Work with security groups

You can assign a security group to an instance when you launch the instance. When you add or remove rules, those changes are automatically applied to all instances to which you've assigned the security group. For more information, see Assign a security group to an instance.

After you launch an instance, you can change its security groups. For more information, see Change an instance's security group.

You can create, view, update, and delete security groups and security group rules using the Amazon EC2 console and the command line tools.

Create a security group

Although you can use the default security group for your instances, you might want to create your own groups to reflect the different roles that instances play in your system.

By default, new security groups start with only an outbound rule that allows all traffic to leave the instances. You must add rules to enable any inbound traffic or to restrict the outbound traffic.

A security group can be used only in the VPC for which it is created.

New console

To create a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Choose Create security group.

4. In the Basic details section, do the following.

   1. Enter a descriptive name and brief description for the security group. They can't be edited after the security group is created. The name and description can be up to 255 characters long. The valid characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, spaces, and ._-:/()#,@[]+=&;{}!$*.

   2. For VPC, choose the VPC.

5. You can add security group rules now, or you can add them later. For more information, see Add rules to a security group.

6. You can add tags now, or you can add them later. To add a tag, choose Add new tag and enter the tag key and value.

7. Choose Create security group.

Old console

To create a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Choose Create Security Group.

4. Specify a name and description for the security group.

5. For VPC, choose the ID of the VPC.

6. You can start adding rules, or you can choose Create to create the security group now (you can always add rules later). For more information about adding rules, see Add rules to a security group.

Command line

To create a security group

Use one of the following commands:

• create-security-group (AWS CLI)

• New-EC2SecurityGroup (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Copy a security group

You can create a new security group by creating a copy of an existing one. When you copy a security group, the copy is created with the same inbound and outbound rules as the original security group. If the original security group is in a VPC, the copy is created in the same VPC unless you specify a different one.

The copy receives a new unique security group ID and you must give it a name. You can also add a description.

You can't copy a security group from one Region to another Region.

You can create a copy of a security group using one of the following methods.

New console

To copy a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group to copy and choose Actions, Copy to new security group.

4. Specify a name and optional description, and change the VPC and security group rules if needed.

5. Choose Create.

Old console

To copy a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group you want to copy, choose Actions, Copy to new.

4. The Create Security Group dialog opens, and is populated with the rules from the existing security group. Specify a name and description for your new security group. For VPC, choose the ID of the VPC. When you are done, choose Create.

View your security groups

You can view information about your security groups using one of the following methods.

New console

To view your security groups

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Your security groups are listed. To view the details for a specific security group, including its inbound and outbound rules, choose its ID in the Security group ID column.

Old console

To view your security groups

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. (Optional) Select VPC ID from the filter list, then choose the ID of the VPC.

4. Select a security group. General information is displayed on the Description tab, inbound rules on the Inbound tab, outbound rules on the Outbound tab, and tags on the Tags tab.

Command line

To view your security groups

Use one of the following commands.

• describe-security-groups (AWS CLI)

• describe-security-group-rules (AWS CLI)

• Get-EC2SecurityGroup (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Add rules to a security group

When you add a rule to a security group, the new rule is automatically applied to any instances that are associated with the security group. There might be a short delay before the rule is applied. For more information, see Security group rules for different use cases and Security group rules.

New console

To add an inbound rule to a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group, and choose Actions, Edit inbound rules.

4. For each rule, choose Add rule and do the following.

   1. For Type, choose the type of protocol to allow.

      • For TCP or UDP, you must enter the port range to allow.

      • For custom ICMP, you must choose the ICMP type name from Protocol, and, if applicable, the code name from Port range.

      • For any other type, the protocol and port range are configured automatically.

   2. For Source, do one of the following to allow traffic.

      • Choose Custom and then enter an IP address in CIDR notation, a CIDR block, another security group, or a prefix list.

      • Choose Anywhere to allow all traffic for the specified protocol to reach your instance. This option automatically adds the 0.0.0.0/0 IPv4 CIDR block as the source. This is acceptable for a short time in a test environment, but it's unsafe in production environments. In production, authorize only a specific IP address or range of addresses to access your instances.

