boto script to delete snapshots matching a filter and older than X days

delete_snapshots.py

import sys

from boto.ec2 import connect_to_region
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

try:
	days = int(sys.argv[1])
except IndexError:
	days = 7

delete_time = datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(days=days)

filters = {
	'tag-key': 'mybackups'
}

print 'Deleting any snapshots older than {days} days'.format(days=days)

ec2 = connect_to_region('us-west-1')

snapshots = ec2.get_all_snapshots(filters=filters)

deletion_counter = 0
size_counter = 0

for snapshot in snapshots:
	start_time = datetime.strptime(
		snapshot.start_time,
		'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z'
	)

	if start_time < delete_time:
		print 'Deleting {id}'.format(id=snapshot.id)
		deletion_counter = deletion_counter + 1
		size_counter = size_counter + snapshot.volume_size
		# Just to make sure you're reading!
		snapshot.delete(dry_run=True)

print 'Deleted {number} snapshots totalling {size} GB'.format(
	number=deletion_counter,
	size=size_counter
)

I'm a python newbie so excuse my ignorance, but why do you have to use (days=days) instead of just (days)?

@cwhitmore88 it's just a good practice :)

You know that when you're using .format str method, you have to use {} to mark where the strings will appears. You can make something like:

print 'Deleting any snapshots older than {} days'.format(days)

But you also can do in this way:

print 'Deleting any snapshots older than {days} days'.format(days=days)

That way allow me do something like that:

print 'Deleting any snapshots of the {month} older than {days} days'.format(days=days, month=month)

or even control the order, like this:

print 'Deleting any snapshots older than {days} days  of the {month}'.format(month=month, days=days)

Sorry for my bad English, but I hope this can help you 😄

Syntax error in module 'lambda_function': invalid syntax (lambda_function.py, line 17)

Getting error while executing in Lambda.
print 'Deleting any snapshots older than {days} days'.format(days=days)

thanks. How can I use this script delete old snapshots except last two?

This is helpful. How can we do this for RDS manual snapshots with for each loop for all regions.