Getting Started with Amazon EC2

Let's get started with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) by using the AWS Management Console, a point-and-click web-based interface. Visit the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Documentation for a step-by-step tutorial on setting up and getting started with Amazon EC2.

Log into the AWS Management Console and set up your root account.

In the Amazon EC2 Dashboard, choose "Launch Instance" to create and configure your virtual machine.

In this wizard, you have the option to configure your instance features. Below are some guidelines on setting up your first instance.

• Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI): In step 1 of the wizard, we recommend the Amazon Linux AMI (free-tier eligible).
• Choose an instance type: In step 2 of the wizard, we recommend the t2.micro (free-tier eligible).
• Security group: In step 6, you have the option to configure your virtual firewall.
  
• Launch instance: In step 7, review your instance configuration and choose "Launch".
• Create a key pair: Select "Create a new key pair" and assign a name. The key pair file (.pem) will download automatically - save this in a safe place as we will later use this file to log in to the instance. Finally, choose "Launch Instances" to complete the set up.

Note: It may take a few minutes to initialize your instance.

After you launch your instance, you can connect to it and use it the way that you'd use a computer sitting in front of you. To connect from the console, follow the steps below:

• Select the EC2 instance you created and choose "Connect".
• Select "A Java SSH client directly from my browser". Ensure Java is installed and enabled.
• Enter the Private key path (example: C:\KeyPairs\my-key-pair.pem).
• Choose "Launch SSH Client".

Note: You can also connect via SSH or PuTTY, click here to learn more.

Amazon EC2 is free to start (learn more), but you should terminate your instances to prevent additional charges. The EC2 instance and the data associated will be deleted.

• Select the EC2 instance, choose "Actions", select "Instance State", and "Terminate".

You can access the features of Amazon EC2 using the AWS CLI, which provides commands for a broad set of AWS products, including Amazon EC2.

Get started with EC2 by using APIs tailored to your programming language or platform, or AWS Mobile SDK to help you build high-quality mobile apps quickly and easily.

Here are two popular getting started tutorials for installing a LAMP web server and hosting a WordPress blog.

The flexibility of AWS allows you to design your application architectures the way you like, whether you want to host a website or analyze your data. Here are a few resources for you to get started quickly:

• Learn more about the AWS Free Tier
• Getting Started on AWS with SDKs
• Getting Started with AWS Webinar
• Amazon EC2 Technical Documentation – User Guide
• Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Windows Instances
• AWS Quick Start Reference Deployments: AWS Quick Start reference deployments help you rapidly deploy fully functional enterprise software on the AWS cloud, following AWS best practices for security and availability.
• AWS Reference Architecture Center: Common reference architectures and best practices.
• AWS Partner Network: The AWS Partner Network (APN) is made up of a strong and growing community of companies that offer a wide range of products and services on the AWS platform. The APN Competency Program is designed to highlight APN Partners who have demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in specialized solution areas.