parameter repository of Operation Orchestration Service (OOS) to reduce the risk of password leaks. Only the name of the password is passed in by using the WindowsPasswordName parameter. For more information, see Encrypt parameters and Configure a regular user to run Cloud Assistant commands. Note When you use the root username for Linux instances or the System username for Windows instances to run the command, you do not need to specify the WindowsPasswordName parameter.
InstanceId.N	String	Yes	i-bp185dy2o3o6neg****	The ID of instance N on which to run the command. Valid values of N: 1 to 50. If one of the specified instances does not meet the conditions for running the command, the call fails. To ensure that the call is successful, specify only the IDs of instances that meet the conditions.

Response parameters


Parameter	Type	Example	Description
RequestId	String	473469C7-AA6F-4DC5-B3DB-A3DC0DE3****	The ID of the request.
CommandId	String	c-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****	The ID of the command.
InvokeId	String	t-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****	The ID of the task.

Examples

Sample requests

https://ecs.aliyuncs.com/?Action=RunCommand
&CommandContent='echo hello'
&InstanceId.1=i-bp185dy2o3o6neg****
&InstanceId.2=i-bp541dc26ko6dd5****
&Name=Test
&RegionId=cn-hangzhou
&Type=RunShellScript
&Username=root
&<Common request parameters>

Sample success response

XML format

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type:application/xml

<RunCommandResponse>
    <RequestId>E69EF3CC-94CD-42E7-8926-F133B863****</RequestId>
    <CommandId>c-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****</CommandId>
    <InvokeId>t-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****</InvokeId>
</RunCommandResponse>

JSON format

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type:application/json

{
  "RequestId" : "E69EF3CC-94CD-42E7-8926-F133B863****",
  "CommandId" : "c-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****",
  "InvokeId" : "t-7d2a745b412b4601b2d47f6a768d****"
}

Error codes


HTTP status code	Error code	Error message	Description
400	RegionId.ApiNotSupported	The api is not supported in this region.	The error message returned because the API operation cannot be called in the specified region. Check whether the RegionId parameter is valid.
403	InvalidCmdType.NotFound	The specified command type does not exist.	The error message returned because the specified Type parameter is invalid.
403	CmdContent.ExceedLimit	The length of the command content exceeds the upper limit.	The error message returned because the length of the command content exceeds the upper limit.
403	CmdName.ExceedLimit	The length of the command name exceeds the upper limit.	The error message returned because the command name exceeds 128 characters in length.
403	CmdDesc.ExceedLimit	The length of the command description exceeds the upper limit.	The error message returned because the command description exceeds 512 characters in length.
403	CmdCount.ExceedQuota	The total number of commands in the current region exceeds the quota.	The error message returned because the maximum number of Cloud Assistant commands in the specified region has been reached.
403	CmdParam.EmptyKey	Command parameters can not be empty.	The error message returned because the custom parameters are not passed in the command.
403	CmdParam.InvalidParamName	A command parameter name is invalid.	The error message returned because the name of a custom parameter in the command is invalid.
403	InvalidInstance.NotMatch	The specified instance type does not match the command.	The error message returned because the specified command cannot be run on the specified ECS instance. Check whether the state of the instance meets the conditions for running the Cloud Assistant command.
403	MissingParam.Frequency	The frequency must be specified when you create a timed task.	The error message returned because the Frequency parameter is not specified when you set Timed to true.
403	InvalidParam.Frequency	The specified frequency is invalid.	The error message returned because the specified Frequency parameter is invalid. Check whether the specified Frequency parameter is valid.
403	InstanceIds.ExceedLimit	The number of instance IDs exceeds the upper limit.	The error message returned because more than 50 ECS instance IDs are specified.
403	Invocation.ExceedQuota	The invocation quota in the current region has been reached for today.	The error message returned because the daily maximum number of command executions in the specified region has been reached.
403	Username.ExceedLimit	The length of the username exceeds the upper limit.	The error message returned because the length of the username exceeds the upper limit.
403	Operation.Forbidden	The operation is not permitted.	The error message returned because the operation is not supported.
404	InvalidRepeatMode.NotFound	The specified repeat mode does not exist.	The error message returned because the specified RepeatMode parameter does not exist.
404	InvalidInstance.NotFound	The specified instance does not exist.	The error message returned because the specified ECS instance does not exist.
404	InvalidCmdId.NotFound	The specified command ID does not exist.	The error message returned because the specified CommandId parameter is invalid. You can call the DescribeCommands operation to query all available command IDs.
500	InternalError.Dispatch	An error occurred when you dispatched the request.	The error message returned because an error occurred while the request was being sent. Try again later.

For a list of error codes, visit the API Error Center.