Connecting to Your Linux/UNIX Instances Using SSH

To connect to your instance using a web browser with an SSH client

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, click Instances.

3. Right-click your instance, and select Connect.

4. Click Connect from your browser using the Java SSH client (Java Required). AWS automatically detects the public DNS address of your instance and the key pair name you launched the instance with.

5. In User name, enter the user name to log in to your instance.

   Note

   For an Amazon Linux instance, the default user name is ec2-user. For Ubuntu, the default user name is ubuntu. Some AMIs allow you to log in as root.

6. The Key name field is automatically populated for you.

7. In Private key path, enter the fully qualified path to your .pem private key file.

8. Click Save key location, click Stored in browser cache to store the key location in your browser cache so the key location is detected in subsequent browser sessions, until your clear your browser’s cache.

9. Click Launch SSH Client.

   

10. If necessary, click Yes to trust the certificate.

11. Click Run to run the MindTerm client.

12. If you accept the license agreement, click Accept.

13. If this is your first time running MindTerm, a series of dialog boxes will ask you to confirm setup for your home directory and other settings.

14. Confirm settings for MindTerm setup. A screen opens and you are connected to your instance.

    

To connect to your instance using SSH

1. If you've launched a public AMI, run the ec2-get-console-output command on your local system (not on the instance), and locate the SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS section. For more information, see ec2-get-console-output in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Command Line Reference.

   PROMPT>  ec2-get-console-output instance_id
   
   ...
   ec2: -----BEGIN SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
   ec2: 2048 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
   ec2: 2048 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
   ec2: 1024 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
   ec2: -----END SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
   ...

   Note the fingerprints so that you can compare them to the fingerprints of the instance.

2. In a command line shell, change directories to the location of the private key file that you created when you launched the instance.

3. Use the chmod command to make sure your private key file isn't publicly viewable. For example, if your private key file were My_Keypair.pem, you would enter:

   chmod 400 My_Keypair.pem

4. In the navigation pane, click Instances.

5. Right-click your instance, and then click Connect.

6. Click Connect using a standalone SSH client. AWS automatically detects the public DNS address of your instance and the key pair name you launched the instance with.

7. Copy the example command provided in the Amazon EC2 console if you launched an Amazon Linux instance. If you used a different Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for your Linux/UNIX instance, you need to log in as the default user for the AMI. For an Ubuntu instance, the default user name is ubuntu. Some AMIs allow you to log in as root so you will need to change the user name from ec2-user to the appropriate user name.

   ssh -i <your key a name>.pem ec2-user@ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com

   

   You'll see a response like the following.

   The authenticity of host 'ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com (10.254.142.33)'
   can't be established.
   RSA key fingerprint is 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

   Important

   If you've launched a public AMI, verify that the fingerprint matches the fingerprint from the output of the ec2-get-console-output command. If it doesn't, someone might be attempting a "man-in-the-middle" attack.

8. Enter yes.

   You'll see a response like the following.

   Warning: Permanently added 'ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com' (RSA) 
   				to the list of known hosts.

To use SCP to transfer a file

1. If you've launched a public AMI, run the ec2-get-console-output command on your local system (not on the instance) and locate the SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS section. For more information, see ec2-get-console-output in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Command Line Reference.

   PROMPT>  ec2-get-console-output instance_id
   
   ...
   ec2: -----BEGIN SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
   ec2: 2048 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
   ec2: 2048 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
   ec2: 1024 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
   /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
   ec2: -----END SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
   ...

   Note the fingerprints so that you can compare them to the fingerprints of the instance.

2. In a command line shell, change directories to the location of the private key file that you created when you launched the instance.

3. Use the chmod command to make sure your private key file isn't publicly viewable. For example, if your file were My_Keypair.pem, you would enter:

   chmod 400 My_Keypair.pem

4. Transfer a file to your instance using the instance's public DNS name (available through the AWS Management Console or the ec2-describe-instances command). For example, if the key file is My_Keypair.pem, the file to transfer is samplefile.txt, and the instance's DNS name is ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com, use the following command to copy the file to the ec2-user home directory.

   scp -i My_Keypair.pem samplefile.txt ec2-user@ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com:~

   Note

   Some AMIs let you log in as root, but some require that you log in with the username ec2-user. For log in information for your chosen AMI, contact your AMI provider directly or go to Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) page, then locate and click your AMI on the list.

   You'll see a response like the following.

   The authenticity of host 'ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com (10.254.142.33)'
   can't be established.
   RSA key fingerprint is 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

   Important

   If you've launched a public AMI, verify that the fingerprint matches the fingerprint from the output of the ec2-get-console-output command. If it doesn't, someone might be attempting a "man-in-the-middle" attack.

5. Enter yes.

   You'll see a response like the following.

   Warning: Permanently added 'ec2-184-72-204-112.compute-1.amazonaws.com' (RSA) 
   to the list of known hosts.
   Sending file modes: C0644 20 samplefile.txt
   Sink: C0644 20 samplefile.txt
   samplefile.txt                                100%   20     0.0KB/s   00:00