        If your security group is in a VPC that's enabled for IPv6, this option automatically adds a rule for the ::/0 IPv6 CIDR block.

      • Choose My IP to allow inbound traffic from only your local computer's public IPv4 address.

   3. For Description, optionally specify a brief description for the rule.

5. Choose Preview changes, Save rules.

To add an outbound rule to a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group, and choose Actions, Edit outbound rules.

4. For each rule, choose Add rule and do the following.

   1. For Type, choose the type of protocol to allow.

      • For TCP or UDP, you must enter the port range to allow.

      • For custom ICMP, you must choose the ICMP type name from Protocol, and, if applicable, the code name from Port range.

      • For any other type, the protocol and port range are configured automatically.

   2. For Destination, do one of the following.

      • Choose Custom and then enter an IP address in CIDR notation, a CIDR block, another security group, or a prefix list for which to allow outbound traffic.

      • Choose Anywhere to allow outbound traffic to all IP addresses. This option automatically adds the 0.0.0.0/0 IPv4 CIDR block as the destination.

        If your security group is in a VPC that's enabled for IPv6, this option automatically adds a rule for the ::/0 IPv6 CIDR block.

      • Choose My IP to allow outbound traffic only to your local computer's public IPv4 address.

   3. (Optional) For Description, specify a brief description for the rule.

5. Choose Preview changes, Confirm.

Old console

To add rules to a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups and select the security group.

3. On the Inbound tab, choose Edit.

4. In the dialog, choose Add Rule and do the following:

   • For Type, select the protocol.

   • If you select a custom TCP or UDP protocol, specify the port range in Port Range.

   • If you select a custom ICMP protocol, choose the ICMP type name from Protocol, and, if applicable, the code name from Port Range.

   • For Source, choose one of the following:

     • Custom: in the provided field, you must specify an IP address in CIDR notation, a CIDR block, or another security group.

     • Anywhere: automatically adds the 0.0.0.0/0 IPv4 CIDR block. This option enables all traffic of the specified type to reach your instance. This is acceptable for a short time in a test environment, but it's unsafe for production environments. In production, authorize only a specific IP address or range of addresses to access your instance.

       If your security group is in a VPC that's enabled for IPv6, the Anywhere option creates two rules—one for IPv4 traffic (0.0.0.0/0) and one for IPv6 traffic (::/0).

     • My IP: automatically adds the public IPv4 address of your local computer.

   • For Description, you can optionally specify a description for the rule.

   For more information about the types of rules that you can add, see Security group rules for different use cases.

5. Choose Save.

6. You can also specify outbound rules. On the Outbound tab, choose Edit, Add Rule, and do the following:

   • For Type, select the protocol.

   • If you select a custom TCP or UDP protocol, specify the port range in Port Range.

   • If you select a custom ICMP protocol, choose the ICMP type name from Protocol, and, if applicable, the code name from Port Range.

   • For Destination, choose one of the following:

     • Custom: in the provided field, you must specify an IP address in CIDR notation, a CIDR block, or another security group.

     • Anywhere: automatically adds the 0.0.0.0/0 IPv4 CIDR block. This option enables outbound traffic to all IP addresses.

       If your security group is in a VPC that's enabled for IPv6, the Anywhere option creates two rules—one for IPv4 traffic (0.0.0.0/0) and one for IPv6 traffic (::/0).

     • My IP: automatically adds the IP address of your local computer.

   • For Description, you can optionally specify a description for the rule.

7. Choose Save.

Command line

To add rules to a security group

Use one of the following commands.

• authorize-security-group-ingress (AWS CLI)

• Grant-EC2SecurityGroupIngress (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

To add one or more egress rules to a security group

Use one of the following commands.

• authorize-security-group-egress (AWS CLI)

• Grant-EC2SecurityGroupEgress (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Update security group rules

You can update a security group rule using one of the following methods. The updated rule is automatically applied to any instances that are associated with the security group.

New console

When you modify the protocol, port range, or source or destination of an existing security group rule using the console, the console deletes the existing rule and adds a new one for you.

To update a security group rule

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group.

4. Choose Actions, Edit inbound rules to update a rule for inbound traffic or Actions, Edit outbound rules to update a rule for outbound traffic.

