install fail2ban using cloudformation - aws-cloudformation

Question

I am having issues installing fail2ban through cloudformation template. See my template below.
My template creates the EC2 instance from AMI in the mappings, but the EC2 contains only applications that come installed on it.The package install part through yum does not work (the packages do not get installed)
Any direction is appreciated.
{
"AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
"Description" : "AWS CloudFormation LAMP",
"Parameters" : {
"KeyName": {
"Description" : "Name of an existing EC2 KeyPair to enable SSH access to the instance",
"Type": "AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName",
"ConstraintDescription" : "must be the name of an existing EC2 KeyPair."
},
"InstanceType" : {
"Description" : "WebServer EC2 instance type",
"Type" : "String",
"Default" : "t2.small",
"AllowedValues" : [ "t1.micro", "t2.nano", "t2.micro", "t2.small", "t2.medium", "t2.large", "m1.small", "m1.medium", "m1.large", "m1.xlarge", "m2.xlarge", "m2.2xlarge", "m2.4xlarge", "m3.medium", "m3.large", "m3.xlarge", "m3.2xlarge", "m4.large", "m4.xlarge", "m4.2xlarge", "m4.4xlarge", "m4.10xlarge", "c1.medium", "c1.xlarge", "c3.large", "c3.xlarge", "c3.2xlarge", "c3.4xlarge", "c3.8xlarge", "c4.large", "c4.xlarge", "c4.2xlarge", "c4.4xlarge", "c4.8xlarge", "g2.2xlarge", "g2.8xlarge", "r3.large", "r3.xlarge", "r3.2xlarge", "r3.4xlarge", "r3.8xlarge", "i2.xlarge", "i2.2xlarge", "i2.4xlarge", "i2.8xlarge", "d2.xlarge", "d2.2xlarge", "d2.4xlarge", "d2.8xlarge", "hi1.4xlarge", "hs1.8xlarge", "cr1.8xlarge", "cc2.8xlarge", "cg1.4xlarge"]
,
"ConstraintDescription" : "must be a valid EC2 instance type."
},
"SSHLocation" : {
"Description" : " The IP address range that can be used to SSH to the EC2 instances",
"Type": "String",
"MinLength": "9",
"MaxLength": "18",
"Default": "0.0.0.0/0",
"AllowedPattern": "(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})/(\\d{1,2})",
"ConstraintDescription": "must be a valid IP CIDR range of the form x.x.x.x/x."
}
},
"Mappings" : {
"AWSInstanceType2Arch" : {
"t1.micro" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"t2.nano" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"t2.micro" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"t2.small" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"t2.medium" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"t2.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m1.small" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m1.medium" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m1.large" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m1.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m2.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m2.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m2.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"m3.medium" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m3.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m3.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m3.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m4.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m4.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m4.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m4.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"m4.10xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c1.medium" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"c1.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "PV64" },
"c3.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c3.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c3.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c3.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c3.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c4.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c4.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c4.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c4.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"c4.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"g2.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVMG2" },
"g2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVMG2" },
"r3.large" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"r3.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"r3.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"r3.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"r3.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"i2.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"i2.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"i2.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"i2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"d2.xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"d2.2xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"d2.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"d2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"hi1.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"hs1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"cr1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" },
"cc2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64" }
},
"AWSRegionArch2AMI" : {
"us-east-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-2a69aa47", "HVM64" : "ami-6869aa05", "HVMG2" : "ami-1f12e965"},
"us-west-2" : {"PV64" : "ami-7f77b31f", "HVM64" : "ami-39d39d41", "HVMG2" : "ami-5c9b6124"},
"us-west-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-a2490dc2", "HVM64" : "ami-31490d51", "HVMG2" : "ami-7291a112"},
"eu-west-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-4cdd453f", "HVM64" : "ami-f9dd458a", "HVMG2" : "ami-b411c5cd"},
