Provisioning Virtual Servers in the Cloud (AWS EC2)

🎯 Aim

To create, configure, and launch an Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) Linux instance in the AWS Cloud, and establish a remote terminal connection using an SSH Key Pair.

📖 Theoretical Background

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)

Amazon EC2 is a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is classified as an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering because it allows users to lease virtual servers (instances) on-demand, giving complete control over the operating system, storage, and networking.

Key Concepts:

• AMI (Amazon Machine Image): A pre-configured template containing the OS, application server, and applications needed to launch your instance.
• Instance Type: Defines the CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity of the host computer. For free tier eligibility, we use the t2.micro or t3.micro instance type.
• Security Group: A virtual firewall that controls incoming and outgoing traffic for your instance.
• Key Pair (SSH Key): A cryptographic key pair used for authentication. The public key is stored on the EC2 instance, and the private key (.pem file) is kept by the user to securely log in via SSH.

🛠️ Requirements & Setup

• An active AWS account. If you do not have one, refer to the AWS Account Setup Guide.
• A terminal client:
  • Linux/macOS: Native Terminal.
  • Windows: PowerShell, Command Prompt, or Git Bash.

🚶 Step-by-Step Procedure

Phase A: Launching the EC2 Instance

1. Log in and navigate: Go to the AWS Management Console and sign in. Under the Services menu on the top-left, select EC2 under the Compute category.

   

2. Start Wizard & Name the Instance: Click on the Launch Instance button. In the Name and tags section, specify a name for your server (e.g., Lab-Web-Server).

   

3. Choose Operating System (AMI): In the Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image) section, select Ubuntu (or Amazon Linux). Ensure the selected AMI has the label “Free tier eligible”.

   

4. Select Instance Type: Under Instance type, select t2.micro. Ensure it displays the “Free tier eligible” tag to avoid any unexpected charges.

   

5. Configure Storage & Key Pair:

   • Under Key pair (login), click Create new key pair to generate a .pem file.
   • Keep default network settings.
   • Under storage configuration, verify that it selects free tier storage (Up to 30 GB EBS is eligible).

   

   [!IMPORTANT] Save the downloaded .pem key-pair file in a secure directory. You will need it to connect to the server.

6. Launch Instance: Review the configurations on the right pane and click Launch instance.

Phase B: Connecting to the EC2 Instance using SSH

1. Locate Connection Details:

   • Select your running instance in the EC2 Console.
   • Click the Connect button at the top menu.

   

2. Retrieve SSH Command:

   • Navigate to the SSH client tab.
   • Copy the example connection command shown at the bottom.

   

3. Establish SSH Connection:

   • Open your terminal (e.g., Command Prompt, Powershell, or Git Bash).
   • Navigate to the directory where your .pem file is located (e.g., cd Downloads).
   • Run the copied SSH command to connect to your EC2 instance.

   

🧪 Expected Output & Verification

• Once successfully authenticated, the terminal prompt will change to show the virtual machine’s command prompt:

  ubuntu@ip-172-31-xx-xx:~$

• Run the system updates command to verify internet connectivity:

  sudo apt-get update