Set up to use Amazon EC2
Complete the tasks in this section to get set up for launching an Amazon EC2 instance for the first time:
When you are finished, you will be ready for the Amazon EC2 Getting started tutorial.
Sign up for AWS
When you sign up for Amazon Web Services, your AWS account is automatically signed up for all services in AWS, including Amazon EC2. You are charged only for the services that you use.
With Amazon EC2, you pay only for what you use. If you are a new AWS customer, you can get
started with Amazon EC2 for free. For more information, see AWS Free Tier
If you have an AWS account already, skip to the next task. If you don't have an AWS account, use the following procedure to create one.
To create an AWS account
Follow the online instructions.
Part of the sign-up procedure involves receiving a phone call and entering a verification code on the phone keypad.
When you sign up for an AWS account, an AWS account root user is created. The root user has access to all AWS services and resources in the account. As a security best practice, assign administrative access to an administrative user, and use only the root user to perform tasks that require root user access.
Create a key pair
AWS uses public-key cryptography to secure the login information for your instance. You specify the name of the key pair when you launch your instance, then provide the private key to obtain the administrator password for your Windows instance so you can log in using RDP.
If you haven't created a key pair already, you can create one by using the Amazon EC2 console. Note that if you plan to launch instances in multiple Regions, you'll need to create a key pair in each Region. For more information about Regions, see Regions and Zones.
To create your key pair
Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/
. -
In the navigation pane, choose Key Pairs.
-
Choose Create key pair.
-
For Name, enter a descriptive name for the key pair. Amazon EC2 associates the public key with the name that you specify as the key name. A key name can include up to 255 ASCII characters. It can’t include leading or trailing spaces.
-
For Key pair type, choose either RSA or ED25519. Note that ED25519 keys are not supported for Windows instances.
-
For Private key file format, choose the format in which to save the private key. To save the private key in a format that can be used with OpenSSH, choose pem. To save the private key in a format that can be used with PuTTY, choose ppk.
-
Choose Create key pair.
-
The private key file is automatically downloaded by your browser. The base file name is the name you specified as the name of your key pair, and the file name extension is determined by the file format you chose. Save the private key file in a safe place.
Important This is the only chance for you to save the private key file.
For more information, see Amazon EC2 key pairs and Windows instances.
Create a security group
Security groups act as a firewall for associated instances, controlling both inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level. You must add rules to a security group that enable you to connect to your instance from your IP address using RDP. You can also add rules that allow inbound and outbound HTTP and HTTPS access from anywhere.
Note that if you plan to launch instances in multiple Regions, you'll need to create a security group in each Region. For more information about Regions, see Regions and Zones.
Prerequisites
You'll need the public IPv4 address of your local computer. The security group editor in
the Amazon EC2 console can automatically detect the public IPv4 address for you.
Alternatively, you can use the search phrase "what is my IP address" in an Internet
browser, or use the following service: Check IP
You can create a custom security group using one of the following methods.
For more information, see Amazon EC2 security groups for Windows instances.