Using Aliases to launch F5 AMI Images in AWS Marketplace

F5 lists 82 product offerings in the AWS Marketplace as Amazon Machine Images (AMI). Each version of each product in each AWS Region has a different AMI. That’s around 22,000 images!

Each AMI is identified by an AMI ID. You use the AMI ID to indicate which AMI you want to use when launching an F5 product. You can find AMI IDs using the AWS Web Console, but the AWS CLI is the best tool for the job.

 

Searching for AMIs using the AWS CLI

Here’s how you find the AMI IDs for version 17.5.1.2 of BIG-IP Virtual Edition in the us-east-1 AWS region:

aws ec2 describe-images --owners aws-marketplace --filters 'Name=name,Values=F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2*' --query "sort_by(Images,&Name)[:]. {Description: Description, Id:ImageId }" --region us-east-1 --output table

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                          DescribeImages                                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+
|                               Description                              |           Id            |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 BYOL-All Modules 1Boot Loc-250916013758       |  ami-0948eabdf29ef2a8f  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 BYOL-All Modules 2Boot Loc-250916015535       |  ami-0cb3aaa67967ad029  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 BYOL-LTM 1Boot Loc-250916013616               |  ami-05d70b82c9031ff39  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 BYOL-LTM 2Boot Loc-250916014744               |  ami-0b6021cc939308f3e  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 BYOL-encrypted-threat-protection-250916015535 |  ami-01f4fde300d3763be  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-AWF Plus 16vCPU-250916015534             |  ami-015474056159387ac  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Adv WAF Plus 200Mbps-250916015522        |  ami-06ce5b03dce2a059d  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Adv WAF Plus 25Mbps-250916015520         |  ami-0826808708df97480  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Adv WAF Plus 3Gbps-250916015523          |  ami-08c63c8f7ca71cf37  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Best Plus 10Gbps-250916015532            |  ami-0e806ef17838760e4  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Best Plus 1Gbps-250916015530             |  ami-05e31c2a0ac9ec050  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Best Plus 200Mbps-250916015528           |  ami-02dc0995af98d0710  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Best Plus 25Mbps-250916015527            |  ami-08b8f2daefde800e9  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Best Plus 5Gbps-250916015531             |  ami-0d16154bb1102f3e9  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Better 10Gbps-250916015512               |  ami-05c9527fff191feba  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Better 1Gbps-250916015510                |  ami-05ce2932601070d5c  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Better 200Mbps-250916015508              |  ami-0f6044db3900ba46f  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Better 25Mbps-250916014542               |  ami-0de57aba160170358  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Better 5Gbps-250916015511                |  ami-04271103ab2d1369d  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 10Gbps-250916014739                 |  ami-0d06d2a097d7bb47a  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 1Gbps-250916014737                  |  ami-01707e969ebcc6138  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 200Mbps-250916014735                |  ami-06f9a44562d94f992  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 25Mbps-250916013626                 |  ami-0aa2bca574c66af13  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 5Gbps-250916014738                  |  ami-01951e02c52deef85  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-PVE Adv WAF Plus 200Mbps-0916015525      |  ami-03df50dfc04f19df5  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-PVE Adv WAF Plus 25Mbps-50916015524      |  ami-0777c069eaae20ea1  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+

 

This command shows all 17.5.1* releases of the "PayGo Good 1Gbps" flavor of BIG-IP in the us-west-1 region sorted by newest release first:

aws ec2 describe-images --owners aws-marketplace --filters 'Name=name,Values=F5 BIGIP-17.5.1*PAYG-Good 1Gbps*' --query "reverse(sort_by(Images,&CreationDate))[:]. {Description: Name, Id:ImageId , date:CreationDate}" --region us-west-1 --output table

