Step 4: Test seamlessly joining an EC2 instance for Windows Server to a domain

You can use either of the following two methods to test seamlessly joining an EC2 instance to a domain.

Method 1: Test domain join using the Amazon EC2 console

Use these steps in the directory consumer account.

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation bar, choose the same AWS Region as the existing directory.

3. On the EC2 Dashboard, in the Launch instance section, choose Launch instance.

4. On the Launch an instance page, under the Name and Tags section, enter the name you would like to use for your Windows EC2 instance.

5. (Optional) Choose Add additional tags to add one or more tag key-value pairs to organize, track, or control access for this EC2 instance.

6. In the Application and OS Image (Amazon Machine Image) section, choose Windows in the Quick Start pane. You can change the Windows Amazon Machine Image (AMI) from the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) dropdown list.

7. In the Instance type section, choose the instance type you would like to use from Instance type dropdown list.

8. In the Key pair (login) section, you can either choose to create a new key pair or choose from an existing key pair.

   1. To create a new key pair, choose Create new key pair.

   2. Enter a name for the key pair and select an option for the Key pair type and Private key file format.

   3. 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.

   4. Choose create key pair.

   5. The private key file is automatically downloaded by your browser. Save the private key file in a safe place.

      Important

      This is the only chance for you to save the private key file.

9. On the Launch an instance page, under Network settings section, choose Edit. Choose the VPC that your directory was created in from the VPC - required dropdown list.

10. Choose one of the public subnets in your VPC from the Subnet dropdown list. The subnet you choose must have all external traffic routed to an internet gateway. If this is not the case, you won't be able to connect to the instance remotely.

    For more information on how to connect to a internet gateway, see Connect to the internet using an internet gateway in the Amazon VPC User Guide.

11. Under Auto-assign public IP, choose Enable.

    For more information about public and private IP addressing, see Amazon EC2 instance IP addressing in the Amazon EC2 User Guide for Windows Instances.

12. For Firewall (security groups) settings, you can use the default settings or make changes to meet your needs.

13. For Configure storage settings, you can use the default settings or make changes to meet your needs.

14. Select Advanced details section, choose your domain from the Domain join directory dropdown list.

    Note

    After choosing the Domain join directory, you may see:

    

    This error occurs if the EC2 launch wizard identifies an existing SSM document with unexpected properties. You can do one of the following:

    • If you previously edited the SSM document and the properties are expected, choose close and proceed to launch the EC2 instance with no changes.

    • Select the delete the existing SSM document here link to delete the SSM document. This will allow for the creation of an SSM document with the correct properties. The SSM document will automatically be created when you launch the EC2 instance.

15. For IAM instance profile, you can select an existing IAM instance profile or create a new one. Select an IAM instance profile that has the AWS managed policies AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore and AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess attached to it from the IAM instance profile dropdown list. To create a new one, choose Create new IAM profile link, and then do the following:

    1. Choose Create role.

    2. Under Select trusted entity, choose AWS service.

    3. Under Use case, choose EC2.

    4. Under Add permissions, in the list of policies, select the AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore and AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess policies. To filter the list, type SSM in the search box. Choose Next.

       Note

       AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess provides the permissions to join instances to an Active Directory managed by AWS Directory Service. AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore provides the minimum permissions necessary to use the AWS Systems Manager service. For more information about creating a role with these permissions, and for information about other permissions and policies you can assign to your IAM role, see Create an IAM instance profile for Systems Manager in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.

    5. On the Name, review, and create page, enter a Role name. You will need this role name to attach to the EC2 instance.

    6. (Optional) You can provide a description of the IAM instance profile in the Description field.

    7. Choose Create role.

    8. Return to Launch an instance page and choose the refresh icon next to the IAM instance profile. Your new IAM instance profile should be visible in the IAM instance profile dropdown list. Choose the new profile and leave the rest of the settings with their default values.

16. Choose Launch instance.

Method 2: Test domain join using AWS Systems Manager

Use these steps in the directory consumer account. To complete this procedure, you'll need some information about the directory owner account such as the Directory ID, directory name, and the DNS IP addresses.

Prerequisites

• Setup AWS Systems Manager.

  • For more information about Systems Manager, see General setup for AWS Systems Manager.

• Instances you wish to join the AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory domain must have an attached IAM role containing the AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore and AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess managed policies.

  • For more information about these managed policies and other policies you can attach to an IAM instance profile for Systems Manager, see Create an IAM instance profile for Systems Manager in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide. For information about managed policies, see AWS Managed policies in the IAM User Guide.

For more information on using Systems Manager to join EC2 instances to a AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory domain, see How do I use AWS Systems Manager to join a running EC2 Windows instance to my AWS Directory Service domain?.

1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Node Management, choose Run Command.

3. Choose Run command.

4. On the Run a command page, search for AWS-JoinDirectoryServiceDomain. When it is displayed in the search results, select the AWS-JoinDirectoryServiceDomain option.

5. Scroll down to the Command parameters section. You must provide the following parameters:

   Note

   You can locate the Directory ID, directory name, and DNS IP addresses by going back to the AWS Directory Service console, selecting Directories shared with me, and selecting your directory. Your Directory ID can be found under the Shared directory details section. You can locate the values for Directory name and DNS IP addresses under the Owner directory details section.

   • For Directory ID, enter the name of the AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory.

   • For Directory Name, enter the name of the AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory (for the directory owner account).

   • For DNS IP Addresses, enter the IP addresses of the DNS servers in the AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory (for the directory owner account).

6. For Targets, choose Choose instances manually, and then select the instances that you want to join the domain.

7. Leave the remainder of the form set to their default values, scroll down the page, and then choose Run.

8. The command status will change from Pending to Success once the instances have successfully joined the domain. You can view the command output by selecting the Instance ID of the instance that joined the domain and View output.

After completing either of these steps, you should now be able to join your EC2 instance to the domain. Once you do that, you can then log into your instance using a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client with the credentials from your AWS Managed Microsoft AD user account.