How do I set up SSH access for an Amazon EC2 instance?

Question

I need SSH access to an Amazon EC2 instance running Ubuntu. All I have is the Amazon username and password. Any ideas?

Answer 1

To normally access any EC2 instance using SSH, you would require a private-key file. Follow the steps below to create a private-key:

• First, log on to your existing AWS account and open your EC2 dashboard

• Click on "Key Pairs" on the left-hand side or go to this link https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home?region=us-east-1#s=KeyPairs.

  • You would see a number of key pairs created for your EC2 instances

  • Create a new key if your private key is lost or if you don’t have any

  • Enter a unique name and hit enter.

  • Now you would see a download panel for the private key, now download and save it

  • Keep it somewhere with the file permission "0600"

• After that, Click on "Instances" on the left-hand side or https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home?region=us-east-1#s=Instances

  • You will be seeing already created instances or create one

  • Choose an EC2 machine, copy the public DNS address

  • Open your Terminal (in Linux) and type the following command

  • ssh -i /path/to/private-key root@<ec2-public-dns-address> - Choose the user or just provide “ubuntu” which is the common password for Ubuntu machines to begin with

• hit Enter

And now it is done.