AWS Hands-On | EC2 Instance Storage | AMI Creation Process

4 min readMay 21, 2025

📌 Notice

This is a hands-on tutorial accompanying the blog post:

“Pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification SAA-C03-(Episode 6: EC2 Instance Storage)”

🔹 Focus: Practical implementation of EC2 AMI Creation.
🔹 For theoretical concepts and exam-style questions, please refer to the main blog post (link to parent blog).

Here’s a step-by-step explanation of the AMI creation process from an existing EC2 instance using the AWS Management Console

1. Launch a New EC2 Instance (If Target Instance Doesn’t Exist)

AWS Console Steps:

1. Go to the EC2 Dashboard

Log in to the AWS Management Console
Navigate to Services > EC2

2. Launch an Instance

Click “Launch Instance”
Enter a name for your instance (e.g., AMI-Source-Server)
Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

Select an OS (e.g., Amazon Linux, Ubuntu, Windows)
Choose an AMI (Free Tier eligible if applicable)

Select an Instance Type

Note :
For testing, t2.micro (Free Tier eligible)
For production, choose a suitable type (e.g., t3.medium, m5.large)

Configure Key Pair (for SSH Access)
Select an existing key pair or create a new one

Download the .pem file (required for Linux SSH access)
Network Settings (Security Group)
Select a VPC and subnet (default is fine for testing)
Configure Security Group:
Allow SSH (Port 22) for Linux
Allow RDP (Port 3389) for Windows
Add HTTP (Port 80) if it’s a web server
Configure Storage
Default root volume (usually 8GB for Linux, 30GB for Windows)
Add additional EBS volumes if needed

Click “Launch Instance”
Wait for the instance to reach the “Running” state

2. Connect & Customize the EC2 Instance

Step 1: Locate Your .pem Key File

For Linux (SSH)

Your key is saved in the Downloads folder (unless you chose a different location).
On Linux/macOS, it’s typically at:

~/Downloads/AMI-Source-Server-Key.pem

Step 2: Set Correct Permissions (Linux/macOS Only)

For security, SSH requires the .pem file to have restricted permissions. Run:

chmod 400 ~/Downloads/AMI-Source-Server-Key.pem

Step 3: Find Your EC2 Instance’s Public IP

Go to AWS EC2 Dashboard > Instances
Select your instance
Copy the Public IPv4 address (e.g., 47.129.46.47)

Step 4: Run the SSH Command

ssh -i ~/Downloads/AMI-Source-Server-Key.pem ec2-user@47.129.46.47

Customizations (Examples)

Install software (sudo yum install -y nginx for Amazon Linux)
Copy application files
Configure users, permissions, and services
Apply security patches (sudo yum update -y)

3. Stop the Instance for Data Integrity

Go to EC2 Dashboard > Instances
Select your instance
Click “Instance State” > “Stop Instance” (not reboot)

4. Create an AMI (with EBS Snapshots)

Select the stopped instance
Click Actions > Image and templates > Create image

3. Configure:

Name: my-custom-ami-v1
Description: (Optional)
No reboot: Unchecked (since we stopped it manually)
Click “Create Image”

AWS will:

Create snapshots of all attached EBS volumes
Register the AMI (visible in AMIs > Owned by me)

5. Launch New Instances from the AMI

Go to EC2 > AMIs
Select your custom AMI
Click “Launch instance from AMI”
Follow the standard EC2 launch process

6. Copy AMI and Launch EC2 in Another Region

Cleanup (Optional)

Deregister AMI: EC2 > AMIs > Select AMI > Actions > Deregister
Delete Snapshots: EC2 > Snapshots > Select associated snapshots > Delete

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