Connect to the EC2 Serial Console - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

Connect to the EC2 Serial Console

You can connect to the serial console of your EC2 instance by using the Amazon EC2 console or via SSH. After connecting to the serial console, you can use it for troubleshooting boot, network configuration, and other issues. For more information about troubleshooting, see Troubleshoot your Amazon EC2 instance using the EC2 Serial Console.

Considerations
  • Only 1 active serial console connection is supported per instance.

  • The serial console connection typically lasts for 1 hour unless you disconnect from it. However, during system maintenance, Amazon EC2 will disconnect the serial console session.

  • It takes 30 seconds to tear down a session after you've disconnected from the serial console in order to allow a new session.

  • Supported serial console ports: ttyS0 (Linux instances) and COM1 (Windows instances)

  • When you connect to the serial console, you might observe a slight drop in your instance’s throughput.

Connect using the browser-based client

You can connect to your EC2 instance's serial console by using the browser-based client. You do this by selecting the instance in the Amazon EC2 console and choosing to connect to the serial console. The browser-based client handles the permissions and provides a successful connection.

EC2 serial console works from most browsers, and supports keyboard and mouse input.

Before connecting, make sure you have completed the prerequisites.

To connect to your instance's serial port using the browser-based client (Amazon EC2 console)
  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

  3. Select the instance and choose Actions, Monitor and troubleshoot, EC2 Serial Console, Connect.

    Alternatively, select the instance and choose Connect, EC2 Serial Console, Connect.

    An in-browser terminal window opens.

  4. Press Enter. If a login prompt returns, you are connected to the serial console.

    If the screen remains black, you can use the following information to help resolve issues with connecting to the serial console:

  5. (Linux instances only) At the login prompt, enter the username of the password-based user that you set up previously, and then press Enter.

  6. (Linux instances only) At the Password prompt, enter the password, and then press Enter.

You are now logged onto the instance and can use the serial console for troubleshooting.

Connect using your own key and SSH client

You can use your own SSH key and connect to your instance from the SSH client of your choice while using the serial console API. This enables you to benefit from the serial console capability to push a public key to the instance.

Before connecting, make sure you have completed the prerequisites.

To connect to an instance's serial console using SSH
  1. Push your SSH public key to the instance to start a serial console session

    Use the send-serial-console-ssh-public-key command to push your SSH public key to the instance. This starts a serial console session.

    If a serial console session has already been started for this instance, the command fails because you can only have one session open at a time. It takes 30 seconds to tear down a session after you've disconnected from the serial console in order to allow a new session.

    aws ec2-instance-connect send-serial-console-ssh-public-key \ --instance-id i-001234a4bf70dec41EXAMPLE \ --serial-port 0 \ --ssh-public-key file://my_key.pub \ --region us-east-1
  2. Connect to the serial console using your private key

    Use the ssh command to connect to the serial console before the public key is removed from the serial console service. You have 60 seconds before it is removed.

    Use the private key that corresponds to the public key.

    The username format is instance-id.port0, which comprises the instance ID and port 0. In the following example, the username is i-001234a4bf70dec41EXAMPLE.port0.

    The endpoint of the serial console service is different for each Region. See the EC2 Serial Console endpoints and fingerprints table for each Region's endpoint. In the following example, the serial console service is in the us-east-1 Region.

    ssh -i my_key i-001234a4bf70dec41EXAMPLE.port0@serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-east-1.aws
  3. (Optional) Verify the fingerprint

    When you connect for the first time to the serial console, you are prompted to verify the fingerprint. You can compare the serial console fingerprint with the fingerprint that's displayed for verification. If these fingerprints don't match, someone might be attempting a "man-in-the-middle" attack. If they match, you can confidently connect to the serial console.

    The following fingerprint is for the serial console service in the us-east-1 Region. For the fingerprints for each Region, see EC2 Serial Console endpoints and fingerprints.

    SHA256:dXwn5ma/xadVMeBZGEru5l2gx+yI5LDiJaLUcz0FMmw
    Note

    The fingerprint only appears the first time you connect to the serial console.

  4. Press Enter. If a prompt returns, you are connected to the serial console.

    If the screen remains black, you can use the following information to help resolve issues with connecting to the serial console:

  5. (Linux instances only) At the login prompt, enter the username of the password-based user that you set up previously, and then press Enter.

  6. (Linux instances only) At the Password prompt, enter the password, and then press Enter.

You are now logged onto the instance and can use the serial console for troubleshooting.

EC2 Serial Console endpoints and fingerprints

The following are the service endpoints and fingerprints for EC2 Serial Console. To connect programmatically to an instance's serial console, you use an EC2 Serial Console endpoint. The EC2 Serial Console endpoints and fingerprints are unique for each AWS Region.

Region Name Region Endpoint Fingerprint

US East (Ohio)

us-east-2

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-east-2.aws

SHA256:EhwPkTzRtTY7TRSzz26XbB0/HvV9jRM7mCZN0xw/d/0

US East (N. Virginia)

us-east-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-east-1.aws

SHA256:dXwn5ma/xadVMeBZGEru5l2gx+yI5LDiJaLUcz0FMmw

US West (N. California)

us-west-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-west-1.aws

SHA256:OHldlcMET8u7QLSX3jmRTRAPFHVtqbyoLZBMUCqiH3Y

US West (Oregon)

us-west-2

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-west-2.aws

SHA256:EMCIe23TqKaBI6yGHainqZcMwqNkDhhAVHa1O2JxVUc

Africa (Cape Town)

af-south-1

ec2-serial-console.af-south-1.api.aws

SHA256:RMWWZ2fVePeJUqzjO5jL2KIgXsczoHlz21Ed00biiWI

Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)

