Aws-cdk: Cannot use Ubuntu when creating Cloud9 EC2 environment.

[realharry]

• I'm submitting a ...

  • [ ] :beetle: bug report
  • [ ] :rocket: feature request
  • [x] :books: construct library gap
  • [ ] :phone: security issue or vulnerability => Please see policy
  • [ ] :question: support request => Please see note at the top of this template.

• What is the current behavior?
  If the current behavior is a :beetle:bug:beetle:: Please provide the steps to reproduce

The API, https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-cloud9.CfnEnvironmentEC2.html, does not provide a way to select Ubuntu as a platform when creating a Cloud9 EC2 environment.

  private buildCloud9Environment = (envId: string): cloud9.CfnEnvironmentEC2 => {
    const c9 = new cloud9.CfnEnvironmentEC2(this, envId, {
      name: envId,
      description: 'For accessing staging stack',
      subnetId: this._vpcSubnet,
      instanceType: 't2.small',
      automaticStopTimeMinutes: 30,
    });
    return c9;
  }

• What is the expected behavior (or behavior of feature suggested)?

One should be able to choose Amazon Linux vs Ubuntu.

• What is the motivation / use case for changing the behavior or adding this feature?

I'm more familiar with Debian flavors of Linux.

• Please tell us about your environment:

  • Language: TypeScript

• Other information (e.g. detailed explanation, stacktraces, related issues, suggestions how to fix, links for us to have context, eg. associated pull-request, stackoverflow, gitter, etc)

[nmussy]

Hey Harry,

I'm not very familiar with Cloud9, would you be able to find a way to set the AMI outside the Admin Console? A blog post from earlier this year and developer guide mention Ubuntu, but I can't find how to set it, either in the SDK or the CloudFormation specs.

[realharry]

Hi @nmussy You can choose Ubuntu vs Amazon Linux when you create a Cloud9 environment via Console (it's called "Platform" in the UI), but I don't see that option in the SDK or even in the CF docs, as you say. I marked the ticket as "GAP" because it's probably missing in CDK as well as in the underlying CF API.

[nmussy]

Unfortunately, the CDK can only generate CloudFormation templates.

You can request this feature in the aws-cloudformation-coverage-roadmap, but seen as it's not even in the SDK, I would open a topic in the AWS Forums. I did a quick search, and it doesn't seem that either have had your issue raised.

[NGL321]

Hi @realharry!

Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, @nmussy is correct, and this is not a feature that is supported by Cloudformation. This makes it difficult for us to implement, and so we typically wait for Cloudformation coverage.

I have put in a ticket to the Cloudformation team regarding this and will update this issue when I can.
😸

[realharry]

Great! Thanks very much, @NGL321 @nmussy. Have a wonderful Friday!!

[shivlaks]

@realharry @nmussy @NGL321

I also added the issue to the cloudformation-coverage-roadmap

Feel free to +1, add any context!