How to change the name and description of an AWS EC2 security group?

Question

How do you change the name and description of a security group in AWS EC2?

My security group is named quick-start-1 (the default) and I want to change it to "HTTP, HTTPS and Limited SSH".

score 62 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 02 '21 at 16:24

You cannot rename a security group but you can copy it into a new one.

On the AWS console go to EC2 -> Security Groups -> Select the SG -> Click actions -> Copy to new.

Give it a name and description that suits your taste.

After that you can associate this security group with your instances (making it redundant with the old one).

Finally, dissociate the old security group from your instances (rules remains the same since the new SG is a copy) and delete the SG.

It is a little bit of work, but it does get the job done with no downtime.

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 02 '21 at 16:21

It's not possible to rename a security group, by GUI or by API.

For VPC EC2 instances

You can dynamically assign security groups assigned to VPC EC2 instances. Create a new SG with the desired name and the same rules.

It's not possible to change the security group that is assigned to EC2 classic instances.

If you must change the security group for an EC2 classic instance, then you need to:

Create an AMI from your instance, then
Launch a new copy of your instance from the AMI created in step #1, selecting the new security group at launch time.

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 07 '13 at 01:09

You're not the first to want this, and you're not the first to be disappointed.

Also, you cant change security group memberships for an instance once launched. :-(

I'm 99% sure this cant be done via the web GUI. Maybe via API shenanigans, but if so i've never seen it. I've wanted it myself often enough.

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 31 '22 at 04:06

Actually, You cannot rename the SG name. You can follow the steps of FlavioMuratore's answer to copy the old group into a new one.

After that, you can Change SG like this

Right click your instance --> Security --> Change Security Group.

Then you can remove or add any SG as your needs without downtime.