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Launch EC2 Instance


Launch EC2 Instance

This launches an EC2 instance in VPC my-vpc, not yet accessible via SSH.

Resource Parameters

The following parameters are needed when following these steps to launch a new EC2 instance.

  • VPC Name and Region
  • Instance AMI and Type

Throughout this guide we use the following example EC2 Instance parameters.

  • VPC
    • Name my-vpc in region us-east-1
  • Instance
    • Name Amazon Linux AMI (HVM) 64-bit (x86)
    • Type t2.micro

Launch the EC2 instance

Navigate to the EC2 Launch an instanceopen in new window form.

Check your selected region

Make sure you have selected the desired region, ex: US East (N. Virginia) us-east-1.

Complete the wizard with the following details:

  • AMI: Amazon Linux AMI (HVM) 64-bit (x86)
  • Instance Type: t2.micro
  • Create a new key pair called my-key-pair or select the existing one
  • Network settings
    • Network: vpc-xxx (my-vpc)
    • Auto-assign Public IP: enable
    • Firewall (security groups)
      • Select an existing security group: default VPC security group
  • Configure storage: (defaults)

Info

You can replace these AMI, Instance Type and Network VPC Name example values with your desired values.

Click Launch

Navigate to the VPC Management Console Security Groupsopen in new window table.

Check your selected region

Make sure you have selected the desired region, ex: US East (N. Virginia) us-east-1.

Filter the security groups by selecting a VPC and select the default security group.

  • VPC: vpc-xxx (my-vpc)
  • Security Group: default
  • Edit Inbound Rules
  • Add Inbound Rule
    • Type: SSH
    • Source type: My IP
  • Add Outbound Rule (if not exists)
    • Type: All traffic
    • Destination: Anywhere-IPv4

Info

This makes the launched EC2 instance accessible via SSH.

Access the EC2 Instance via SSH

This accesses your EC2 instance via SSH.

Navigate to the EC2 running instances dashboard.open in new window

Check your selected region

Make sure you have selected the desired region, ex: US East (N. Virginia) us-east-1.

Select your recently launched EC2 instance to see the instance details. Copy the Public IPv4 address to the clipboard and note the Key pair name.

Execute the following ssh command to access your EC2 instance.

ssh -i ~/.ssh/<instance-key-pair-name>.pem ec2-user@<instance-public-ipv4-address>