Launching an EC2 Instance

Learn how to launch EC2 instances, choose AMIs, configure instance types, security groups, and networking.

ec2-launch-config.json
{
"ImageId": "ami-12345678",
"InstanceType": "t3.micro",
"KeyName": "my-key-pair"
}
ec2-launch-config.json
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Tutor:EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Launching an EC2 instance is the first step to running applications on AWS. You choose an AMI, instance type, configure networking, and launch.


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Concept 1: EC2 Basics

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is AWS's virtual server service. Launching an EC2 instance is one of the first steps in using AWS. You choose an AMI, instance type, configure networking, and launch your virtual server.

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Launching an EC2 Instance

Author

Pascual Vila

Cloud Instructor.

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Launching an EC2 instance is the first step to running applications on AWS. You choose an AMI, instance type, configure networking, and launch.

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

An AMI contains the information required to launch an instance. It includes the operating system, application server, and applications. You can choose from AWS-provided AMIs or create your own custom AMIs.

Instance Types

Instance types define the hardware configuration of your instance. They vary by vCPU, memory, storage, and network performance. Common families include t3 (burstable), m5 (general purpose), and c5 (compute optimized).

Launch Configuration

When launching an instance, you configure: VPC and subnet, security groups, key pairs for SSH access, storage volumes, and IAM roles. Each configuration affects security, networking, and access to your instance.

EC2 Launch Glossary

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)
Contains the information required to launch an instance. Includes the operating system, application server, and applications. You can choose from AWS-provided AMIs or create custom AMIs.
Instance Type
Defines the hardware configuration of your instance. Varies by vCPU, memory, storage, and network performance. Common families include t3 (burstable), m5 (general purpose), and c5 (compute optimized).
Security Group
Acts as a virtual firewall. You define rules to allow or deny traffic. By default, all inbound traffic is denied. You must explicitly allow SSH (port 22), HTTP (port 80), or HTTPS (port 443) as needed.
Key Pair
A pair of cryptographic keys (public and private) used for SSH authentication. AWS stores the public key on the instance, and you keep the private key secure to authenticate when connecting via SSH.
User Data
Scripts that run when an instance launches. You can install software, configure applications, or run initialization scripts. User data runs only once when the instance first starts.