"eu-west-2" : {"PV64" : "NOT_SUPPORTED", "HVM64" : "ami-39d39d41", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"eu-central-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-6527cf0a", "HVM64" : "ami-ea26ce85", "HVMG2" : "ami-be40f2d1"},
"ap-northeast-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-3e42b65f", "HVM64" : "ami-374db956", "HVMG2" : "ami-3efd2c58"},
"ap-northeast-2" : {"PV64" : "NOT_SUPPORTED", "HVM64" : "ami-2b408b45", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"ap-southeast-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-df9e4cbc", "HVM64" : "ami-a59b49c6", "HVMG2" : "ami-3e91ed5d"},
"ap-southeast-2" : {"PV64" : "ami-63351d00", "HVM64" : "ami-dc361ebf", "HVMG2" : "ami-84a142e6"},
"ap-south-1" : {"PV64" : "NOT_SUPPORTED", "HVM64" : "ami-ffbdd790", "HVMG2" : "ami-25ffbe4a"},
"us-east-2" : {"PV64" : "NOT_SUPPORTED", "HVM64" : "ami-f6035893", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"ca-central-1" : {"PV64" : "NOT_SUPPORTED", "HVM64" : "ami-730ebd17", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"sa-east-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-1ad34676", "HVM64" : "ami-6dd04501", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"cn-north-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-77559f1a", "HVM64" : "ami-8e6aa0e3", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
"cn-northwest-1" : {"PV64" : "ami-80707be2", "HVM64" : "ami-cb858fa9", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"}
}
},
"Resources" : {
"WebServerInstance": {
"Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
"Metadata" : {
"AWS::CloudFormation::Init" : {
"configSets" : {
"InstallAndRun" : [ "Install", "Configure" ]
},
"Install" : {
"packages" : {
"yum" : {
"httpd" : [],
"php" : [],
"php-mysql" : [],
"monit" : [],
"fail2ban" : []
}
},
"files" : {
"/etc/cfn/cfn-hup.conf" : {
"content" : { "Fn::Join" : ["", [
"[main]\n",
"stack=", { "Ref" : "AWS::StackId" }, "\n",
"region=", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, "\n"
]]},
"mode" : "000400",
"owner" : "root",
"group" : "root"
},
"/etc/cfn/hooks.d/cfn-auto-reloader.conf" : {
"content": { "Fn::Join" : ["", [
"[cfn-auto-reloader-hook]\n",
"triggers=post.update\n",
"path=Resources.WebServerInstance.Metadata.AWS::CloudFormation::Init\n",
"action=/opt/aws/bin/cfn-init -v ",
" --stack ", { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" },
" --resource WebServerInstance ",
" --configsets InstallAndRun ",
" --region ", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, "\n",
"runas=root\n"
]]},
"mode" : "000400",
"owner" : "root",
"group" : "root"
}
},
"services" : {
"sysvinit" : {
"httpd" : { "enabled" : "true", "ensureRunning" : "true" },
"cfn-hup" : { "enabled" : "true", "ensureRunning" : "true",
"files" : ["/etc/cfn/cfn-hup.conf", "/etc/cfn/hooks.d/cfn-auto-reloader.conf"]}
}
}
},
"Configure" : {
}
}
},
"Properties": {
"ImageId" : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSRegionArch2AMI", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" },
{ "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSInstanceType2Arch", { "Ref" : "InstanceType" }, "Arch" ] } ] },
"InstanceType" : { "Ref" : "InstanceType" },
"SecurityGroups" : [ {"Ref" : "WebServerSecurityGroup"} ],
"KeyName" : { "Ref" : "KeyName" },
"UserData" : { "Fn::Base64" : { "Fn::Join" : ["", [
"#!/bin/bash -xe\n",
"yum update -y aws-cfn-bootstrap\n",
"# Install the files and packages from the metadata\n",
"/opt/aws/bin/cfn-init -v ",
" --stack ", { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" },
" --resource WebServerInstance ",
" --configsets InstallAndRun ",
" --region ", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, "\n",
"# Signal the status from cfn-init\n",
"/opt/aws/bin/cfn-signal -e $? ",
" --stack ", { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" },
" --resource WebServerInstance ",
" --region ", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, "\n"
]]}}
},
"CreationPolicy" : {
"ResourceSignal" : {
"Timeout" : "PT5M"
}
}
},
"WebServerSecurityGroup" : {
"Type" : "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
"Properties" : {
"GroupDescription" : "Enable HTTP access via port 80",
"SecurityGroupIngress" : [
{"IpProtocol" : "tcp", "FromPort" : "80", "ToPort" : "80", "CidrIp" : "0.0.0.0/0"},
{"IpProtocol" : "tcp", "FromPort" : "22", "ToPort" : "22", "CidrIp" : { "Ref" : "SSHLocation"}}
]
}
}
},
"Outputs" : {
"WebsiteURL" : {
"Description" : "URL for newly created LAMP stack",
"Value" : { "Fn::Join" : ["", ["http://", { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "WebServerInstance", "PublicDnsName" ]}]] }
}
}
}

Answer 1

I've had a similar issue before, the way I got around it was by utilising the Default configSet which just calls configKeys required. So in your case:
"WebServerInstance": {
"Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
"Metadata" : {
"AWS::CloudFormation::Init" : {
"configSets" : {
"InstallAndRun" : [ "Install", "Configure" ]
},
"Install" : {
"packages" : {
"yum" : {
"httpd" : [],
"php" : [],
"php-mysql" : [],
"monit" : [],
"fail2ban" : []
}
},
Would become:
"WebServerInstance": {
"Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
"Metadata" : {
"AWS::CloudFormation::Init" : {
"configSets" : {
"default " : [ "Install", "Configure" ]
},
"Install" : {
"packages" : {
"yum" : {
"httpd" : [],
"php" : [],
"php-mysql" : [],
"monit" : [],
"fail2ban" : []
}
},
You may have to tweak this a little bit, mainly because I don't write JSON (I won't make any jokes this time, promise), I use YAML, so you'll have to excuse me if my formatting is incorrect, this should fix it though.