ap-east-1

ec2-serial-console.ap-east-1.api.aws

SHA256:T0Q1lpiXxChoZHplnAkjbP7tkm2xXViC9bJFsjYnifk

Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)

ap-south-2

ec2-serial-console.ap-south-2.api.aws

SHA256:WJgPBSwV4/shN+OPITValoewAuYj15DVW845JEhDKRs

Asia Pacific (Jakarta)

ap-southeast-3

ec2-serial-console.ap-southeast-3.api.aws

SHA256:5ZwgrCh+lfns32XITqL/4O0zIfbx4bZgsYFqy3o8mIk

Asia Pacific (Melbourne)

ap-southeast-4

ec2-serial-console.ap-southeast-4.api.aws

SHA256:Avaq27hFgLvjn5gTSShZ0oV7h90p0GG46wfOeT6ZJvM

Asia Pacific (Mumbai)

ap-south-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ap-south-1.aws

SHA256:oBLXcYmklqHHEbliARxEgH8IsO51rezTPiSM35BsU40

Asia Pacific (Osaka)

ap-northeast-3

ec2-serial-console.ap-northeast-3.api.aws

SHA256:Am0/jiBKBnBuFnHr9aXsgEV3G8Tu/vVHFXE/3UcyjsQ

Asia Pacific (Seoul)

ap-northeast-2

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ap-northeast-2.aws

SHA256:FoqWXNX+DZ++GuNTztg9PK49WYMqBX+FrcZM2dSrqrI

Asia Pacific (Singapore)

ap-southeast-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ap-southeast-1.aws

SHA256:PLFNn7WnCQDHx3qmwLu1Gy/O8TUX7LQgZuaC6L45CoY

Asia Pacific (Sydney)

ap-southeast-2

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ap-southeast-2.aws

SHA256:yFvMwUK9lEUQjQTRoXXzuN+cW9/VSe9W984Cf5Tgzo4

Asia Pacific (Tokyo)

ap-northeast-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ap-northeast-1.aws

SHA256:RQfsDCZTOfQawewTRDV1t9Em/HMrFQe+CRlIOT5um4k

Canada (Central)

ca-central-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.ca-central-1.aws

SHA256:P2O2jOZwmpMwkpO6YW738FIOTHdUTyEv2gczYMMO7s4

Canada West (Calgary)

ca-west-1

ec2-serial-console.ca-west-1.api.aws

SHA256:s3rc8lI2xhbhr3iedjJNxGAFLPGOLjx7IxxXrGckk6Q

China (Beijing)

cn-north-1

ec2-serial-console.cn-north-1.api.amazonwebservices.com.cn

SHA256:2gHVFy4H7uU3+WaFUxD28v/ggMeqjvSlgngpgLgGT+Y

China (Ningxia)

cn-northwest-1

ec2-serial-console.cn-northwest-1.api.amazonwebservices.com.cn

SHA256:TdgrNZkiQOdVfYEBUhO4SzUA09VWI5rYOZGTogpwmiM

Europe (Frankfurt)

eu-central-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.eu-central-1.aws

SHA256:aCMFS/yIcOdOlkXvOl8AmZ1Toe+bBnrJJ3Fy0k0De2c

Europe (Ireland)

eu-west-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.eu-west-1.aws

SHA256:h2AaGAWO4Hathhtm6ezs3Bj7udgUxi2qTrHjZAwCW6E

Europe (London)

eu-west-2

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.eu-west-2.aws

SHA256:a69rd5CE/AEG4Amm53I6lkD1ZPvS/BCV3tTPW2RnJg8

Europe (Milan)

eu-south-1

ec2-serial-console.eu-south-1.api.aws

SHA256:lC0kOVJnpgFyBVrxn0A7n99ecLbXSX95cuuS7X7QK30

Europe (Paris)

eu-west-3

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.eu-west-3.aws

SHA256:q8ldnAf9pymeNe8BnFVngY3RPAr/kxswJUzfrlxeEWs

Europe (Spain)

eu-south-2

ec2-serial-console.eu-south-2.api.aws

SHA256:GoCW2DFRlu669QNxqFxEcsR6fZUz/4F4n7T45ZcwoEc

Europe (Stockholm)

eu-north-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.eu-north-1.aws

SHA256:tkGFFUVUDvocDiGSS3Cu8Gdl6w2uI32EPNpKFKLwX84

Europe (Zurich)

eu-central-2

ec2-serial-console.eu-central-2.api.aws

SHA256:8Ppx2mBMf6WdCw0NUlzKfwM4/IfRz4OaXFutQXWp6mk

Israel (Tel Aviv)

il-central-1

ec2-serial-console.il-central-1.api.aws

SHA256:JR6q8v6kNNPi8+QSFQ4dj5dimNmZPTgwgsM1SNvtYyU

Middle East (Bahrain)

me-south-1

ec2-serial-console.me-south-1.api.aws

SHA256:nPjLLKHu2QnLdUq2kVArsoK5xvPJOMRJKCBzCDqC3k8

Middle East (UAE)

me-central-1

ec2-serial-console.me-central-1.api.aws

SHA256:zpb5duKiBZ+l0dFwPeyykB4MPBYhI/XzXNeFSDKBvLE

South America (São Paulo)

sa-east-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.sa-east-1.aws

SHA256:rd2+/32Ognjew1yVIemENaQzC+Botbih62OqAPDq1dI

AWS GovCloud (US-East)

us-gov-east-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-gov-east-1.amazonaws.com

SHA256:tIwe19GWsoyLClrtvu38YEEh+DHIkqnDcZnmtebvF28

AWS GovCloud (US-West)

us-gov-west-1

serial-console.ec2-instance-connect.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com

SHA256:kfOFRWLaOZfB+utbd3bRf8OlPf8nGO2YZLqXZiIw5DQ