EC2 Instance with macOS 14.2.1 booted from self-created AMI cannot pass instance status check

Question

Hello,

Right now we have an AMI with macOS version 14.2.1 and some other things installed. I tried to boot an instance from that AMI but it never passed the instance status check. It often failed the check with a message like `instance reachability test failed`, and the instance never got booted. No system log or screenshot available for us to debug in this case.

Some details with the AMI. Since we need macos 14.2.1 and the latest AMI provdied by aws is in version 14.1.2 (`amzn-ec2-macos-14.1.2-20231220-224332`), we manually upgrade the macos version in an instance and create an AMI based on that.
Please let me know if this is proper, and is there any way to help us debug?

Thank you for ur helps

Accepted Answer

Hello,

macOS version _14.2.1_ has not been tested on EC2 as yet. My recommendation would be to hold off on the update until an official AMI with macOS version _14.2.1_ is released. Remember that Mac instances run on dedicated hosts; these hosts usually need to run through a scrubbing workflow in order to run the latest available software. The scrubbing workflow can take between 50 and 110 minutes to complete as outlined here:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-mac-instances.html#mac-instance-stop

Debugging can be tricky when it comes to Mac instances. I would suggest creating a support case to debug this.

If you're willing to wait until on official AMI becomes available, you can subscribe to macOS AMI notifications:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-mac-instances.html#subscribe-notifications

Answer

Thanks!
Issue is resolved now with trying several times of reboots and keeping tracking the host status. Now it is stabilized in ASG.

EC2 Instance with macOS 14.2.1 booted from self-created AMI cannot pass instance status check

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