How to pass a string from python to AWS Run Powershell script commands section using boto3

Question

Is there anyway to pass the variable (var) defined in python idle to AWS-RunPowerShellScript commands section ?

Here is my code:

import boto3

ssm = boto3.client("ssm")
var = "test"

res = ssm.send_command(
     DocumentName="AWS-RunPowerShellScript",
     Targets=[
         {
             'Key': 'tag:test',
             'Values': ['testing']
         }
     ] 
     Comment="Test",
     Parameters={'commands':[
          'hostname',
          '$var'
       ]
}
)

In the above code, I am defining variable var in python and the same I want to refer in the commands section of the send_command as $var but it seems like it is not working due to the remote execution. Is there any possibility to pass the variable from python to the commands section ?

Answer 1

You can build the command string before calling send_command with the ssm_client. Then reference the variable in the parameters.

This can be done with any type of send_command including AWS-RunShellScript or AWS-RunPowershellScript

In your example above, note that you have used '$var' which is a actually a string since it is wrapped in ''. Also note that in Python, the $ char is not used to reference variables. That is a PHP thing.

import boto3

ssm_client = boto3.client('ssm')
# build your command string here
command = "echo 'hello world' > testfile.txt"
# send command
response = ssm_client.send_command(
        DocumentName="AWS-RunShellScript",
        Targets=[
            {
                'Key': 'tag:test',
                'Values': ['testing']
            }
        ],
        # the command var is just a string after all
        Parameters={'commands': [command]}
    )
print(response)