Create an EC2 instance on AWS

Amazon EC2 lets you launch virtual servers in the cloud quickly. In this guide we create an EC2 instance step by step, connect over SSH, and apply basic hardening practices.

Prerequisites

• An active AWS account
• An IAM user with EC2 permissions (avoid using the root account)
• An SSH key pair (or create one during launch)
• A VPC available (default or custom)

Step 1: Open the EC2 service

In the AWS console:

1. Go to EC2
2. Click Launch instance
3. Give the instance a name (e.g. web-ec2-dev)

Step 2: Choose AMI and instance type

• AMI: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS (or Amazon Linux)
• Instance type: t2.micro or t3.micro for testing

These types are often free-tier eligible depending on account and region.

Step 3: Configure SSH access

Under Key pair (login):

• Select an existing key, or
• Create a new key (.pem) and download it

Keep the private key safe; you need it for SSH.

Step 4: Network and security

Under Network settings:

• Select your VPC
• Leave Auto-assign public IP enabled if you connect from the internet
• Create or choose a security group with at least:
  • SSH (TCP 22) from your IP only (recommended)

Optional for a web server:

• HTTP (TCP 80)
• HTTPS (TCP 443)

Step 5: Storage and launch

• Disk size: 8–20 GiB (gp3) as needed
• Review the summary
• Click Launch instance

When it is running, copy the public IP or public DNS from the instance page.

Step 6: SSH into the instance

chmod 400 /path/to/my-key.pem
ssh -i /path/to/my-key.pem ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>

Notes:

• Use ubuntu on Ubuntu AMIs
• Use ec2-user on Amazon Linux

Create via CLI (optional)

You can also launch from the command line:

aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --instance-type t3.micro \
  --key-name my-key \
  --security-group-ids sg-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --subnet-id subnet-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=web-ec2-dev}]'

After launch

• Update the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

• Disable direct root SSH login
• Open only the ports you need
• Prefer an instance IAM role instead of long-lived access keys on the VM
• Enable monitoring (CloudWatch) and backups

With this base you can deploy an API, a web backend, or a test environment quickly.