Launch an Amazon EC2 instance using the launch instance wizard in the Amazon EC2 console

You can launch an Amazon EC2 instance using the launch instance wizard in the Amazon EC2 console. The wizard provides default values for the launch parameters, which you can either accept or modify to suit your requirements. The only parameter that is not specified is the key pair. If you choose to accept the default values, you can quickly launch an instance by selecting only a key pair.

Important

You incur charges for the instance while the instance is in the running state, even if it remains idle. However, if you qualify for the Free Tier, you might not incur charges. For more information, see Track your Free Tier usage for Amazon EC2.

For a description of each parameter in the launch instance wizard, see Reference for Amazon EC2 instance configuration parameters.

Quickly launch an instance

To set up an instance quickly for testing purposes, follow these steps. You'll select the operating system and your key pair, and accept the default values. Except for the key pair, the launch instance wizard provides default values for all of the parameters. You can accept any or all of the defaults, or configure an instance by specifying your own values for each parameter.

For a description of each parameter in the launch instance wizard, see Reference for Amazon EC2 instance configuration parameters.

To quickly launch an instance using the launch instance wizard

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

2. In the navigation bar at the top of the screen, the current AWS Region is displayed (for example, US East (Ohio)). If needed, select a different Region in which to launch the instance.

3. From the Amazon EC2 console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

4. (Optional) Under Name and tags, for Name, enter a descriptive name for your instance.

5. Under Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image), choose Quick Start, and then choose the operating system (OS) for your instance.

6. Under Key pair (login), for Key pair name, choose an existing key pair or create a new one.

7. In the Summary panel, choose Launch instance.

Launch an instance using defined parameters

If you're launching an instance that you'll use in production, you'll need to configure the instance to suit your requirements. For a description of each parameter in the launch instance wizard, see Reference for Amazon EC2 instance configuration parameters.

To launch an instance by defining all the launch parameters using the launch instance wizard

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

2. In the navigation bar at the top of the screen, the current AWS Region is displayed (for example, US East (Ohio)). If needed, select a different Region in which to launch the instance.

3. From the Amazon EC2 console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

4. (Optional) Under Name and tags, for Name, enter a descriptive name for your instance so that you can easily keep track of it.

   The instance name is a tag, where the key is Name, and the value is the name that you specify.

5. Under Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image), choose the operating system (OS) for your instance, and then choose an AMI.

   An AMI is a template that contains the operating system and software required to launch your instance.

6. Under Instance type, choose an instance type.

   The instance type determines the hardware configuration (CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity) and size of the host computer used for your instance.

   If you're not sure which instance type to choose, you can do the following:

   • Choose Compare instance types to compare different instance types by the following attributes: number of vCPUs, architecture, amount of memory (GiB), amount of storage (GB), storage type, and network performance.

   • Choose Get advice to get guidance and suggestions for instance types from the EC2 instance type finder. For more information, see Get recommendations from EC2 instance type finder.

   Note

   If your AWS account is less than 12 months old, you can use Amazon EC2 under the Free Tier by choosing the t2.micro instance type (or the t3.micro instance type in Regions where t2.micro is unavailable). If an instance type is eligible under the Free Tier, it is labeled Free tier eligible.

7. Under Key pair (login), for Key pair name, choose an existing key pair or create a new one. If you do not require a key pair to connect to your instance, you can choose Proceed without a key pair (not recommended).

8. Under Network settings, you can keep the defaults if you're launching a test instance. If you're launching a production instance, it's best practice to control traffic into and out of your instance using network settings and security groups that you define.

9. Under Configure storage, you can keep the defaults or specify additional storage. The AMI you selected includes one or more volumes of storage, including the root volume. You can specify additional volumes to attach to the instance.

   You can use the Simple or Advanced view. With the Simple view, you specify the size and type of the volume. To specify all volume parameters, choose the Advanced view (at top right of the card).

10. For Advanced details, expand the section to view the fields and specify any additional parameters for your instance.

11. In the Summary panel, you can do the following:

    1. Specify the number of instances to launch.

    2. Review your instance configuration, and navigate directly to a section by choosing its link.

    3. When you're ready to launch your instance, choose Launch instance.

    If the instance fails to launch or the state immediately goes to terminated instead of running, see Troubleshoot Amazon EC2 instance launch issues.

12. (Optional) You can create a billing alert for the instance. On the confirmation screen, under Next Steps, choose Create billing alerts and follow the directions. Billing alerts can also be created after you launch the instance. For more information, see Creating a billing alarm to monitor your estimated AWS charges in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.