How to Launch an Amazon Linux 2023 Instance in AWS
When it comes to cloud computing, one of the first things that we think are virtual server or virtual machine. Amazon EC2 or elastic compute cloud is one of the services that lets us create virtual servers in the cloud.
While creating an EC2 instance, one of the mandatory things is to select an AMI that we want our virtual machine to be launched with. AN AMI provides all the information to launch an EC2 instance including operating systems or web/application servers if any.
In this post, we will see how to launch an Amazon Linux 2023 instance in AWS. Amazon Linux 2023 is a recently launched AMI for a new Linux-based operating system that has been designed to provide a secure, stable, high-performance environment to develop and run your cloud applications.
So, are you ready?
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Prerequisite
- An Active AWS Account: See How to Setup Your AWS Free Tier Account In Right Way
- Permission to Launch an Instance
Steps to How to Launch an Amazon Linux 2023 Instance in AWS
- Log in to AWS Management Console and Open EC2
- Click Launch Instance
- Provide a name for your Instance
- Choose AMI for Your Instance
- Choose the Instance Type
- Create and Select a Key Pair
- Specify Your Network Settings
- Configure Storage for Your Amazon Linux 2023 Instance
- Review and Launch the Instance
Step 1: Log in to AWS Management Console and Open EC2
Before you can launch an Amazon Linux 2023(AL2023) instance, you need to be logged into your AWS account.
Log In to AWS Management Console. Search for EC2 and click on it to open the EC2 dashboard.
Step 2: Click Launch Instance
As soon as you click on EC2, You are on the EC2 dashboard which looks like this.
EC2 and related resources are summarized in the dashboard for your ease. Click on the Launch instance dropdown and click on Launch instance as shown below.
Important Note: Before clicking launch, make sure you are in the region in which you want to launch your instance. Confused about which region to choose? checkout my previous post on factors that matter while choosing an AWS region.
Step 3: Provide a name for your Instance
When you click on Launch instance, you are shown a screen and asked for many details that we will provide in the next few steps slowly so that it’s easier to understand.
Start by providing a name for your Amazon Linux 2023 EC2 Instance.
Step 4: Choose AMI for Your Instance
We are here to launch an Amazon Linux 2023 instance. This is where we specify that we want an Amazon Linux 2023 AMI.
Did you notice that we selected Amazon Linux 2023 AMI which is provided by AWS itself?
Architecture is by default selected as 64-bit (x86) which is good for us. You have the option to change it to 64-bit (Arm) if you need to. However, it is not needed for this demo. See Arm vs x86 here for more info.
Step 5: Choose the Instance Type
After selecting the AM I, scroll down to the instance type section. Here we will choose the instance type for our instance.
An instance type comprises varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity to cater to various needs. It ranges from very small(t2.nano-1 vCPU, 0.5GB memory) to very very powerful instances (z1d.metal-48 vCPU, 384GB memory). Choose wisely here as you are charged hourly based on how powerful instance you choose.
Choose t2.micro which is free tier eligible and preselected as well. If you are not doing this for learning purposes and need a more powerful instance, feel free to select one that suits your need.
Very Very Important: If you are a beginner, always make sure to set up a cost budget in your AWS account. In case you forget to stop your EC2 instance and you are out of free teir, you don’t want to be charged bomb- do you? See my previous tutorial on how to Setup a Cost Budget on AWS to avoid Billing Shock.
Step 6: Create and Select a Key Pair
If you are creating an EC2 instance, there will be times when you would like to connect to your EC2 instance from your local machine. In order to install software or perform some kind of activity. If that’s the case, you will need a key pair for it. Read what is a key pair on AWS.
Click on create new key pair as shown in the below screenshot.
When you click Create new key pair, a window like below opens.
Provide a key pair name and select RSA as the key pair type. RSA-type key pairs are widely used however nowadays it’s recommended to go with ED25519 as it’s faster and more secure compared to RSA.
However, for this demo, we are going with the RSA type. Click Create key pair.
As soon as you click Create key pair, your key pair is created, selected in the dropdown and also downloaded in your local system as you can see in the below screenshot.
Important Note: If you are doing it for learning purposes and you are happy to connect to your instance via EC2 instance connect only, feel free to skip this section. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to connect to your instance from a local machine if you don’t choose a key pair.
Step 7: Specify Your Network Settings
By default, the network setting looks like the below which is good for our demo purpose. However, if needed, you can click on the Edit button to choose a custom VPC and subnet as per your need.
Also in the security group that is being created, as you can see only SSH traffic is allowed from anywhere. You can also tweak this as per your need and if have to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic, you can select other options as well. You can also edit your security group later based on your need by adding or removing inbound/outbound rules.
Step 8: Configure Storage for Your Amazon Linux 2023 Instance
Once done with the network setting, scroll down to configure the storage section. By default, one 8GB root volume is selected and you have the option to Add a new EBS volume as well as specified in the below screenshot. For the demo purpose, we will go with the default option.
Step 9: Review and Launch the Instance
In the end, there is an Advanced details section, which is for advanced requirements such as –
- EC2 Instance purchasing options
- IAM Instance Profile
- Instance Shutdown Behaviour
- EC2 User Data etc.
We don’t really need any such advanced things right now. All we want is to launch an EC2 instance. So we will just let it be the default.
On the right side, you will see, details are summarised for you and you can instance count if you want to launch more than one instance.
Take a look at the summary and if all look good, just click on Launch instance.
Yay, Congratulations!!!
You have successfully launched an Amazon Linux 2023 Ec2 instance on AWS.
You can check more details of this instance by clicking on the instance Id shown on the above screen. Once you click on that you are taken to this screen and the lower section of instance details is visible when to select the instance by checking the checkbox as shown below.
Conclusion:
In this step-by-step how-to guide, we learnt how to launch an Amazon Linux 2023 instance in AWS in step by step manner using the AWS console.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have a question, feel free to drop in a comment. I will be more than happy to answer your query.
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