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                  DescribeImages                                                                  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+
|                                         Description                                        |          Id            |           date             |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1.2-0.0.5 PAYG-Good 1Gbps-250916014737-7fb2f9db-2a12-4915-9abb-045b6388cccd |  ami-0de8ca1229be5f7fe |  2025-09-16T23:12:28.000Z  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1-0.80.7 PAYG-Good 1Gbps-250811055424-7fb2f9db-2a12-4915-9abb-045b6388cccd  |  ami-09afcec6f36494382 |  2025-08-15T19:03:23.000Z  |
|  F5 BIGIP-17.5.1-0.0.7 PAYG-Good 1Gbps-250618090310-7fb2f9db-2a12-4915-9abb-045b6388cccd   |  ami-03e389e112872fd53 |  2025-07-01T06:00:44.000Z  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+

 

Notice that the same BIG-IP VE release has a different AMI ID in each AWS region. Attempting to launch a product in one region using an AMI ID from a different region will fail.

This causes a problem when a shell script or automation tool is used to launch new EC2 instances and the AMI IDs have been hardcoded for one region and you attempt to use it in another.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a single AMI identifier that works in all AWS regions?

 

Introducing AMI Aliases

The Ami Alias is a similar ID to the AMI ID, but it’s easier to use in automation. An AMI alias has the form /aws/service/marketplace/prod-<identifier>/<version> , for example, "PayGo Good 1Gbps"

   /aws/service/marketplace/prod-s6e6miuci4yts/17.5.1.2-0.0.5

You can use this Ami Alias ID in any Region, and AWS automatically maps it to the correct Regional AMI ID.

 

BIG-IP AMI Alias Identifiers

 

NGINX Plus Alias Identifiers

 

Using AMI Aliases for BIG-IP

The following example shows using an AMI alias to launch a new "F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition - GOOD  (PAYG, 1Gbps)" instance version 17.5.1.2-0.0.5 by using the AWS CLI.

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id resolve:ssm:/aws/service/marketplace/prod-s6e6miuci4yts/17.5.1.2-0.0.5 --instance-type m5.xlarge --key-name MyKeyPair

 

The next example shows a CloudFormation template that accepts the AMI alias as an input parameter to create an instance.

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: 2010-09-09

Parameters:
    AmiAlias:
        Description: AMI alias
        Type: 'String'
        
Resources:
    MyEC2Instance:
        Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
        Properties:
            ImageId: !Sub "resolve:ssm:${AmiAlias}"
            InstanceType: "g4dn.xlarge"
            Tags:
                -Key: "Created from"
                 Value: !Ref AmiAlias

 

Using AMI Aliases for NGINX Plus

NGINX Plus images in the AWS Marketplace are not version specific, so just use "latest" as the version to launch. For example, this will launch NGINX Plus Premium on Ubuntu 24.04:

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id resolve:ssm:/aws/service/marketplace/prod-opg2qh33mi4pk/latest --instance-type c5.large --key-name MyKeyPair

 

Finding AMI Aliases in AWS Marketplace

AMI aliases are new to the AWS Marketplace, so not all products have them. To locate the alias for an AMI you use often, you need to resort to the AWS Marketplace web console. Here are the step-by-step instructions provided by Amazon:

1. Navigate to AWS Marketplace

• Go to AWS Marketplace 
• Sign in to your AWS account

2. Find and Subscribe to the Product

• Search for or browse to find your desired product
• Click on the product listing
• Click "Continue to Subscribe"
• Accept the terms and subscribe to the product

3. Configure the Product

• After subscribing, click "Continue to Configuration"
• Select your desired:
  • Delivery Method (if multiple options are available)
  • Software Version
  • Region

4. Locate the AMI Alias

• At the bottom of the configuration page, you'll see:
  • AMI ID: ami-1234567890EXAMPLE
  • AMI Alias: /aws/service/marketplace/prod-<identifier>/<version>

 

New Tools for Your AMI Hunt

In this article, we focused on using AMI Aliases to select the right F5 product to launch in AWS EC2. But, there’s one more takeaway. Scroll back up to the top of this page and take a closer look at the "aws ec2 describe-images" commands. These commands use JMESpath to filter, sort, and format the output. Find out more about filtering the output of AWS CLI commands here.