Creating an Instance Store-Backed AMI From a Loopback

To mount the file through loopback

1. Enter the following command to create a mount point in the file system where the image will be attached:

   # mkdir <image_mountpoint>

   The <image_mountpoint> is the location where the image will be mounted.

2. Mount the file system image:

   # mount -o loop  <image_name> <image_mountpoint>

   The <image_name> is the name of the image file and <image_mountpoint> is the mount location.

To prepare for the installation

1. Create a /dev directory and populate it with a minimal set of devices. You can ignore the errors in the output.

   # mkdir /mnt/ec2-fs/dev
   # /sbin/MAKEDEV -d <image_mountpoint>/dev -x console
   # /sbin/MAKEDEV -d <image_mountpoint>/dev -x null
   # /sbin/MAKEDEV -d <image_mountpoint>/dev -x zero

   The <image_mountpoint> is the mount location.

2. Create the fstab file within the /etc directory and add the following:

   /dev/sda1  /         ext3    defaults        1 1
   none       /dev/pts  devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
   none       /dev/shm  tmpfs   defaults        0 0
   none       /proc     proc    defaults        0 0
   none       /sys      sysfs   defaults        0 0

3. Create a temporary YUM configuration file (e.g., yum-xen.conf) and add the following content.

   [fedora]
   name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch
   failovermethod=priority
   #baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/$releasever/Everything/$basearch/os/
   mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch
   enabled=1
   #metadata_expire=7d
   gpgcheck=1
   gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch
   
   [updates]
   name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch - Updates failovermethod=priority #baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever/$basearch/
   mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-f$releasever&arch=$basearch
   enabled=1
   gpgcheck=1
   gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch
   

   This step ensures that all the required basic packages and utilities are installed. You can locate this file anywhere on your main file system (not on your loopback file system) and is used only during installation.

4. Enter the following:

   # mkdir <image_mountpoint>/proc
   # mount -t proc none <image_mountpoint>/proc

   The <image_mountpoint> is the mount location. A groupadd utility bug in the shadow-utils package (versions prior to 4.0.7-7) requires you to mount the new proc file system manually with the preceding command.

To configure the operating system

1. Edit (or create) /mnt/ec2-fs/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and make sure it contains at least the following information:

   DEVICE=eth0
   BOOTPROTO=dhcp
   ONBOOT=yes
   TYPE=Ethernet
   USERCTL=yes
   PEERDNS=yes
   IPV6INIT=no

   Note

   The Amazon EC2 DHCP server ignores hostname requests. If you set DHCP_HOSTNAME, the local hostname will be set on the instance but not externally. Additionally, the local hostname will be the same for all instances of the AMI, which might be confusing.

2. Verify that the following line appears in the /mnt/ec2-fs/etc/sysconfig/network file so that networking starts:

   NETWORKING=yes

3. Add the following lines to /mnt/ec2-fs/etc/fstab so that local disk storage on /dev/sda2 and swap space on /dev/sda3 are mounted at system startup:

   /dev/sda2  /mnt      ext3    defaults        0 0
   /dev/sda3  swap      swap    defaults        0 0

   Note

   The /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 storage locations only apply to small instances. For more information on instance storage, see the section called “Instance Store”.

4. Allocate appropriate system run levels so that all your required services start at system startup. For example, to enable a service on multiuser and networked run levels, use the following commands:

   # chroot /mnt/ec2-fs /bin/sh
   # chkconfig --level 345 my-service on
   # exit 

   Your new installation is successfully installed and configured to operate in the Amazon EC2 environment.

5. Enter the following commands to umount the image:

   # umount <image_mountpoint>/proc
   # umount -d <image_mountpoint> 

   The <image_mountpoint> is the mount location.