5. Update the rule as required.

6. Choose Preview changes, Confirm.

To tag a security group rule

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group.

4. On the Inbound rules or Outbound rules tab, select the check box for the rule and then choose Manage tags.

5. The Manage tags page displays any tags that are assigned to the rule. To add a tag, choose Add tag and enter the tag key and value. To delete a tag, choose Remove next to the tag that you want to delete.

6. Choose Save changes.

Old console

When you modify the protocol, port range, or source or destination of an existing security group rule using the console, the console deletes the existing rule and adds a new one for you.

To update a security group rule

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group to update, and choose the Inbound tab to update a rule for inbound traffic or the Outbound tab to update a rule for outbound traffic.

4. Choose Edit.

5. Modify the rule entry as required and choose Save.

Command line

You cannot modify the protocol, port range, or source or destination of an existing rule using the Amazon EC2 API or a command line tools. Instead, you must delete the existing rule and add a new rule. You can, however, update the description of an existing rule.

To update a rule

Use one the following command.

• modify-security-group-rules (AWS CLI)

To update the description for an existing inbound rule

Use one of the following commands.

• update-security-group-rule-descriptions-ingress (AWS CLI)

• Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleIngressDescription (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

To update the description for an existing outbound rule

Use one of the following commands.

• update-security-group-rule-descriptions-egress (AWS CLI)

• Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleEgressDescription (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

To tag a security group rule

Use one of the following commands.

• create-tags (AWS CLI)

• New-EC2Tag (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Delete rules from a security group

When you delete a rule from a security group, the change is automatically applied to any instances associated with the security group.

You can delete rules from a security group using one of the following methods.

New console

To delete a security group rule

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group to update, choose Actions, and then choose Edit inbound rules to remove an inbound rule or Edit outbound rules to remove an outbound rule.

4. Choose the Delete button to the right of the rule to delete.

5. Choose Preview changes, Confirm.

Old console

To delete a security group rule

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select a security group.

4. On the Inbound tab (for inbound rules) or Outbound tab (for outbound rules), choose Edit. Choose Delete (a cross icon) next to each rule to delete.

5. Choose Save.

Command line

To remove one or more ingress rules from a security group

Use one of the following commands.

• revoke-security-group-ingress (AWS CLI)

• Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupIngress (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

To remove one or more egress rules from a security group

Use one of the following commands.

• revoke-security-group-egress (AWS CLI)

• Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupEgress (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Delete a security group

You can't delete a security group that is associated with an instance. You can't delete the default security group. You can't delete a security group that is referenced by a rule in another security group in the same VPC. If your security group is referenced by one of its own rules, you must delete the rule before you can delete the security group.

New console

To delete a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select the security group to delete and choose Actions, Delete security group, Delete.

Old console

To delete a security group

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Security Groups.

3. Select a security group and choose Actions, Delete Security Group.

4. Choose Yes, Delete.

Command line

To delete a security group

Use one of the following commands.

• delete-security-group (AWS CLI)

• Remove-EC2SecurityGroup (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Assign a security group to an instance

You can assign one or more security groups to an instance when you launch the instance. You can also specify one or more security groups in a launch template. The security groups will be assigned to all instances that are launched using the launch template.

• To assign a security group to an instance when you launch the instance, see Step 6: Configure Security Group.

• To specify a security group in a launch template, see Step 6 of Create a new launch template using parameters you define.

Change an instance's security group

After you launch an instance, you can change its security groups by adding or removing security groups. You can change the security groups when the instance is in the running or stopped state.

New console

To change the security groups for an instance using the console

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

3. Select your instance, and then choose Actions, Security, Change security groups.

4. For Associated security groups, select a security group from the list and choose Add security group.

   To remove an already associated security group, choose Remove for that security group.

5. Choose Save.

Old console

To change the security groups for an instance using the console

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

3. Select your instance, and then choose Actions, Networking, Change Security Groups.

4. To add one or more security groups, select its check box.

   To remove an already associated security group, clear its check box.

5. Choose Assign Security Groups.

Command line

To change the security groups for an instance using the command line

Use one of the following commands.

• modify-instance-attribute (AWS CLI)

• Edit-EC2InstanceAttribute (AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell)